Margins of existence

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but here's something I'd like to share with people.

Recently Narco and I visited Addu Atoll (arieal photo by Shareef) to carry out a socio-economic impact assessment, which involved interviewing some of the more disadvantaged members of the community. One family we visited lived on what can only be described as margins of existence.

Their house stood on what looked like a rubbish dump, on the edge of the island. When we arrived, there were only kids in the house; all of them looked stunted.

But the thing that really struck us was the appearance and the behaviour of the older girl, a thirteen year-old, whose face registered a hardship and maturity beyond her years. She was being unusually “touchy feely” with an older male visitor who, we found out, was not a member of the family. When he left, she turned on her younger brother, spouting filth at him and chasing him all over the house.

Narco looked and me and asked if we should interfere; I nodded. When we went up to them she had her brother on the ground and was beating him. Fortunately, their father arrived and the fight was broken up.

We later learnt that the neighbours try to avoid the family, because of their unconventional behaviour and filthy language. Apparently the parents are divorced, but living together. None of the children go to school, and the older girl is a heroine-addict. The family lost a toddler a few months ago; the child had been left alone in the house, and later discovered dead in the water.

The island administration is aware of all this---they directed us to the family---but it clearly lacks the financial/psychosocial resources and will that may help disadvantaged sections of the population to emerge from the poverty-ridden nightmare they are in.

A recent UN report found that household income levels in the south of the Maldives have doubled in the last decade or so. But the prosperity has not trickled down to many of the families. There is a serious lack of income and job opportunity inside the atoll; youth drug-abuse and related crime is rife; all signs are there is also a breakdown in law and order and widespread mistrust in the island administration.

Meanwhile many parts of the Addu mainland have tested positive for groundwater contamination, unsafe even for bathing; yet, some families are forced to drink this water because of the depletion of rainwater stores.