Walk along the gloomy lanes
SWATI DAFTUAR
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Salaam Baalak Trust's city walk takes you to the lesser known parts of the city to give you an insight into the lives of the underpriviledged children in the streets.
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A walk : to reality.
Delhi has many faces, and the Salaam Baalak Trust(SBT) let's you experience one such face that otherwise remains in the dark; it lets you see Delhi through the eyes of the countless street children of the city.
SBT with four 24-hour shelter homes and seven care centres (contact points) in south and central Delhi and Gurgaon, completed its 22 {+n} {+d} year last month. Serving over 3,500 street children, the foundation has established itself as a beacon of hope for many children who travel to the capital from all over India, fleeing hardships of all kinds. Easy prey to the evils that lurk in the city, these innocent children find shelter and care with SBT.
Listen to their stories
The SBT city walk, set up by John Thompson who was working with the older boys at the Aasra Shelter of the trust, began five years ago and aims to introduce people, both tourists and Indians, to the side of Delhi that these children live in. The tour is run completely by SBT guides, all of them former street children themselves. Most of the walk will be in and around the crowded New Delhi railway station. They are made privy to the spaces and conditions in which runaway street children live, along with the ways in which the experience transforms and affects them. The guides also share their personal experiences.
The guides themselves are living, breathing examples of SBT's work, their confidence and communication skills reflecting the Trust's hand in steering their lives toward the right course. The project had begun with this objective, to train these youngsters to communicate in English and gain skills. Now, they act as experienced guides, keeping up an easy, honest conversation alive as they navigate through the familiar streets. While walking along narrow lanes and alleys of Paharganj, the tourists, mostly foreigners though the number of Indians is slowly increasing, make stopovers at the small shops and hang-outs that are part of the children's world.
Know their world
The visitors are also taken to nearby shelter homes and contact points, introducing them to the NGO's work. They see children sitting around a colourful classroom, paintings with inspiring slogans lining the walls, and a world where these children can grow up safely. The guides also take questions about the Trust, their own personal lives and anything involving street children.
“I ran away from home , and I share the story of my survival with the people I take on the walks. I tell them about where I lived, what I ate, and why I ran away.” says Satendra, one of the tour guides for the walk.
Almost hundred bookings are made for this two-hour tour every month. The walks are conducted daily and the visitors inevitably walk away from it thoughtfully. “I'm so glad I came for this. It helps that our guide was himself a street child once. When he took us around, I realised he must have gone through the same things. I saw a side of Delhi that I hadn't thought I ever would.” says Sharada, a Delhi University B.A. student.
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