Salaam Baalak Trust

On our second day in India, we participated in a city walk through Old Delhi to learn about a very special and important organization. Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that rescues children in the street and provides them with housing, food, mental health counseling, education, and more. We were guided by an incredibly kind and warm alumnus of this organization whose passion for SBT really shone through him.

On this tour we were able to see Old Delhi which looks vastly different from New Delhi. The 19 of us walked under thick bands of twisted wires, through narrow alleyways, and past bustling storefronts to make our way to the SBT office where the mission of this organization was explained further. Essentially, SBT rescues children living under tough life circumstances in the streets, particularly at Central Delhi Railway Station. The children are then brought to SBT and provided with food and shelter while the center works to locate the child's family. If the children are happy and cared for in their home, they are returned to them after an inspection of the home. SBT does surprise visits to the homes of these children after their return to ensure their needs are being met.

Those children whose basic needs of food, shelter, and education are not met by their families are then taken into SBT to be cared for and provided with those basic necessities. The organization provides the children with a full care program meaning everything they need is provided for them, including education. When the students are around 16, they are provided with job and college counseling to ensure they will be independent upon leaving SBT.

We were fortunate to see firsthand some of the student housing and a brief English lesson. Being able to witness the work that SBT is doing really put in perspective the reality that many children are living every day in India. SBT was the first institution that we visited in India and it inspired me to think about ways that we can help these kinds of organizations' missions from abroad. They accept donations, put on a theatrical act each year to raise money, and often receive support from alumni (the director told us that alumni have been known to donate their first paycheck after they get their first job upon aging out of the organization). Volunteers can also donate their time to SBT. They accept volunteers who can provide life skills, tutoring, healthcare, and more.

I encourage you to look into Salaam Baalak Trust's website to learn about their noble and incredible work. You can read more about everything that SBT does here: https://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/.