Children on the Streets
FACILITATOR
ActionAid India invited me to spend six months working with them in 2003/4, to facilitate participatory video projects with street children in Delhi and those affected by the anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002.
Ek Jalak Patri Ki (A View of the Street) is the outcome of several months work with a five homeless children, from different areas of Delhi’s inner city areas, aged between 15 and 17. It was devised, written, filmed and directed by the children to share the problems faced by the ever-increasing population of street and working children in India’s urban areas. It draws from their own experiences and those of their friends and other children they encountered during the filming process.
Hear you will find the reality of life lived by the boot-polishers, street vendors and ragpickers as told by themselves and their friends. Rather than echoing the policies or perspectives of institutes or organisations this film is the clear voices of those children in society who deserve our utmost attention.
“Before I worked with Gareth and ActionAid, I lived on the streets of New Delhi having lost my family at a young age. Gareth helped to enrol me at a boarding school and has supported me throughout my life. Today, I am a senior chef at a top-end European restaurant and own my own home.”