City Walk gives livelihood back to street kids

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Story by Carly Shinn | Photos by Sarah Miller

Iqbal knows first-hand about the streets of Delhi. At age 5, he began to live, work and sleep on them.

Iqbal, 19, now works as a guide for City Walk, a program sponsored by Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps street kids with education, medical attention, shelter and hope. Established in 1988, the group works with 3,500 kids in New Delhi today.

City Walk’s guided tour reveals street children at the New Delhi Railway Station and surrounding streets. With former street kids as guides, the tour explains why kids end up there, how they survive and what is being done to help them. The experience gives visitors a taste of street life through a street kid’s eyes and shows the contact points and shelter homes that the Trust provides them. The tour also helps the trust through a 200 rupee, about $4, fee plus donations.

“Don’t give to the beggars,” Iqbal said. “They will use the money on the wrong things.”

How they get on the streets

“Some children want to become Bollywood stars, so they come to the cities,” Iqbal said. “They don’t realize the challenges they will face when they get here.”

An estimated 18 million children call the streets of India home. Children wind up on them because of abandonment, getting lost or by choice. Once there, they can find abuse, drug addiction and prostitution. Iqbal said they also find glue, cocaine and heroine. Finding meals, surprisingly, is not an issue.

“Food is not a problem for them,” Iqbal said. “In India we have temples that supply free food. “

The problem, Iqbal explained, is that street kids have nowhere to save the few rupees they earn each day doing odd jobs like recycling, washing cars, manning stalls or stealing. So they spend their money on movie theaters and video games. Both provide escape.

“The children enjoy going there because they can imagine their lives as something else,” Iqbal said.

Once they’re found

As Iqbal navigates the busy streets of the tour, he recalls his personal story. He remembers hunger and fear and nights spent sleeping on trains.

“One time the ticket collector came to my room and I was very scared because I didn’t have a ticket,” Iqbal said. “I jumped off the train and injured myself. I was unconscious, taken to a hospital and spent six months in recovery.”

Dr. Viraj has worked with Salaam Baalak Trust for five years, giving physical examinations to children found at the railway station or on the streets. He provides medical assistance when needed, often for infections and mental health problems from neglect or abuse.

Back at the shelter home and main offices of Salaam Baalak Trust, Iqbal points out a board filled with success stories. He hopes to be up there one day. Iqbal is one of the lucky ones. He attended school thanks to Salaam Baalak Trust and plans to finish his education to become a software engineer.

“My work is to motivate children to return to their homes or to find another place for them to stay,” he said.

Visitors from 59 countries have come to Delhi and taken the City Walk tour. A map on the wall also shows the faces of volunteers from throughout the world.

A packed schoolroom in the Saalam Balaak Trust shelter sits listening to a Hindi lesson when Iqbal interrupts to ask what the boys want to be when they grow up: doctors, scientists, teachers, Spiderman. Or Batman, maybe Harry Potter.

One 7-year-old boy named Pan Kaj wants to become a soldier “to catch thieves.”

The odds are against him.

“Sometimes they might feel like failures,” Iqbal said, “but we always encourage them to try again.”