Ray Of Hope!

Ray Of Hope!

Life is beautiful, for us, it’s a safe and protected life and there are plenty shades of happiness, Wonderful moments but for a few innocent deprived children, this protection and joyful moment is only a wishful dream. In their life, they face only dejection and darkness.

A few days ago we have organised medical check-up camp under COMAL Project of SNEH Foundation at Phule Nagar which is a slum in Bhosari, Pune. During that, An old lady (Age 78) came to me along with a 12-year-old girl named Bharti (Name changed).

The old lady said "I want to admit her in residential school as I am not capable to take care of her at this age. She is a daughter of my distance relative as both her parents are no more.

When all this discussion was going on, the innocent and helpless eyes of Bharti was speaking a lot, also her eyes were showing reluctance for a stranger. So, I started chatting with her to bridge that gap. I was speechless after talking with her. Her parents passed away when she was 4 years old and her younger brother passed away within the next two months. After that, she was shifted to a different relative for shelter. She changed 4 families in 9 years just for shelter and food. And the unbelievable thing was she had never gone to school at all. Going to school was like a dream for her. After listening to Bharti's journey, I had Goosebumps.

I took guidance from Dr Pramila Pansare Ma'am regarding this case. Dr Pramila ma'am is one of the board of trustees of SNEH Foundation. She suggested me to do HIV test of Bharti. I was shocked. I asked her the reason behind that as Bharti was just 12 years old. So, why does she need to do the HIV test? As per the doctor’s opinion, her parents expired at a very early age and suddenly within 2 months, her younger sibling also expired. HIV infection may be caused due to the infection from mother which is called parenthood HIV infected child.

I have done lots of rehabilitation cases and school admissions but this case was challenging for me due to less knowledge about HIV.

I took 4 days to collect all the necessary information regarding causes, symptoms, test procedure, treatment and rehabilitation of HIV+ children.

After studying I got to know that there are three stages of HIV infection 1. Acute HIV infection, 2. Chronic HIV infection and 3. Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome(AIDS). There are two steps for testing. The first step is to test for HIV specific proteins(Antibodies or Antigens) in blood or saliva. If the test is positive, a second test called a western blot is done to ensure that the first result was correct. There are two centres in PCMC for HIV tests. D.Y. Patil Hospital and YCM Hospital.
I booked an appointment at D.Y Patil and completed all the legal formalities of HIV testing procedure. While testing I saw so many unanswered questions on her face. But I was feeling helpless to answer those questions. But a unique force was standing firmly behind me to handle that heart-breaking moment.

The doctor said it will take a week to disclose the reports of the test. In that period I prepared all the necessary documents of rehabilitation as per the requirement of the Child Welfare Association.
I was waiting for that very moment for which I was scared and when it came it really made my blood ran cold.

Reports were Positive.

After that doctor referred her to HIV counselling department. At that centre, we met with a Soft-spoken, confident, Smiley face with a good personality doctor. She described Bharti about the disease with the help of Charts, Pictures, Motivational videos, and activities. After that session, I saw confidence in her face and a ray of hope in her body language. Immediately, we started giving medicines to Bharti as per prescribed by the doctor.

Next day I visited the Child Welfare Association along with Bharti and her grandmother. We submitted all the documents like case report, home visit report, birth certificate, Aadhar card, medical reports, death certificate of parents and completed all the legal formalities of rehabilitation.
I have solved so many rehabilitation cases via Child Welfare Association but this was the first case in my life which was solved in a single attempt.

Finally, Child Welfare association referred Bharti to "Manavya - Gokul Project". "Manavya" as an institution has accepted the parenthood of HIV infected children and has been working towards their wellbeing since 1997.

"Manavya" admitted her in a school and now she is studying in 6th standard. Dancing, Drawing, Painting are her hobbies. All credit goes to Dr Deshpande Ma'am about her overall growth because Dr Deshpande ma'am is giving more attention and care to Bharti. Dr Deshpande Ma'am is working with Manavya since 8 years as a Medical Officer. Bharti got her own home in the form of Manavya and a beloved mother too in the form of Dr Deshpande Ma'am.

I urge to do the same service throughout my life. And it really strengthened my thought to all this challenging incident.

Thanks to SNEH Foundation for giving me such a huge platform. Special thanks to CEO of SNEH Foundation Mrs Shraddha Deo for her motivation. Thanks to Dr Pramila Ma'am for her valuable guidance.

Hat’s off to Manavya and Dr Deshpande Ma'am for their unique contribution towards the sensitive group of our society.