To my wife’s credit, she had no intention of making this a lifelong habit. It just happened. She confessed to me the overwhelming sense of lightheaded dizziness which required her to roll down the car windows. Driving under the influence of glue was clearly dangerous. Before I move forward with this story, let me set the scene.
While serving in Nairobi, Kenya, we would often interact with young men and women and even boys and girls living on the streets. We would awaken on some mornings, take them breakfast and on several occasions do clinics on the streets. We would provide them with whatever medications we could fit into the trunk or back seats of our cars. We would also cook big pots of stew and loaves of bread for them to eat while standing in line to be seen by us and the volunteer doctors and other students.
We wanted to add a little lightheartedness to these occasions. We would bring games and if we could find a reasonable site, hold parties, outside picnics and on one occasion use the building of the YMCA. That’s when it happened.
We understood the YMCA would not allow glue sniffing in their buildings. We required everyone to surrender their bottle of glue before entering the building. There was no safe place to store their intoxicants. So, we made the Solomon like decision to put them in the back of our car. Several dozens of bottles of glue were placed in a closed environment heated by the sun for much of the morning hours. It just so happened that we required more food for the occasion and my wife was tasked with going to the store to purchase these extra items. Within less than one minute of driving she recognized something was wrong. She rolled down the windows it was the only way she could accomplish this otherwise simple errand. She returned to the site, safe and sober.
At the end of the event after everyone was well fed and had played several games with balloons, soccer balls and field activities, it was time to go home. At least Kay and I went home. Those living on the streets returned to the streets. They slept under trees, in the alleyways on the doorsteps of local shops. They returned to being harassed by police, security guards, shopkeepers and ordinary citizens.
They returned to the hunger and deprivation that we tried to stave off for a few hours of a single day of the year. We recognized we had done nothing to address the long-term situation. We must give them their bottles of glue. They deal with the reality by trying to escape it with getting high. It would be unfair for me to tell them stop using glue unless we could help them escape with better alternatives. That life would require changing the attitude of the entire system that ignores their humanity. I would like to tell them to just stop!
Upon our return to Philadelphia three years later we found the same type of deprivation amongst the poor. The difference here is that many of them have jobs, houses, access to food and even healthcare. However, they are still using legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, and of course the legal and illegal intoxicants purchase off the corner or by prescription. Again, I would like to tell them to just stop! I don’t dare do that, unless I can address what is driving them to sniff, snort, smoke, swallow and shoot things into their veins and skin which ultimately hurt them. Many of them have been impacted by sexual abuse, murder, incarceration within their own homes. Families have disintegrated, justice systems have exploited and healthcare systems have disappointed. They find living on the streets no worse than living in homes without heat, water or roofs. The shelters have very limited personal space, no security for belongings, and often smell worse than open air vents.
It was easy for Kay not to become addicted. She just had to roll down the window, hand back the bottles of glue and return to a house full of food, soft mattresses, warm blankets and clean water. So even when I see those living on the streets here at home, I must recognize that unless I am willing to meet or understand their needs, I dare not take away the things that provide them comfort.