Hyderabad: Woman agrees to look after HIV infected boy

Hyderabad: A parentless HIV-infected child got a new home after days of struggle. The 14-year-old, who was rejected by numerous shelter homes and organisations, finally got a new life after being accepted by a 40-year-old widow, also an HIV patient.

This Good Samaritan agreed to provide him with care and shelter after the intervention of a city-based NGO.

Rules require that HIV patients must not be identified by name. The lady, who resides in a single room house in Syed nagar in the Banjara Hills slums, restored everyone’s faith in humanity, when she agreed to take care of the boy, who is also suffering from dementia. Afflicted by severe impairment of memory and speech, he cannot even stand without support. He has no control over his bladder and bowel movements and needs full-time care.

The boy became an orphan when his mother after a sudden cardiac arrest in April. He lost his father 10 years ago, who tested positive for HIV in November 2016.

Mujtaba Askari, founder of Helping Hands Foundation, an NGO, said, “On Friday, a week after his mother’s death, the boy was literally pushed out by his landlords who wanted him to vacate the premises in Sultan Nagar. Left with no choice, we desperately started searching for shelter for this destitute child in and around Hyderabad.”

Unfortunately no Shelter Home in Hyderabad, who specialise in providing care for HIV children, agreed to admit the 14-year-old.

“In one of those ‘homes’ in Uppal, we were asked to come over after the Child Welfare Committee officials directed us to contact them, but when our volunteers reached there, they made the poor helpless boy on a wheelchair wait for 5 hours in the sun and finally refused to admit him, saying that they did not have the facilities to keep sick children,” added Mr. Askari.

Other government shelter homes like the ‘Juvenile home for the disabled’ in the city said they had stopped taking HIV children as they have faced many problems in keeping them. Other shelter homes visited by the NGO were maintained in pathetic conditions.

“At the end of the day, we requested the landlords to allow him to stay there for the night and asked one of our volunteers to sleep with him. On Saturday morning, the 40-year-old widow, who stays with her three daughters, out of which one girl is HIV positive, agreed to provide care and shelter for the boy,” added the founder.

Helping Hands has provided around Rs 10,000 for his expenses for medicines and other needs and also provided services like a television, an air cooler and a cot.

Jason Debora, a volunteer with the NGO, said that the boy is taking time to adjust to his new surroundings. He had not eaten or slept in the new environment for the past 24 hours as he is yet to adapt to the new place.