Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT)
Project: Setting up a contact centre for street children at Old Delhi Railway Station
http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com
Having worked for SBT last year and got to know a fair bit 
about
the organisation, the people running it and the kids that benefit
from it I can say confidently and without any reservation whatsoever
that it really is a fantastic outfit.
Seeing on the one hand the poverty and destitution that is everyday life for the street children in and around the railway stations in Delhi and on the other the happy, confident and successful young people that emerge from the shelter centres run by SBT, the transformation is nothing short of incredible.
SBT: Established in 1988, Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) is a Non-
profit NGO, working with street children in and around New Delhi
Railway Station. Annually it reaches out to about 4000 children,
providing shelter, food, medical aid, repatriation, sports, entertainment,
etc. The Trust runs four shelters, two for boys, one for girls
(both residential) and one drop in centre. It also provides a
telephone help line service for children in distress.
SBT’s mission is to create a nurturing environment that
can foster normal physical and mental growth of such children
to allow them to regain their self-confidence and to return to
the mainstream society and eventually contribute to its development.
Our Project:
The first stage in getting kids, some of them as young as five, away from the
dangers of the street life is getting them to one of the contact centres
where they can learn about SBT and receive counselling, given first aid,
treated for STD’s and other ailments, basic education, vocational training
and then introduced to the shelter homes and where appropriate some kind
of employment.
The contact point at New Delhi railway station is a hive of
activity, with staff and volunteers assisting children who
are quite clearly overjoyed to come across the kind of safe,
caring and trustworthy environment they has been absent from
there lives for too long.
This year SBT hopes to open a similar centre in Old Delhi railway station where the situation for street children is equally dire. More than 2000 children live in and around the station area with about 20 new children arriving every day. The project would feed and support 20-25 children a day for 6 days a week.
Dushyant, our contact at SBT, has been extremely enthusiastic and helpful in his response to our invitation to apply for funding and has sent us a detailed budget plan for the new centre (to see this click here ). The total running costs for the whole thing for one year is around £2400, a figure that, if we continue to grow at our current rate, we can go a long way towards covering. GET THIS - At the very least we can: feed 25 children a day for a year! Pay for their medicine, first aid and personal hygiene equipment for a year! A monthly local outing, sports and games equipment as well as covering the running costs for the centre (phone bills, postage etc). NO BAD HUH!
One other really important issue we look for in potential causes is how they approach the sustainability element of their projects and the projects we would help with. We make it clear that our support is only for 12mths and plans for the funds we donate should be made accordingly. Gladly, SBT also feel strongly about this and have informed us that since its inception in 1988, no projects/programmes that have been started have ever been terminated due lack of funding as they always plan There has been a sound back-up system is been framed to sustain the project if funding stops. Thus, as they told us ‘’the support from One Percent Scheme would be a massive help in developing this initiative and establishing a contact point at Old Delhi but there won’t be any harm to the project in the long term if the support stopped after 12mths.
From all of our dealing with SBT we are confident that it would be an excellent partnership, where our money could make a huge difference enriching the lives of many children who without SBT would endure lives of constant danger and hardship. Should SBT be voted in we would certainly look into the possibility of a project visit. Lastly, SBT is always on the look out for enthusiastic volunteers that are passing through Delhi, another angle of OPS that we are looking to develop.
Marcus Fairhurst , Jan 2007