Day 1 began with a City Walk tour at 10am.  The City Walk tour is a tour given by former street kids that have been saved by the Salaam Baalak Trust.  The tour takes you through an area of Delhi called Phararganj which is near the New Delhi railway station where many of the street kids first arrive in Delhi from their villages.  The kids tell you about street life, why kids end up on the streets and how they survive.  They also tell you about the Salaam Baalak Trust, the work they do and they take you to a contact point at the railway station where they first make contact with the boys when they arrive and you can see first hand how they begin to develop a relationship of trust with the boys. They also take you to a full care shelter for boys run by the SBT and let you interact with the kids.  Lastly, the tour guide tells you his personal story of how he ended up on the streets and how he came to live and triumph at the Salaam Baalak Trust. The tour is very well done and nothing like anything else in Delhi. I was very impressed with the boys.

Next, I met with Poonam, the volunteer coordinator, to discuss where my help was most needed during my time with SBT. Given my business background and education she suggested that I work with the older boys on the City Walk Tour.  There are about 9-10 of them that are either current guides or in training to become a guide.  They need help with their high school studies, English reading, writing, pronunciation and grammar, and perfecting the script and presentation for the tour. We talked about each boy and his level and needs.  We developed a schedule so I could work 1×1 with each of the boys several times per week.  I will begin each day at 10:30am and end at 5pm with a break for lunch.

So, with that all settled…my work with SBT begins…