Discussions with the young daughter of a drug addict

By Reza Ganjavi

Today as I took off my t-shirt to hike the mountain way home a young girl came and said she was hungry. She was 13. We talked for a good while. Her father's been in jail for 3 years. Her mom works a lot to support herself and her 2 daughters, the younger one being 10. She was a brilliant girl - very intelligent and beautiful. Having seen the tragedy of her father who was a heroin addict she hates drugs. Her 15-year-old boyfriend who just dumped her for her best friend smokes pot but not her. "Be careful about your friends - good friends help you, bad ones break you", I told her.

She SAID: "All the boys and girls smoke when they have a problem. But the problem doesn't go away. When the effect of the drug wears off the problem is still there. I play guitar instead.

She thinks her mom doesn't know about the dad being in jail.

She went upstairs once to get some bread from a man (of specified ethnic origin), and she saw her cat on the table and asked to have it back. The man said it was already dead - he had boiled it to eat it - and offered her money instead. "I cried for a year" she said. "He ate 5 cats."

Her dad was quite violent. He threw the new poppies to the wall and killed them and had the mother dog put out by the doctor because he didn't like it. He stabbed her mom. "I had to think if I should report to police, and I did". He also stabbed her when she asked him to leave the mother alone. I saw the knife marks. She has a tiny bit of love for him. During her exams and studies, she keeps writing "dad". And thinks: "I don't understand why you need the drugs. Why?" When he tried to hug her she refused: "I don't need you anymore".

Her mom ok's sex if she takes the pill and if the boy has AIDS test. I told her not to rush to grow up. Each age has its beauty. And condoms are better than the pill which has a lot of side-effects.

There's a 15 year old Nazi in her school who comes around with a baseball bat. "He asks if I'll play. If I say no he hits me, and if I say yea, he hits me. I finally got tired of it and hit him back and he doesn't come around anymore".

She got into fights with her sister who threw knife and hammer which hurt her.

Gave her a franc and some bread - she didn't seem too hungry.