Mission

I began visiting India in 2019, two or three months at a time. In 2024 I moved to Mumbai. I lived there for about two years, married an Indian man, travelled from the south to the Himalayas, and had an ordinary life there rather than a tourist’s one. I have since returned to the United States. Living in India changed how I see India and how I see America, and it was humbling in ways I am still working out.

In that time I repeatedly saw very young children asking for money on the streets and at traffic signals. At first I reacted. Then I got used to it. Noticing that I had got used to it is the reason this project exists.

Everything below is sorted into four boxes: what I saw, what I was told, what I have been able to verify, and what I still do not know. I will not blur them, and if I ever do, please tell me.

I saw children who looked far too young to be alone. I saw the same children in the same places over long periods. I saw adults nearby. I saw people, including me, walk past.

That is the honest limit of what I personally witnessed. I did not follow anyone, I did not investigate anyone, and I did not verify anything.

I heard many explanations. That some children had been brought from villages. That some were born into street life. That some had no parents present. That adults or groups controlled the begging. That children were discouraged from accepting food because money was the point. That they were expected to come back with a certain amount. That after a certain age they became less useful. And once, that the children were part of the aesthetic of India, that they had always been there.

These are things people said to me. Some of them may be true, in some places, some of the time. I am not able to confirm any of them, and I will not present them as facts. Repeating an explanation is not the same as knowing it.

I am also not going to treat any particular child I saw as a confirmed victim of trafficking, because I have no evidence of that and saying it would be a serious thing to say wrongly.

Nothing yet. This section is empty, and it is the most honest part of this page.

When something here can be independently checked, it will appear in this section with the source attached, and it will be dated. Until then I would rather show you an empty box than fill it with things that sound true.

Who these children are. Where their families are. Where they sleep. Whether they are in school. Who receives the money. Whether any particular child is being controlled or exploited. What happens after a child is removed from the street. Which responses actually work, and which cause harm while looking like help.

I would rather say this plainly than perform certainty I have not earned.

People in India have been working on this for decades. Social workers, lawyers, researchers, child-protection professionals, journalists, teachers, and people who lived this themselves as children know things I do not and will not learn from the outside.

My role is to ask, to listen, to check, and to pass the microphone. Not to explain, not to represent, and not to speak for anyone.

Not law enforcement. Not a government agency. Not a charity. Not an emergency service. Not a child-protection organisation. Not a rescue operation. Not an expert on trafficking. Not a saviour.

If any of those descriptions ever become accurate, it will be because a legitimate structure exists behind them, and this page will say so.