BHAWANIPATNA: ORPHANED by AIDS and abandoned by society, 11 HIVpositive children were left to fend for themselves when Saroj Das took them under his wings. Now, as inmates of Prayash, with a roof over their heads, free food, education and medical care, they are looking forward to a future of hope and opportunities. Prayash was set up by Das at Sambhu Nagarpada in Bhawanipatna in 2015 for HIV positive and AIDS affected children, whose parents have succumbed to the disease and extended family members have abandoned them fearing social stigma. All the inmates are in the age group of seven to 14. Seven of them are from different villages of Kalahandi, two from Balangir and one each from Khurda and Nabarangpur.
Sangita (name changed), aged 14 and a student of the girls high school here, and her younger sister were left at the shelter home by one of their relatives after their parents died of AIDS. Besides studies, Sangita has also excelled in fine arts with training at the shelter home. “We do not know what the future holds for us but life now is beautiful. All of us are like one large family,” she says with a smile.
Das says the society still does not accept HIV positive/AIDS affected children, who are suffering for no fault of theirs, due to the stigma attached to the disease. Prayash was born out of the need to give these children a new life.
“Here, apart from providing them shelter, nutritious food, education and proper medical care, we are working towards mainstreaming them. The children are studying in government schools and fortunately, none of them has faced discrimination by teachers, students or the school management committee members,” he says.
Every month, the children undergo checkup at the anti-retroviral treatment centre at Balangir and a CD4 (cluster of differentiation 4) test in every six months. Although there is an anti-retroviral treatment centre in Bhawanipatna, it does not have provisions for CD4 and related tests.
Das has hired five staff - four caretakers and a cook - at the shelter home. Funds for managing Prayash comes from voluntary donations and Good Samaritans, who come forward to offer monetary help and
clothes to the children every month.
While rice is supplied to the shelter home by the Food Supplies Department, medicines are provided to the children free of cost by the anti-retroviral treatment centre in Bhawanipatna. A group of artists visit the shelter home every weekend to teach children art and other vocational activities.