Salaam Balak Trust Q1 2009

National Bravery Award

  A child currently in the care of SBT has been awarded with the National Bravery Award after helping police to try and uncover terrorists behind a bomb attack last year. Rahul, 13, (his real name cannot be used for his protection) received the 2008 National Bravery Award for children of courage in India from the Vice-President of India, Mohammed Mahid Ansari (pictured).  Rahul was one of a group of street kids who came to non-formal education classes at the SBT contact point at Hanuman Mandir.  He had lived on the streets for years since losing his parents, and used to sell balloons in nearby Connaught Place. Then, in November, he was confronted by terrorists who asked him to carry a bag.  Not only did he refuse to carry what turned out to be a bomb that killed six people, but he then helped police draw up the photo fit IDs of the suspects.  Unfortunately, some of the Indian media were irresponsible enough to broadcast his name and picture, despite the danger this placed him in as a witness to the still unidentified killers.  As a result, he now lives in a shelter home – Apna Ghar – and has armed police protection.  On Republic Day he took pride of place, along with the other recipients and the usual thousands of soldiers, in the ceremonial procession through Delhi.  (In any of the previous years he would have been on an elephant, but elephants were ‘off’ this year for some reason..).   As is often the case with street kids who have had to fend for themselves since very early in life, Rahul has a maturity beyond his age, is now getting on well with education and seems entirely unfazed by all of this.

Impact of Recession
 
The recession continues to have an impact on SBT’s funding.  One company which was substantially funding two of the shelter homes has halved its grant, and the Trust has found it difficult in the first months of 2009 to meet even some regular and essential expenditure on time, such as staff costs.

Extra Government Funding

However, there is better news from the Government planning commission on women’s and children’s affairs – where Dushyant Meher, formerly the SBT staff member who liaised with the One Percent Scheme, is now working.  In one of the final acts to be signed off by the Finance Committee of the outgoing government, the state will significantly increase the daily rate which SBT receives for each child in a shelter home.  Such government funding only provides a minor share of what SBT requires to operate, but clearly any increase is very welcome.  Hope to have an update for the next quarter on exactly what this will mean in practical terms.

Dance Craze

There have been some great opportunities recently for SBT children to be involved in dance.  As well as a mixture of Bollywood-style numbers, choreographed by SBT beneficiary Avinash, which some of the children have been performing to various audiences since last November, a group of eighteen boys and girls have spent six months training in a very different style with Astad Deboo, India’s leading contemporary dancer / choreographer.   The end result, an hour-long show called Breaking Boundaries, was performed in April to a packed house including Delhi’s chief minister; Astad will later be taking the children on tour outside Delhi.

SBT enters the Wifi Age

Computers and IT facilities at the shelter homes have suddenly sprouted everywhere since late last year.  Before, children only had access to one computer room, at Aarmaan, and that only had six old PCs.  Now, there is a multimedia centre at Apna Ghar in a dedicated room with ten new PCs, all the relevant software, and a dedicated multimedia teacher.  The girls at Arushi also have their own new centre with PCs and laptops – and it now seems they may have sprung directly into the WiFi age by taking advantage of the neighbouring houses’ wireless networks.. And even Aasra, the shorter-term shelter for younger children, now has four new PCs which are proving very popular.  Apna Ghar has also received a huge widescreen TV and DVD player – only for educational use, of course.  All of this equipment only works when there is power, so fingers crossed that the forecasted 'even-hotter-than-usual' summer does not result in too many hours when the computers, fans, lights, fridges and so on all go off.

Slumdog Impact

An unexpected consequence of the worldwide popularity of Slumdog Millionaire has been a great increase in interest in SBT's City Walks. The walks - the idea of a British volunteer to SBT called John Thomson - take visitors and tourists around the less-publicised areas of Delhi to allow a small glimpse into Indian street life and the experiences of Delhi's homeless children. An excellent article on the subject was published in one of India's national newspapers, The Hindu - here is the link: www.hindu.com/mp/2009/05/04/stories/2009050450460100.htm.

SBT Mobile School

Finally, in an earlier update I mentioned the mobile school – converted from a Delhi school bus – which SBT operates in four different areas around Delhi to encourage wider access to education.  But there was no photo...  so here it is!