A year ago, the boy’s mother went missing; after her disappearance the boy was informed that she had been arrested over the border in India for possession of heroin. The sentence handed to her was for a minimum of 5 years, to be carried out in an Indian prison. With this news, the boy’s father left to find work as a truck driver – he has not been seen since. He has not yet sent any money back, and the boy assumes that as the father was an alcoholic, no money will be sent.
The young boy now stays with a very poor neighbouring family, who are not counted as his legal guardians. He also has a 12 year old sister, who has also sought shelter with another neighbouring family. The man in the photo is part of the family the boy is staying with. He runs a corn selling stall, and this is where we first observed the boy – the boy does not work, but hangs around the stall most days.
Unfortunately, the man seems unhappy with the situation; on top of having very little money to feed his own family, he claims that the boy has begun to steal from him on a regular basis. Whatever the truth, certainly the young boy’s future remains unstable.
