AWARE has borne the costs of this shelter home, rehabilitating children of HIV+ parents.
The shelter is a well-managed home with 33 boys, some of these children are orphans, and some have only one parent and all have at least one parent who is HIV positive.
After serving the HIV-affected children during the difficult times of the Covid pandemic, the shelter home has almost returned to normalcy. During the pandemic, though there were severe restrictions on visitors, about social distancing and sanitisation, the Home sheltered some children who had no place to call ‘home’ to go to! The district collector had also sought support of the Samadaan Shelter Home to be used for children who lost one or both parents to Covid. However, this was not required, but it was an honour that the State Government considered Samadaan fit for this service.
One big change now at Samadaan is that, unlike the pre-pandemic times, only boys are sheltered here. This followed a stricter rule under the J. J. Act to separate boys and girls for their physical safety. Currently, 33 boys stay at the home and go to schools regularly.
Apart from Samadaan, at Samvedana, a shelter home for HIV-infected children, 38 boys and girls live and go to school along with their HIV treatment. Samvedana is located at Mangalore. So, in Kranataka, TAF supports 71 children at two different shelter homes.
