Coimbatore: Founded in 2011, by husband-wife duo of Riyaz and Marzuk Begam, ‘Mercy Home’ that shelters children and adults tested positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and the couple who run it are looking for a place to call it their home. Social pressure from the public has forced the founders of the home to relocate to a new premises. With little time left, the duo is on the look-out for a new location to move into along with the inmates. Ever since the home opened its doors to kids and adults in Mettupalayam in 2011, it has already shifted several places including from Karamadai, Ramanathapuram, Ganapathy to Puliakulam.
Currently sheltered in a building in Puliyakulam, Marzuk told DC that they have received orders from respective officials to vacate the premises on or before Sunday. Children and adults who are tested positive for HIV and who are abandoned by their respective families are inmates of the home. “From the savings that we have collected over a period of years, we run the home. Our inmates do not cause harm to the public, yet a section of people do not like the idea that a home sheltering the HIV positive is in their neighborhood and following pressure from the public we are force to relocate on a regular basis.”he said. Children inmates of the home are enrolled in a Government school in Puliyakulam. Shanmaguraj, while one of the inmates admitted to the home when he was 18-years-old is currently 22-years-old and is a volunteer here.
