David Trotter and Shawn Scheinoha went to India with a plan to film a documentary of orphans in India. “The reason we were there was to understand what it was like for them.” When their train stopped they saw a group of kids right outside of their hotel, and they were granted permission to shadow and almost live with these kids (on the street) as they recorded their lives. This film did clearly show us a picture of life in India as lived by “the least of these.” The realities shared were shocking and sickening.
This documentary follows orphans, runaways, and abandoned children in India. They shared incredibly sad stories from abuse to tragic violence. The kids lived in groups that lived as pseudo families. They begged then shared their food and slept together in piles.
One shocking statistic was that a third of the children were amputees, mostly from accidents involving trains. Habits of the children were shared in such sad detail. The white remnants visible around their mouths after huffing, the needles injecting unknown substances into their veins, and linear scar lines from cutting-- the kids shared freely about how they coped and found relief from pain for seconds at a time. Many of the kids have been diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
The documentary also showed graves of some of the street children. Though police are given the responsibility for burying them, they actually pay other street children the equivalent to five dollars to bury their friends.
The men had connections to Harvest India and were able to assist that group of children in getting cleaned up, fed, and dressed in new clothes. Because of technicalities, even leaving the children at that safe place wasn’t an easy option. They did eventually keep the youngest two at the children’s home.
There are over 30 million abandoned and orphaned children in India. This film shows just a few and then offers a sponsorship program with Harvest India to sponsor children.
Disclaimer: A copy of this DVD was provided for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. No other compensation was provided.
I have many friends from India and have always had a heart for orphans. If I watch this, I just might be running to an airport to help them, but that's ok. :-)
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