Before you gve money to teh beggars and street children have a quick read through this, it won't give the quite lasting impression it has on me as that can only be gotten from seeing the effects first hand, but do keep it in mind...

One day last week I got a call from some of the children from the slum we work closely at, one of the mothers had been dinking for days and was trying (she says) to shake her alcohol addiction.... I was never aware of how dangerous alcohol is, she was halucinating, talking to people 'who she says were after her children, having huge conversations and thinking they were all after her. Ths resulted in her whole family crying and not getting any sleep as it kept going all night. We got there around 10pm and she was affraid to stay at the slum, she asked if she could stay at "The Mango House", which I was so suprised with, she was willing to sleep out side but she slept in the play room with her eldest daughter. (I hardly got any sleep!), I just can't beleive what a messy come down an alcholic has.. Really scarey! She was up all night I had to sit with her for most of the night to reduce the fear she was feeling as she thought people were getting through the bars in the windows. Every minute getting up to look and check, every ten minutes getting up and hitting her daughter to see if she was still there/alive... (A word of wisdom, if you're ever in this situation make sure there are no squeeky toys around as she would not put it down!!!!) Every time she had calmed down I went back to bed, only to find her awake again (with the squeeky toy and looking out the windows whispering/talking to her daughter... She left at about 5am as she thought they were coming again and we took her back to the slum.

We took her to hospital the following day, the doctor prescribed some lovely tablets which really calmed her down... She sneaked a drink in so couldn't have them straight away but they certainly knocked her out for the whole night after she had taken them... Went to take her to the Addiction centre in the morning to find her still asleep... To the amazement of everybody.. Unfortunately the centre only admits men so she got a weeks worth of medicine and will be an out patient... Still subdued due to the medicine. Just need to keep her off the gogo juice and try and get her clean... Crossed fingers....

A week later..... Well, the difference is amazing! She is a completely different person, her skin is so much better, she's smiling, her eyes are brighter, it has also helped the children too, one especially who had the weight of the world on her shoulders is now so much happier and she looks 10 years younger (she's only 12/13 anyway) but she was so worried she looked so much older... We took in another father but the doctor was out so we couldn't admit him, if we can have the same effect on him then I'll be signing the whole slum up!!! ) - Just amazed what a difference it has made. Well happy

If you want to help, another way is to give them fruit, nuts, eggs etc to widen their diet to prevent malnutrician....