Homelessness, in any culture, is a reflection of the government and society. How does that grab you? Are you offended to think homelessness is a reflection of yourself? Or can you recognize your contribution as a member of society within the context of homelessness? Or maybe you stand somewhere in the middle and you have to mull this concept over before coming to a conclusion?
When I heard those words come out of a professors mouth my heart sang! It is not very often that I am among like minded people on this subject. Instead I am usually in conversations about how "they" (meaning those experiencing homelessness) should just a get a job, or get off drugs, and their lives would be different. That being said, when I heard a professor basically say…. this is not just an issue of not having a home or laziness, but instead a reflection of who I am and who you are and who we vote for, well I felt like he spoke the words I have been carrying around for years!
In India, homelessness looks and feels much like it does in America. The hearts of those who sleep on the street (or street dwellers) have had a long hard journey that got them to where they are. It is not as though they woke up one day and thought, "I think I will live without a job, sleep on the streets, and be shamed in my community". The streets have broken this population and their souls have been scared by their time here on earth. Their long twisted journeys can not be unraveled by simply getting employment or having a roof over their head. It takes much more than that and in India the complexity of the legal system is just another form of oppression for this group.
The most difficult think in India, compared to America, is the amount of people experiencing homelessness. Simply because of the shear volumes of people who live in this country; but the children (say between 5-17) are really the ones who have broken my heart. During the lecture, we learned that "begging" is against the law in India and in order to be criminalized for this activity the only thing that needs to happen is a police officer simply says you were begging. The officer does not have to be able to prove "begging" occurred. He/she can simply say a person is begging and can arrest them.
Two interesting facts here: Lets say a mother is carrying her child and gets arrested for begging. If her child is under the age of 5 then the child goes with her to beggars jail.
So we are clear thiz means the child is incarcerated at a young age, but gets to stay with its mother.
However, if the child is over the age of 5, then the child is left on the street and forced to fend for themselves. Often they are then picked up by a handler and forced in to labor or sex trafficking. Astonishing right???? Well it doesn't get better for this mother. An investigation occurs within 15 days of her arrest and if she is not found to be working then she imprisoned for one year…any further offenses could lead up to 10 years in jail! Now put yourself in this mothers shoes.
Can you even imagine the sorrow she feels.
Ok so lets look at it from the male perspective. A police officer picks up a street vendor and calls it begging. He is then arrested in his own community and then goes through the same process as the mother did. Doesn't seem so terrible in comparison right??? Wrong? When this man is released back into his own community he is no longer employable, because he has a criminal record. He can be shunned by his community for simply being wrongfully convicted or lets say he was begging….the question there is WHY IS THIS A CRIME? Isn't it just another way to survive? What would you do if you could not get a job and your children where hungry? And if you don't think asking strangers for money is work, well then I ask you to stand out and fly a sign on the street one day and report back.
The truth is in America we also criminalize this method of survival. A person can be fined for spanging (a term used for asking for change) for different reasons. The differences is the penalty is not as severe, but the criminal record and shame that comes with the humiliation is exactly the same in both Mumbai and America.
What if next time you saw someone asking for change or holding up a sign, you asked them about their story? You offered to buy them lunch? You learned about who they were as a person, instead of assuming they were beggets on the streets of Mumbia or lazy p drug adddicts who just needed to get a job.
When people ask me about my work as a social worker, I always say….I feel most at home when I am on the streets within the homeless population. People are living on the streets of Mumbai and people are living on the streets in the United States, there is no denying that. What you may deny is that people are EXPERIENCING homelessness and they are not just homeless. This group of broken hearts are a story, a journey, and an adventure. So now contemplate it again.....have you been denying your part in this issue as a member of society,
as a voter, or simple as a human?
When I heard those words come out of a professors mouth my heart sang! It is not very often that I am among like minded people on this subject. Instead I am usually in conversations about how "they" (meaning those experiencing homelessness) should just a get a job, or get off drugs, and their lives would be different. That being said, when I heard a professor basically say…. this is not just an issue of not having a home or laziness, but instead a reflection of who I am and who you are and who we vote for, well I felt like he spoke the words I have been carrying around for years!
In India, homelessness looks and feels much like it does in America. The hearts of those who sleep on the street (or street dwellers) have had a long hard journey that got them to where they are. It is not as though they woke up one day and thought, "I think I will live without a job, sleep on the streets, and be shamed in my community". The streets have broken this population and their souls have been scared by their time here on earth. Their long twisted journeys can not be unraveled by simply getting employment or having a roof over their head. It takes much more than that and in India the complexity of the legal system is just another form of oppression for this group.
The most difficult think in India, compared to America, is the amount of people experiencing homelessness. Simply because of the shear volumes of people who live in this country; but the children (say between 5-17) are really the ones who have broken my heart. During the lecture, we learned that "begging" is against the law in India and in order to be criminalized for this activity the only thing that needs to happen is a police officer simply says you were begging. The officer does not have to be able to prove "begging" occurred. He/she can simply say a person is begging and can arrest them.
Two interesting facts here: Lets say a mother is carrying her child and gets arrested for begging. If her child is under the age of 5 then the child goes with her to beggars jail.
So we are clear thiz means the child is incarcerated at a young age, but gets to stay with its mother.
However, if the child is over the age of 5, then the child is left on the street and forced to fend for themselves. Often they are then picked up by a handler and forced in to labor or sex trafficking. Astonishing right???? Well it doesn't get better for this mother. An investigation occurs within 15 days of her arrest and if she is not found to be working then she imprisoned for one year…any further offenses could lead up to 10 years in jail! Now put yourself in this mothers shoes.
Can you even imagine the sorrow she feels.
Ok so lets look at it from the male perspective. A police officer picks up a street vendor and calls it begging. He is then arrested in his own community and then goes through the same process as the mother did. Doesn't seem so terrible in comparison right??? Wrong? When this man is released back into his own community he is no longer employable, because he has a criminal record. He can be shunned by his community for simply being wrongfully convicted or lets say he was begging….the question there is WHY IS THIS A CRIME? Isn't it just another way to survive? What would you do if you could not get a job and your children where hungry? And if you don't think asking strangers for money is work, well then I ask you to stand out and fly a sign on the street one day and report back.
The truth is in America we also criminalize this method of survival. A person can be fined for spanging (a term used for asking for change) for different reasons. The differences is the penalty is not as severe, but the criminal record and shame that comes with the humiliation is exactly the same in both Mumbai and America.
What if next time you saw someone asking for change or holding up a sign, you asked them about their story? You offered to buy them lunch? You learned about who they were as a person, instead of assuming they were beggets on the streets of Mumbia or lazy p drug adddicts who just needed to get a job.
When people ask me about my work as a social worker, I always say….I feel most at home when I am on the streets within the homeless population. People are living on the streets of Mumbai and people are living on the streets in the United States, there is no denying that. What you may deny is that people are EXPERIENCING homelessness and they are not just homeless. This group of broken hearts are a story, a journey, and an adventure. So now contemplate it again.....have you been denying your part in this issue as a member of society,
as a voter, or simple as a human?
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