HUSSAN & HUSSEIN
11 year old twins Hussan & Hussein live in the Pipeline slum, a ramshackle parade of makeshift squats balanced precariously on a 2 meter wide pipe - home to over 350 families. A rancid canal runs through the middle of the slum, where the twins wash, play and work. Here overcrowding, poverty and substance abuse turn homes into battlegrounds. The twins’ family live in a space 3 metres by 4: their father is an alcoholic, their brother is on drugs. The twins left school several years earlier, and make a living by ‘ragpicking’, collecting rubbish to sell at the local recycling centre. Competition is stiff in the Pipeline slum, so Hussan & Hussein resort to diving into the canal to collect the detritus slum dwellers discard. On a good day they get 25p each for their endeavours.
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Latest News
The twins are well and happy and still obstinately enjoying their freedom and refusing to contemplate school.
Batul has been trying to persuade them to consider going, but she cannot force them! This is the latest from Batul on the twins:-
"I just met some fantastic people in Dharavi. They run the Sri Sri Ravi Shanker Vidyalaya in Dharavi. The place is like a bright calm happy oasis amidst all the chaos of Dharavi slum. They have fabulous teachers. And every child has a similar background to Hasan and Husein's. In 2 years they've done wonders with these kids. It wouldn't be too far to go to school for them, 1 stop on the train, and they could even walk at a crunch.
They have 1 teacher to every 20 kids, and know that they would have to give individual attention to the twins. Now we have a meeting slated with the kids after the 24th. One of the teachers also suggested that they straight away start with vocational training, let the twins study only computers for the next 5 years, and maybe give their written board exams externally if they want to.
Hopefully this will tempt the boys. Now it's only left to persuade them to go. The toughest task.
The website for the school is http://www.ssrvm.org/ssrvm/default.php"
FEB 14
Batul visited the twins 3 days ago (Feb 11th) She reports: ‘They seemed cleaner, and more sober than usual. They have also decided they are interested in going to the Sri Sri Ravi Shanker school at Dharavi, though their mother is keen that we put them in a residential school, so they get away from the environment they are living in, and the influence of their friends’
Father William is offering Hussan & Hussein a place at Don Bosco. With the help of their mother Noorjahan we are gently trying to ‘sell’ this idea to the twins – who fiercely protect their independence. We are taking them to look at the Shelter and the Dharavi school tomorrow (Feb 15th).
In the meantime we have bought the twins – and necessarily the 3 other members of their ragpicking gang – new shoes (see below). They are all very pleased! Any direct financial support is complicated in a slum like Indira Nagar, where everyone knows everyone else’s business – it can create resentment and worse still bullying. We are being very discreet and cautious, and believe it is more important to devise a viable long term plan for the twins’ education or vocational training. Hopefully starting tomorrow!
