‘Samvedhana’-Bringing a Ray of Hope to the HIV affected Children

By John V. Tauro
Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 15 Jul 2012: Recently, some of the members of the Konkan Overseas Returnees Welfare Association (KORWA) visited ‘Samvedhana’ the shelter for the HIV affected children and spent some time with them.

 

From around 15 years Citizens Alliance for Rural Development and Training Society (CARDTS) Press Association, United Business Media and YMCA Mangalore has been working spreading awareness regarding HIV among truckers, migrants and commercial sex-workers by talking to them and also by explaining to them the ways to prevent HIV by having safe sex.  As the volunteers were conducting these programs and were visiting different houses, they found a girl who was HIV Positive.  Her parents had passed away.  The people who were looking after her requested the volunteers to take the kid along with them to their organization.  Thus, with one girl-child the shelter home ‘Samvedhana’ came into existence in 2003.

 

Within three months after taking into shelter the lone HIV affected girl-child, eight more HIV affected children were admitted as they had no one to take care of them as their parents had fallen victims to the dreaded disease.

 

 

The organization has been passing through difficult phases. The house in which the humanitarian work of giving shelter to the unfortunate HIV affected children was initiated had to be vacated as the owner of the house came to know that the children were affected by the HIV. Thus, the organization had to change four to five houses within a period of one year.

 

As if the apathy of the house owners towards the HIV affected children was not enough, the schools where these children were studying forced them to leave once these schools came to know about the HIV status of the children. In spite of all these difficulties, ’Samvedhana’ has been taking care of the children.

 

Presently, ‘Samvedhana’ is located at Shiv Residency, Near Karnataka Bank Head Office, Pumpwell, Mangalore and has 58 children, 22 of them are females and 36 are males.  In the past 9 years 18 of them succumbed to the disease. The organization is not getting any financial help from the government. The organization runs purely on the voluntary work of its members and is in need of financial support from philanthropists and donors.

 

Contact Number: Tabu: 9964024655