In a recent post I mentioned that we took in a foster daughter a few years ago, and we have been through many struggles together. One of the central struggles has been our young Shadia's battle with Borderline Personality Disorder.1 It was the impetus for a lot of tears in our family. But also a lot …
8am Peregrine accompanies our friend Shazia and her three-year-old to the hospital. Two months ago he fell off a roof, since then he has miraculously recovered from life-threatening brain trauma. God willing, nothing more from the doctors is necessary. But it has been impossible for Shazia to get answers. She is ignored like a nobody, asked for …
Four years ago, Peregrine was present when our teenage neighbor went into labor. The young woman's previous hospital childbirth had been so abusive that this time she insisted on giving birth at home attended by untrained local women. Peregrine was with her at the birth and helped as she was instructed. The baby died. The …
When we were first planning to move into a slum, the OG’s who advised us on how to get started kept repeating the same refrain. “Don’t do anything.” For the first year or two, don’t do anything at all. Don’t start a business. Don’t start a school. Don’t start a service. Don’t start a project. …
I am a poor language learner.1 This weakness has led to much discomfort and occasional hilarity.2 Our first year or two in the slum was especially trying. Soon after we had planted ourselves in a new city (after the episode Peregrine wrote of here), our landlord Gulshan decided that we needed a real window. The …
A post by Peregrine. Today I look back on it as my first of two Dark Night of the Soul seasons. At the time, I despaired my plummeting capacity to even be alive, my desperation for support, understanding, and air in the suffocating heat, my experience of myself as only a burden on those I …
Stranger in a Slum 