An Outsider's View

John Mckinzey a volunteer at Salaam Baalak Trust,is from Australia and has been in India for the past 2 months.

His motive to come to India was to get an insight to the plight of the children who run away from their homes and help them in every way he could.


In his view there are 2 primary reasons for kids to run away in the west which are FREEDOM AND DRUGS. He found that the situation in India was very similar too as children here too craved for freedom from poverty, abuse and despair.


He also said that children in the west were more aware of their rights and could not be forced to live in shelter homes like that of Salaam Baalak as the shelter home here is locked all the time and the children are not allowed to move around on the streets at their own will.

“It is more self indulging for westerners to come to India and volunteer rather than other things.”John Mckinzey

He told us about the huge industry in the western countries which connect the interested volunteers to various NGO’s based in India and how the volunteers come to India for a few weeks just for the satisfaction they get. Though these volunteers often are not able to contribute much due to lack of knowledge on what has to be done.

For volunteers of Salaam Baalak and the children“the little everyday achievements are their victories- every time a child laughs, completes a new task, learns a new word, is full from lunch, wakes up from an undisturbed sleep”…-John Mckinzey