Leaders of previous mission trips have advised us not to give money to the children asking for money on the streets. Instead, we are advised to pay for their food, clothing, or other essential needs. Sometimes the parents are unable to provide adequate care for these children, so they are left to fend for their selves. Other times these children become slowly addicted to "rugby" and leave their homes to join fellow addicts and escape the discipline of their parents. If given money, these children will usually buy more rugby.
The "Rugby boys" are a common collective of children usually seen in the streets of the Philippines. These boys are known for sniffing a glue-like substance to get high (rugby). This substance is cheap and easily accessible, as there is no law prohibiting the sale of the drug to minors, and is significantly cheaper than food. Therefore, these children use the substance to help ease the pain from hunger, neglect, and hopelessness.
The chemical toluene gives the aromatic smell in contact cement and other glue and the culprit behind the addiction. Toluene abusers are exposed to levels above 1000 ppm (parts per million). Levels of exposure greater than 600 ppm cause confusion and delirium. Inhalant abuse causes permanent damage to the brain and may result in “sudden sniffing death”. It can also cause loss of memory, confusion or disorientation, distorted perception of time and distance, hallucination, illusion, nausea and vomiting. Inhalant abuse leads to muscle cramps and weakness, numbness of limbs, abdominal pains, damage to the central nervous system, kidneys and liver.
*Matthew 25:40-45
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