– rescued children of drug addicts
This is the fourth in a series of interviews with children who have been rescued by the Child Care and Protection Agency of the Ministry of Human Services being published in recognition of Child Protection Week.

Somewhere in a clump of bushes on the East Bank Demerara three children were born a few years apart to parents who preferred to get high all day rather than raise them.

However, out of some concern for the little ones the parents erected a shack in the bushes, but that was as far as their parental responsibility went and the children learned how to beg.

The children, *Mary, James and John Doe practically grew up on their own, begging to survive while their parents passed the days smoking whatever was available to them. Mary is now 13, James is 11 and they are uncertain how old John is.

John, a handsome little boy who smiles a lot, was told he is seven following doctor check-ups and based on his personal development but he could actually be eight years old. No one knows for sure and the parents also have no idea.

The children’s mother dropped out of sight several years ago after the smoking consumed her; at one point she was so tormented by drugs she set herself alight. She resurfaced a short while ago and has been spotted hanging around a city market in search of drugs.

The father, who was left to care for them, spends most of his time on the road showing little concern for their welfare. He was asked about John’s age and could only remember that the boy was conceived while “Muslims were sharing meat”, he has no idea what year it was. Officers of the Child Care and Protection Agency, after they rescued the three off the streets, were left to figure out the child’s age.

“We use to beg on the road and when we get money I use to go home and give daddy and he would buy things a few times, but we use to be hungry,” Mary said in a recent interview. James and John sat close to her giggling occasionally as she spoke. It has been close to three years since they have been in the state’s custody. A local policing group in the area where they resided turned them over to the police after growing weary of them wandering around the area begging.
Mary hesitated when asked whether they attended school, but later admitted they hardly went. She said she and her brothers had shared a school shirt and apart from this were sometimes forced to stay home because they had nothing to eat.

James injected at this point to say that he liked going to school and how he never missed a day unless they had to go and beg on the road. He said Mary never really liked going and she encouraged John to stay away. But while he was fond of school he also liked hanging out after school with friends to smoke and drink alcohol.

“I use to get money from begging and after school I use to buy High Wine and cigarette and smoke with me friends,” James said. He recalled that he stole a few cigarettes from his father since he was around age seven and had been smoking since then. His obsession with High Wine came from watching neighbours enjoy the liquor but according to him, he “drank only for fun”.

Life for the Does was about begging every day in the area and sometimes in the city when they made enough to pay to travel to Georgetown. They saw their father at night when he got home since he was out for most of the day.

Mary recalled that she was subjected to various things on the road as men would sometimes make uncomfortable advances. She termed a few things that happened to her as “inappropriate”. After a day on the streets, Mary would journey back home with the boys to their shack which is hidden away in thick bushes and prepare a meal of whatever she was able to buy or find around the home.

The children clearly are still hurting from the experience of growing up alone and though they remember seeing their father around, he was never there long enough. They barely had enough to eat and were severely undernourished when the ministry took them over.

Of the three, John was more affected. He was so malnourished when he was rescued that he had no teeth. John’s baby teeth never appeared and he struggled to speak for years.  Shortly after they were rescued by the state the Does got the opportunity to see the President during an official ceremony at the ministry, and Mary recalled that President Bharrat Jagdeo noticed that John had no teeth.

“The President see him and said he had no teeth; later his teeth started to grow,” she said. John got his teeth and as expected they are permanent. Doctors who saw him after he was taken into state care had concluded that John had a serious calcium deficiency which hurt his chances of getting teeth before.

The ministry has opened the children’s eyes to a different world which James called “exciting”. He said they now have beds to sleep on, something they never had before.

Mary is still unaccustomed to sleeping on a bed and would often take the mattress off the bed and sleep on the floor. She said they are all in school and attending everyday and they are living with other children who all want to make friends. The good thing about being at the home, according to Mary, is “we don’t have to beg anymore”.

John, who spoke under his breath for most of the interview chimed in, “they feeding us”, and burst into giggles. He also declared that he likes sleeping on a bed.

The Does are happy that they are learning how to use the computer and people are caring for them. It is still a new feeling even after nearly three years in state care. As for their father, he turns up for scheduled visits with the ministry but has not changed.  When the Does are old enough to leave state care they are likely to be placed in Mary’s care.

*The names of the children have been changed to protect their identities.