The only thing that truly disturbed Malte during his years in Delhi was the poverty he saw on its streets.
Every afternoon, on his way home from his privileged school in Chanakyapuri, his car stopped at the same busy traffic light where young children begged for money. Seeing children his own age barefoot, hungry and without access to clean water filled him with questions. Why had he been given such a fortunate life while they had been denied even the most basic necessities?
Together with his sister, Malte decided to do something. They prepared small packets of dry fruits and handed them out to the children at the traffic lights. The smiles they received made them happy, but only for a moment. The packets disappeared within minutes, and nothing changed. Malte realised that while kindness could ease a day’s hunger, it could not change a child’s future.
That changed when his mother began volunteering with Project Why in 2014. Through her, he learned about children from Delhi’s slums who, despite enormous hardships, had been given a chance to learn, dream and build a different future.
One Saturday morning in October 2015, Malte came to Project Why for the first time. He met the children, saw their eagerness to learn and was struck by the joy that filled the small learning centre. A few weeks later, he returned with his Cub Scout group to help whitewash the newly renovated Okhla Centre. Working side by side with the Project Why children, they transformed the building into a colourful and welcoming place. For Malte, it was a revelation. Here was a place where poverty was not accepted as destiny but seen as a challenge that could be overcome. And here, even a ten-year-old boy could make a difference.
But Malte wanted to do more.
Together with his friends Stefan and Scottie, he organised a fundraising campaign in their school. They designed colourful posters explaining the work of Project Why and invited the Project Why children to decorate traditional piggy banks, or gulaks, to collect donations. Then, for an entire week during the cold December mornings of 2015, the three boys stood at the school entrance, encouraging students, teachers and parents to contribute. Their enthusiasm proved infectious. Even the school principal and the American Ambassador stopped to make a donation.
By the end of the campaign, Malte and his friends had raised ₹12,000. The money enabled Project Why to build a bamboo roof over the Okhla Centre, giving the children a sheltered classroom that protected them from Delhi’s scorching summers and chilly winters.
Years have passed, but Malte has remained part of the Project Why family. He still asks about the children he met, enjoys returning whenever he can, and often donates his pocket money to buy school supplies for the centres. Whenever the scale of poverty in India overwhelms him, he looks for another way to help.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson of all. One child cannot change the whole world. But one child can change a small part of it. And for the children whose lives are touched, that small part can mean everything.