Opportunities

We see beggars every day. Small children are born into poverty living on the street fighting for survival. Their futures seem to be non-existent. Do they have a chance to get a brighter future away from the slum? 

Salaam Baalak Trust

Salaam Baalak Trust helps children living on the street. They give them a home and teach them. We were on a city walk in the slum with two former slum kids as our guides.  They told us their amazing stories and how they went from being poor children living in the slum to educated and happy young men. We met some of the organization's small boys as well. They each had their own sad past, but their happy faces and eagerness to communicate with us, showed us their life courage. They all had dreams; some wanted to become a Bollywood star and others a pilot. Salaam Baalak Trust has given these children a chance to get a life out of the slum and to make their dreams come true.  

2l at Salaam Balaak Trust.

Rebecca plays with 3 boys at Salaam Balaak.

Inclusion at Amar Joyti

Amar Joyti is a school for children with different disabilities. The school has many facilities to help the children: such as physiotherapy, x-ray, dentist and a factory for making artificial limbs.  The children are taught how to take care of themselves. E.g. they learn how to use braille or sign language. This gives them the ability to live an as normal life as possible and also improves their confidence. There are also children without any disabilities. We watched as all the kids playing together in the schoolyard. This is a fantastic example of inclusion.  

The organizations have given opportunities to those who didn't have any in the first place. The children that did not have any future now believe in a brighter life.

2l dancing at Amar Jyoti with the children

Corruption

One of the main issues for the poor people in India to get as many opportunities as possible is corruption. For instance the wealthier parents can pay the schools or universities their children are applying to, so they easily can get in without the principals questioning anything. We already knew that corruption is one of the main issues of India, but we hadn't experienced it before today.

The lights of Diwali brighten up the streets in Delhi. But the policemen took advantage of this to earn a bit of extra money. So when the bus driver decided to park just next to a "no parking and no stopping sign" just in front of a police station he had to pay a fee. The policemen wanted 10.000 Rupees if our driver should have his licence back. The fee is normally much lower, around 200-300 Rupees, but because of the Diwali they could claim more. They also knew how desperate we were to get the bus back so they tried to make us pay even more than others. Thanks to our guide we ended up paying "only" 3000 Rupees. While the guide and the bus driver were at the police station we all waited outside in the sun. After one hour they finally came back and we could move on.  

The police make a great business out of this and  kk living in the slum to genuiein the slum to genuisly mazing stories y have a chance to a brighter future? a lot of people were waiting to get out from the police station.

Waiting for the bus

Clara S, Marie & Mina