OPS SCREENING NIGHT - NOVEMBER 07

In November the One Percent Scheme staged an exhibition of photographs in aid of one of its nominated charities, the Salaam Baalak Trust, which works with street children in Delhi; the photographs were by one of its recent beneficiaries, Vicky Roy.

The week-long exhibition was launched on 19th November at the Nehru Centre, with a fund-raising screening of the film Salaam Bombay, the acclaimed tale of a runaway child’s struggle for survival after arriving in the big city.  Apart from being a powerful film in its own right, this was an excellent tie-in since it was the efforts of the director, Mira Nair, to help the real-life street children she used in the cast that led to the founding of the Trust almost exactly twenty years ago.

 The number of children who run away from home in India, and the stories they have, have not changed much since then: it is only due to the work of the Trust and other similar organisations that nowadays new arrivals have a greater chance of being given a route off the streets and a chance to fulfil their considerable talents. 

Vicky Roy himself ran away to Delhi from his village in West Bengal aged about 13, to escape a life of hunger and a chronic lack of opportunity.  After about a year surviving by ‘rag-picking’ – collecting re-usable items like plastic bottles from piles of rubbish – or through a job washing dishes, he joined one of the Trust’s shelter homes, went to school, and one day attended a workshop given by a visiting British photographer that inspired him to take up his present career.  His first exhibition, Street Dreams is a collection of black-and-white portraits of street children which highlights both the daily struggle for survival and their dreams for the future. 

The main speech was delivered by Surina Nirula, who is co-chair of the Consortium for Street Children.  As a result of high-profile society fundraising events, she has raised over £1,000,000 for projects worldwide, yet she knows the work of the Trust extremely well, having spent six months observing its projects in and around New Delhi Railway Station as research for her Masters in social anthropology.

 About 100 visitors came to the opening event.  They bid in a silent auction for prints from the exhibition, which was highly successful.  Along with entry receipts and other donations, the event raised around £1400 which will be divided between the Trust and Vicky Roy himself.

Vicky, who currently divides his time between freelance work and as assistant to portrait and fashion photographer Anay Mann, was not able to be in London but was delighted by the success of the event.  As for the Trust, its share of the proceeds should be sufficient to provide food, clothing, shelter and education for a year to two young children.