SIP FOR HONOURS ASSIGNMENT

CYRIL JOS SYBA-70

Organisational Profile Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) is an Indian Non-profit and Non-governmental organization, established in 1988 with the proceeds from the film "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) made on street children by noted film director, Mira Nair , which provides support for street and working children in inner cities of New Delhi, and Mumbai, this includes providing education, basic literacy and schooling, full care facilities for the young (up to 12 years), drop-in shelters for older children, health care and counselling in HIV/AIDS and TB awareness. Today SBT runs, five 24-hour full care shelters for children, with one devoted to girl children (Arushi), in Mumbai, Delhi and Bhubaneswar; five outreach contact points mostly near railway stations and a 24-hour toll-free helpline service, catering to children in distress all over India, in all looking after 5,000 children every year. It is also a project 'H71 partner NGO' of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which whom its runs its 'Kishalaya Centre, and awareness programme at YMCA, Mumbai. Today, SBT children, who have been trained in theatre, dance and puppetry, are giving performances all over the world. History Original established in 1988, to rehabilitate the children who appeared in the film, Salaam Bombay! (1988) in Mumbai, Salaam Baalak Trust started working in 1989, and by 2005 it had seventeen centre for street child throughout India. In New Delhi, SBT started its operations with 25 children in the open-air balcony at the police station at the New Delhi Railway Station, when three trustees inspired by the film, started caring for them. Starting 1999, Family Health International (FHI), with funding from USAID, started working with the SBT, on HIV/AIDS education and prevention, while supplying, street children aged between 4 and 13 with food, medical aid, education, and essential supplies. Over the years its shelters have been visited by various national and international dignitaries, including, Tony Blair and Cherie Blair (2005). Since 2003, it has also been working with volunteers from University College Dublin Volunteers Overseas, (UCDVO) .In 2006, Salaam Baalak Trust won the Civil Society Award from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and UNAIDS . Earlier in March, it started a guided city walk, through the areas managed by the Trust, its shelters, contact points, and areas around the New Delhi Railway Station in Paharganj, where the street children live and earn a living, doing menial jobs, the tour guided by former street children themselves, sensitizing people about the lives of street children in Delhi, and the turnaround possible in their lives, when given an opportunity Its latest home, Arushi, built exclusively for girls, was open in New Delhi, in August 2008, and provides shelter to over 70 girls, the Arushi centre at Gurgaon, also opened in 2008, houses around 45 girls, aged between five and 18.

My role as a volunteer I heard of Salaam Baalak for the first time when a friend mentioned it to me. I went with him to see the place at Charni Road and immediately liked the place brimming with small kids, some in their uniforms. I talked to the chief and enrolled my name for SIP in the NGO.I started work two days later. My time at Salaam Baalak was mainly concerned with teaching children subjects like Hindi, Science, Math and English. I taught some to write Hindi alphabets , read English poems and short stories, do basic multiplication and addition and understand basic geography, solar system and about the human body. Every time I went I would be assigned a kid or two or three of them and I had to spent time with them. Some days we played carrom and one day we played football and it was a lot of fun spending time together. The methods used to teach the children were very simple. You had to come down to their level of thinking, understand their emotions and be patient. In case they found any portion taught tough you had to explain it clearly in Hindi. The small kids especially were restless while you are with them and you had to be really smart to control them.

Reflection and analysis about NGOs intervention Chowpatty Beach is known to the people of the street in Mumbai as it is an area where one can find, food, work and a variety of illegal activity including drugs, gambling and prostitution. Salaam Baalak at Charni Road serves as a day resource centre where it is possible can combat the negative effects of Chowpatty Beach and encourage and motivate the children. At the day centre, kids come for food, change into school uniforms to attend school, get help with schoolwork, do Yoga, play sports, and learn English and much more. There is also a non-formal education program developed to help those kids that cannot, for a variety of reasons, attend a formal school. The curriculum is designed to teach these children to read and write in Hindi, learn basic Math and some English with just a few hours of participation during the week. Balwadi facilities are available for mothers/siblings who want to leave their children in a safe environment while they work on the street. Older children are encouraged to start on vocational training courses and references are given for job applications In the last twenty two years, the Trust has helped thousands of children come off the streets and into a safe and nurturing environment. Today SBT provides a holistic safety net of services catering to the individual needs of street children in Mumbai, covering the entire area of child development from physical and medical needs to encompassing the educational, creative, cognitive, social and vocational needs of the children. With more than 200,000 children living on the streets of Mumbai and children arriving weekly at the doorsteps of the Salaam Baalak centres asking for assistance in some form, Salaam Baalak is as relevant today as it was in 1989.

Reflection and analysis about volunteer involvement in the organisations activities Committed volunteers are an essential aspect for an NGO. Salaam Baalaks volunteers are mainly students studying in various colleges across South Mumbai, mostly from Xaviers. They come after college to interact with and teach children. They are of vital importance as they increase the organisational strength and extend the resources of the NGO.Without volunteer involvement many of the activities planned by the NGO would not have taken place. Many of my peers were working in Salaam Baalak as a part of our SIP and we were very happy to add to the social service the organisation was involved in. We even helped the NGO chief with some work she had to complete. Over time we realised how much we were contributing to a good cause and felt happy about it. A surprising volunteer I saw was a foreign lady who used to be at the NGO every time I went there.

My experience and learning through social service Volunteering with an NGO was a whole new experience for me. Through it, I became socially more aware and felt responsible for the plight of street children in our country. Teaching had always been my passion and when I taught street kids I thought I was doing something not only for them but also for the future and security of our nation. Social involvement programme expanded my line of thinking and brought me face to face with the cold reality that is present in our midst that is there are thousands of children not enjoying a good childhood they are entitled to and made me determined to do something about it. After finishing my SIP, I felt I had participated and contributed to one of the main social issues that have always bothered me child education. Through SIP I have got a much needed experience to improve child conditions in the lower rungs of the society when I could in the future and grow up as a socially aware citizen of the country.