Contact Point, August 30th 2022
Everyday 50 new children arrive on the streets of Delhi, running from abuse, beatings, and neglect in search of the fantasy city life they imagine. Instead, they face drug use, prostitution, rape, kidnapping, knife fights and illness. They survive on leftovers and earn by begging, pickpocketing, and rag picking. Any money earned is spent immediately, because it would otherwise be stolen from them at night. Money is spent on entertainment and drugs. The cinema gives them a cool, dark place to hide, and drugs help suppress their hunger, or numb the winter cold. Street children are always in a state of fear and emergency.
In 1988, Mira Nair captured street life in her film ‘Salaam Bombay’ which inspired her mom ma’am Praveen Nair to begin the Salaam Baalak Trust. It began with 3 staff and 25 kids and since then they have supported 100,000 children, sheltered 30,000 and reunited 22,000 with family. Their vision is to help children experience their childhood in a safe environment and turn their dreams into reality. The largest part of their work is raising awareness, and building trust with street children and their families, so they take the opportunities of SBT and start to change their lives. SBT offers support unconditionally throughout the life of the child. My research suggests this dedication and lifelong loyalty to the children sets apart SBT.
Priority Work
The top priority is to make sure each child is financially and emotionally independent once they turn eighteen. These shelters are Child Care Institutes and according to the Juvenile Justice Act, a child is someone who “has not completed their eighteenth year.[1]” To prepare children, each shelter offers complete programs in nutrition, arts, education, and rehabilitation. At sixteen, all children begin career counselling and vocational training. J, 25, wanted to be a sportsman, but his counsellor suggested he be realistic about his talent and future. So, he is now working as a tour guide.
‘Dream modification’, as SBT calls it, is important because many kids want to be directors, actors, or cricket stars, which is often an unrealistic path to independence at 18. In the first year, young adults still need additional support while living independently. SBT provides them with bedding, a ration for the month, and covers 50% of the cost of higher education. They support young adults, so they are safe, but as independent as possible.
To help children reach emotional maturity and gain the skills for adult life, SBT offers several, carefully designed, targeted programs. Each child has a counsellor assigned to them, who is responsible for their rehabilitation. Counsellor Mayurima explains that many children have never known trustworthy adults, so it is hard for them to confide in anybody. Counsellors use many different techniques such as games and puzzles, to connect with kids. Psychiatry and Therapy Services are provided to help children overcome psychological issues and manage mental illness or withdrawal symptoms from drug abuse. Finally, SBT provides holistic education for all children. They focus on ways children can rejoin formal education, but they also recognize that every child has unique strengths and interests and empower children to select their own path.
Children who have survived the streets and joined the trust are keen to move to a better life. Often, they want to grow and develop to support siblings or other family members. One girl’s mother works in a prostitution house to support her children. All money she earns is only given to her in the form of a loan, and she is trapped in a cycle of constant exploitation. Her daughter is working hard to rise and develop herself, so one day she can support her siblings and relieve her mother from this work.
Building Trust
The foundation of all work the Salaam Baalak Trust does is to build trust with street children, and once traced, their families. Trust is most important because children must willingly 50% cost of education enter the shelter, otherwise the NGO cannot do anything. Children willingly co-operate in an inquiry where if the Child Welfare Committee decides “the said child has no family or ostensible support, it may [will] allow the child to remain [live] in the children's home”[2] . It is a difficult, frightening decision for the children to make because they must give up their freedoms and join the shelter home for several years or months until they come of age. Once they are in the care of the NGO, they can no longer willingly leave the shelter. The NGO will do the best to take care of them, and make them comfortable, or place them in a better place for rehabilitation, but once they enter that system, tabs will be kept on them, and they cannot revoke the initial decision.
The keystone for building trust is contact points. Here children can have a meal, talk to SBT counsellors, and see how classes run. There is cute, colorful art on the walls, it is safe and cool, unlike the noisy, hot, sweaty streets. To begin building a relationship with street children not yet in the program, SBT offers emergency medical care at contact points. Whereas a typical hospital may report an injured child to the police, SBT provides care without interfering in the child’s life This gives the most vulnerable street children a safe place to go to, and gradually, they begin to trust.
Building a Home
I asked my guide why SBT puts such an emphasis on performing arts programs, as most schools I knew don’t. She explained that SBT “isn’t a school, it’s like a home”. It was my own misconception; I had focused on the outcomes and success stories. But really the function of a home is to give someone a place they can always come back to, and always be a part of. SBT has a policy that they will not decline any request for help from a child, or someone who was once in an SBT shelter. Some people come back many years later to talk about marriage problems, or challenges with their own kids and the trust will always help. A counsellor gave the example of a woman who was 50 years old and had 2 children. Her husband had abandoned her, and she was not in fit state to look after her children, so she returned to SBT for support. They placed in her in a home for adults and help put her children in foster care.
For immediate issues, SBT operates a 24-hour helpline called Childline (1098) where any child receives help in one hour, for any issue.
Children see that SBT takes responsibility for their wellbeing, can be reached at any time and will be there as a source of support for their lifetime.
Inspiration
Young adults who are successful when the leave the shelter become important role-models for younger kids. “Ask any kid on the street, here, my name and they’ll know who I am” says J as he proudly tells me of the reputation he has on the streets. He is filled with gratitude for SBT. Now he uses his experience to help other kids make the same transition he did. There are many success stories at SBT, all of which help show children what is possible and find belief in themselves. To hear a first-hand account of a young adult’s journey, including their time at SBT and life on the streets: take a city walk tour. It is a 2 hour long, guided tour, given by an SBT alumni.
Salaam Baalak means a salute to the children, a recognition of their fundamental rights, potential and worth. Salaam Baalak Trust provides a path to financial and emotional independence as an adult for every child under their care. At SBT, children are given unconditional acceptance, love, and support for their lifetime. Some children go on to succeed well in life, but others struggle to move forward from the trauma of their past. SBT does everything they can to help street children and give them hope. Building trust with children and where possible their families is the foundation of their work. Most crucially, they create a home and a second family for the children. They are working towards a future where there is no child left on the streets of India.
Still from Salaam Bombay- Children safe and happy.