Went on an amazing walking tour of the territory of street children in
Delhi. The Salaam Baalak Trust Organization runs a number of "contact
points" for children in and around the New Delhi Train station. It
gives street children - either orphans, runaways or children of
homeless families - a place to get a hot meal, access to education and
medical care and even the opportunity to live in a shelter home for
those without families. Interacting with the kids was the best part
for me. These were children of homeless families that just hang out on
the railroad platform and in the streets surrounding the station all
day. They were extremely proud to show me how they could count in
English. Then our tour guide took us on a tour through those streets
and up into one of the shelter homes for boys. Our guide, Shahedad,
was a former street kid himself - he'd been in the program for about 9
years. He's an aspiring actor and has already been in a couple of
films and works a part time job. He leads the City Walk tours to
improve his English - which was already excellent, I thought. If
you're ever in Delhi - you've got to go on one of these - see
http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/street_walk_delhi.asp