Morung Express Feature
Dimapur | June 21
It has been more than a decade since the topic of HIV/AIDS first came up in the Naga society, and the battle against the disease has been relentless and vigorous with the different NGOs, government agencies, church and individuals taking up massive awareness campaigns in the state. However, despite the concerted effort in the fight against HIV/AIDS, one aspect that seems to have been missed out is the issue of children who are infected and affected with the deadly virus.
Taking a walk into the nondescript building that houses the People in Need Foundation, the issue of children infected and affected with HIV/AIDS becomes more vocal and urgent. The Foundation at present has two HIV infected children; one is a four year old orphan who was brought to the centre by his relatives in February 2008. They are being taken care of by a nurse and some helpers.
“I saw him as a four month old baby…and now he is back with us as a four year old child infected with HIV,” narrated Jacinta Telen, the Project Manager of the People in Need Foundation, based in Dimapur. She disclosed that the parents of the boy stayed at the centre for a few months, until they left for their village – both the parents are now dead. The child was brought back to the centre by his grandmother and uncle; they even went to the court disowning him. The child, who has the poignant but innocent look of a baby, is presently undergoing Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART), informed Telen. Another boy of ten years also landed up in the Foundation when he fell sick and was diagnosed with HIV.
The proprietor of the orphanage in which he was staying refused to take him back; he was taken care of some social workers until he was taken in by the People In Need social workers. However, the proprietor of the orphanage visited the Foundation and requested the social workers to take care of the child – who is undergoing DOT – for at least six months so that they can take him back.
“There is no specific programme with regard to children,” lamented Jacinta Telen. She said that most of the funds are meant for the Targeted Intervention (TI) like sex workers, drug addicts and others, while the children have been left out. No wonder it has been reported in the past also that the children affected or infected with HIV/AIDS find few takers in the society, with even orphanages refusing to take the children into their care. Such children infected with HIV/AIDS need special medical care like ART or DOT, which cannot be provided by ordinary orphanages, reasons Jacinta.
Interestingly, the People in Need Foundation – established in 2002 by eleven like-minded social workers in Dimapur – carries out its activities in the field of HIV/AIDS with no funding from any sources except for some churches which donate some cash and materials for the inmates and pocket money from the members and well wishers. Jacinta disclosed that initially they envisaged an initiative where they would make contact with the church and convince them to adopt at least one child and look after their wellbeing while they continued to stay in the Foundation. The response has not been encouraging, she lamented. Nonetheless, with virtually no funding from any sources, the social workers, especially those attached with NEDHIV, contribute whatever money they can and run the Foundation till this date.
The Project Manager of the Foundation, Jacinta Telen, appealed to the society, especially the church, to pray for the Foundation and extend whatever support they can to the Foundation. With the storm of awareness campaigns about HIV/AIDS apparently simmering down in the state and the NGOs fighting in the field of HIV/AIDS, especially the NSACS, concentrating on bigger topics like gays and sex workers, the fate of the children surely cannot be undermined.
“See these children, they don’t have a sense of belonging… they have no one to look after them…we care,” said Jacinta Telen. It is time the societies also take a more empathic outlook towards these children and work out some modalities for these children; otherwise the war against HIV/AIDS in the Naga society will be in vain.
