Biswajit's Story

As slum children grow up, parental pressure to leave school and start work increases, and the vast majority of young people leave school by the age of 16. A 2017 report found that by the age of 18 years, 30 percent of children drop out of school and are sucked into the child labor industry. Among slum residents, the most common belief about higher education – or even completing school - is that it’s a waste of time and money. Children in the slum are forced to grow up quickly.

That “growing up” can lead to unhealthy and unsafe lifestyle choices, specifically drugs and alcohol.

Tobacco is the most common substance abused by more than half the population. Other drugs include alcohol, marijuana, opiates and sedatives. Recent research shows that alcohol consumption has been reported to be as high as 66% in areas like the Kolkata slum.

Children don’t get to stay children for long.

We want to introduce you to Biswajit Mondal. Biswajit will be 21 this year. He is one of the oldest boys in the Boys Dream Home and has lived there since it was first constructed in 2018.

Biswajit was born and brought up in a very poor family in the Khalpar Slum. His parents earn very meager wages as a water deliverer and a house maid. The eldest of five children, all of whom are living in the Dream Homes, we have really watched Biswajit grow into the caring, responsible and compassionate young man that he is today. Quite different than the boy that we first met. As he grew up in the slum, Biswajit was involved in tobacco, drugs, street gambling and a sexual relationship with a girl in the slum. All of his friends were drop outs and were illiterate.

He became part of the project and SEED in 2009 and then in 2018, he moved into the Boys Dream Home to get better care and a chance at a future.

Since living at the Dream Home, Biswajit has completely changed. He no longer uses drugs or alcohol. He is a quiet leader and will help the Dream Home warden care for and lead the other boys, especially the younger boys. He leads them in activities, chores and prayer. He’s becoming the example the younger boys can look up to.

Biswajit had a real chance of being an alcoholic by 21, but now, being able to live at the Dream Home has given him a new path in life.