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by Jaimie Shaff
Shakuntala before surgery
We’ve all played the classic game “heads, shoulders, knees, and toes (knees and toes!)” Actually, I’ve been so wrapped up in adulthood, I had forgotten about it. One night when we visited the Bhil Academy, I saw Naiara playing the game with the smallest kids and remembered singing the song with my cousins and preschool students, back in the day. Part of the song goes “eyes and ears and nose and mouth…” and the children point to the respective parts of the face. Two eyes. Two ears. One nose. One mouth. Something so simple, most of us don’t even think about the meaning.
Shakuntala after surgery
For children born with cleft palates, the song is not so simple. The physical deformity is visually shocking, and can cause much stigma against the child throughout life. From what we have seen in rural India, when the child is first born, parents don’t know what to do or how to feed the baby, and some children end up severely malnourished. As the child grows up, he or she is often ostracized from his/her peers, leading to delinquency and absence from school. As an adult, the acceptance into society is reduced, and all social aspects of life are affected. For women in our region, a cleft palate is a serious burden to bear, increasing risks such as domestic violence and job discrimination.
Sharikia before surgery
Fortunately, a solution is simple. A procedure that takes only 30 minutes can change the entire future for a child. Unfortunately, the knowledge of available services and access to such is not widespread in rural areas, and the burden of a curable birth “defect” adds weight to an already difficult life.
20 February 2011, SmileTrain and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital held a health screening in Meghnagar for cleft palates, heart conditions, thyroid issues, and other ailments not screened for at rural health centers. Our nutrition team arranged for three children from three districts to be screened for cleft palate operations, and the team at CHL-Apollo offered to operate on any children we brought with us to pre-op.
Sharika after surgery
On Wednesday, Naiara, Edith, Pushpa, Manisha, and myself brought four children from the districts of Jhabua, Khargone, and Barwani to CHL-Apollo for pre-op (three children were sick and had to be postponed).
17 March 2011, all four children received successful operations for their cleft palates. Thanks to the incredible support and efforts by SmileTrain and the team of CHL-Apollo, the lives of Shakuntala, Sharika, Pepita, and Pipu will be forever changed.
Pepita before surgery
I was absolutely overwhelmed with the quality of care and attention provided by CHL-Apollo, and am so grateful to see the generosity and compassion that exists in the world. Out of all of the experiences I’ve had working here, this was certainly one of the best.
Pepita after surgery
Three of the children will be receiving a second surgery in June, and three more children are in line for their first. We can’t wait to see their new smiles!
A special thanks goes to Mr. Rajul Bhargava, Dr. Jaideep Chauhan, the team at CHL-Apollo, and the staff of Hotel Infiniti for all that you did to make this possible.
SmileTrain’s website can be found here: http://www.smiletrain.org and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital can be found here: http://www.chlhospitals.com
For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here and the Bhil Academy click here
To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website atwww.realmedicinefoundation.org
Tags: India, india children, india cleft palate, india malnutrition crisis, india smile train, poverty in india
by Jaimie Shaff
For the friends and family who know me best, it goes without saying that my date of birth is a sore spot for me. Last year, I actually skipped town and went on an AcroYoga retreat out of state!
This year, I’m unbelievably grateful to report I had the best birthday ever, and it’s all because of you (and Causes, of course). I began with a goal of raising $1,000 for some of the sweetest kids, and ended up with an astonishing $7,025. The money raised gave us the opportunity to follow up with kids from my “love” list, and saved three lives in the first two weeks. Just like that.
Here’s a little update of what we’ve done so far:
-Gave toys and coloring materials to kids to promote their psychosocial development (and to let them be kids!) on Chinese New Year.
Pankaj and toys
-Found Suriya and Amansingh close to death, and gave them a fighting chance to live. We’ve since uncovered a larger issue, in that the family is using these poor little children to exploit the system, but that’s for another blog.
Amansingh after 2 weeks at the Nutritional Rehab Center
-Provided emergency transportation and support to Rahul, a 2 year old with Tubercular Meningitis, to a prestigious public hospital in Ahmadabad, where he received a life saving shunt to drain fluid from his brain. He’s just returning from his first follow up appointment, and things are looking good, but his condition is far from stable. However, it does look like his sight might be coming back!
-Provided Basanti an operation for her clubfoot through the organization A Leg to Stand On (http://www.altso.org), at Civil Hospital. She’s recovering beautifully from her first operation, with a second operation scheduled for June.
Jaimie and Naiara signing Basanti's cast
-Transported Ayush (the happiest little guy in the world!) to Ahmadabad to follow up on his brain-shunt and evaluate his physical disabilities.
Naiara and Ayush
-Paid off the loan shark used to pay for Gila’s (rest in peace, little one) expensive private medical procedures, allowing the family to be free from debt in order to raise their new daughter, Anandani, to be healthy and safe. This story deserves justice, a blog to come.
Anandani
-Hired Anandani’s father as our first male CNE to help him avoid migrating for work and leaving his family struggling to survive.
Anandani's father
-Brought 4 children from the fields to Indore for cleft-palate operations at CHL Apollo through the organization Smile Train. (http://www.smiletrain.org).
Shakuntala before her cleft-palate operation
See Jaimie’s Birthday Wish Causes page here: http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/203560
Special thanks to “A Leg to Stand on” and “Smile Train” for helping make the operations possible.
Thank you everyone for allowing us to do this. The lives of these children will be forever changed thanks to your kindness, compassion, and support. You should just see the smiles.
For more information about RMF’s Programs in India, click here and here
We can use any help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach in the Madhya Pradesh region of India.
To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org
Tags: India, india children, india fundraising
Continuing with our series from Jaimie Shaff in the field in India, here is Part 2!
by Jaimie Shaff
Naiara joined me on the second day and we began the day with a quick trip to the toy store. Luckily, the toy storeowners had just gone to Indore and had some more toys for us! We picked up a couple of our CNEs and headed back out to the villages, this time starting with some of the kids living in villages outside of our program’s reach.
Day Two:
Manoj
Manoj lives in a village that we do not cover in our program. It took us a little over 2 hours to get to the village, and then another half hour to find Manoj. Manoj was the victim of an inept doctor’s IV rampage, and had over 16 needles stuck in him in just two weeks. By the time we got another doctor to give him appropriate treatment Manoj was traumatized. His mother and I shared tears of frustration, but worked hard to get him better. And then he came for follow up in the middle of a measles outbreak and was promptly stuck with a measles vaccination! Poor kid. But, I’m happy to report he’s super healthy, afraid of me, but very happy with his new toys!
Vijay
Vijay was the first serious case at the NRC in June 2010. I didn’t know him, but the CNEs did. It turns out he lives right next door to Manoj! He and his twin brother are happy and healthy, and received some toys to share.
Neha is finally starting to gain some muscle in her legs, but is still in serious need of psychosocial support. She makes an attempt to walk and doesn’t hide as much, but is still needs a lot of TLC. Her father just grew a kitchen garden filled with green leafy veggies, so we shall see how she progresses in the coming weeks.
Amansingh before
Amansingh from house
On Day Two, we had a whole list of children to see. However, there was one child we absolutely had to see. Amansingh had come to the NRC in October, when our nurses Jana and Rachel were here. He was severely malnourished, filthy, covered in a fungal skin infection, and absolutely miserable. After a month in the NRC, he came back for follow up with a severe case of the measles, complicated by bronchial pneumonia and conjunctivitis. At this follow up, we were introduced to his little sister Suriya, 6 months at the time and ineligible for a vaccination. She was a beautiful baby girl, smiling all the time, and we hoped the mother’s breast milk would protect her.
Amansingh
Amansingh’s village is extremely far away and not covered by our program. I had never been out to his home, but quickly realized why his case was so severe. Their home is a 15-minute drive from the Anganwadi center, and does not have a water pump within a reasonable distance. There is no crop around the house right now, and the parents do not have any other form of income or access to markets.
Suriya how we found her
We arrived at the home to our worst nightmare. Amansingh’s little sister was lying on the ground outside naked, covered in flies, filthy, and crying. She was severely malnourished, and covered in the black marks indicating a recent case of the measles. She was also covered in scars. Her mother was sitting about 10 feet away rocking back and forth, laughing. Her mother is mad.
Amansingh emerged from the house with his father naked, filthy, and miserable. His skin infection had returned with his edema, and he was once again presenting with SAM. With a few words, we whisked the family into our car and began the trip to the Jhabua District Hospital, 2 hours away.
Amansingh and Suriya at hospital
In the car, I felt a little hungry (it was 3pm at this point and none of us had eaten since breakfast). I brought out a couple of snacks, including some dried fruit and a Luna bar. I offered around the car, and back to Amansingh’s family. To my absolute horror, I watched as Amansingh began to practically inhale the food. He hadn’t eaten in days. Needless to say, my hunger quickly disappeared.
We got to the hospital and our favorite doctor came to meet us, sad but not surprised that Amansingh was back. In good hands, we left the hospital and headed back home.
The problem is, this is not going to have an easy solution. The two little children’s lives have just been saved, but the problems are far from gone. The mother is psychologically disabled. The father is in his late 50s/60s. The house still has no access to water, food, or health services. The mother abuses the children during her fits.
Currently, there are no services available for children like this. Their rights as human beings do not exist, as there are no support structures in place to safeguard these elusive “rights.” They are safe, now, in a hospital, but they will no longer be protected when they return home. We cannot remove them from their homes. We can barely stop ourselves from whisking these children away to a better life.
The sunny side is that without this toy-giving extravaganza, these children may not have had a chance. While we make every effort to follow up with our kids, sometimes it takes just a bit longer. For these two, we came just in time. Suriya still has innocence in her eyes, and it is beautiful.
Your donations and your generosity to my Facebook Cause saved the lives of Amansingh and Suriya. They changed the lives of many others and will keep on changing lives. It’s incredible how a little bit goes such a long way out here. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I can’t wait to continue giving.
For Amansingh and Suriya, we can give our attention and our awareness. We cannot do more than offer services and provide access to basic human necessities. We can only do our best. Our best, right now, is to spread the word, increase awareness, and incite change. Through change, be it policy or a magical group that knows how to help these kids, we are doing our best. We can change the lives of so many future children by starting now.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com
For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here.
We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.
To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.
Tags: children in india, donate to india, food crisis in india, India, india children, india madhya pradesh, india malnutrition, india poverty, madhya pradesh, photos children india
by Jaimie Shaff
We have lost seven children since I arrived. For these seven children, our best was not enough. They were too sick, adequate medical care too scarce, and their bodies too weak. We have treated hundreds of children at the NRC since I came here late July, but some of these cases were so terrible and challenging that our “best” was all that we could promise. Most of them made it, their resiliency evident by the smiles we finally saw, but a few we just couldn’t save.
In honor of these children, I decided to stop ignoring my birthday and use it to grant the wishes of a couple of kids via the “Causes” application on Facebook. In just three days, I had surpassed my target of $1,000. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the giving nature of my friends and family who all pulled together to grant the wishes of these children. I also figured that if we could grant the wishes of two children in three days, we could grant more wishes before my actual birthday—so I upped the goal!
February 3rd marked the beginning of Chinese New Year, and the year of the Rabbit. With all of the donations that had already come in, I decided to do a little Goong Hay Fat Choy celebration for our most serious cases. We made a list of the kids who touched our hearts—the most complicated cases of malnutrition—that could use a little bit of psychosocial stimulation. For about $100, Anjana and I purchased every non-motorized toy in the local toyshop and went out to the field with some of our Community Nutrition Educator’s (CNE’s.
Oh yea, and keep in mind that the last time most of these kids saw me, I was having someone stick them with a blood test, IV antibiotics, malaria rapid test, or measles vaccination. They definitely do not associate me with toys….
Day One:
“C”, our little HIV+ baby boy, got a truck and a coloring book. I also saw his mother smile for the first time ever. He just started ART (after months of battling the system) and is finally in the green of the MUAC tape! (Photo used with permission)
Lalita, a little girl we’ve been supplying with in-village therapeutic food, has chubby little cheeks and received a tea set, ball, and coloring book.
Sangeeta and Pannu, our post-measles SAM cases, got dolls, walkers, coloring books, and balls. Pannu, whose eyes are scarred from his bout with measles, needs to have a corneal transplant, an operation not covered by the government schemes for children below the poverty line. This will cost over 2.5 lakh rupees (approximately $5,500) and will require a donor and significant amount of hospital time. Even if we get the donation and the donor, it is unsure whether the parents are able to take that much time away from the fields. For now, we’re happy with the two little one’s being nice and chubby.
Salem, a measles/SAM/malaria/anemia case, received in-village TF and heavy-duty malaria treatment. He was very confused when we handed him a truck and ball instead of a malaria rapid prick and yucky yellow medicine.
Mamta, a little girl who had suffered with severe post-measles bronchial pneumonia, received a tea set and push toy. We also met her new little baby brother!
Kavita is a little girl who left the NRC without finishing her malaria treatment. She was severely malnourished and sick, but the family just couldn’t stay. We weren’t able to bring her malaria treatment in village, as she suffered from a type of malaria that did not have a simple form of medication, and it was too dangerous to allow the family to self-medicate. When we saw her in the village, we were all amazed! Her grandmother had taken our counseling and used it to start feeding her properly. Fortunately, the partial medication had worked on the malaria, and Kavita is now a healthy little girl!
Basanti, our intense case of full body edema and anemia, was woken up from her nap when we arrived. Her mother first introduced us to her new little brother, and then showed Basanti what we had brought her! We asked the mother if her husband would come with Basanti to Amedabad to have an operation to fix her foot, and her mother was so excited she ran into her fields and came back with a bundle of corn! It’s incredible how giving people are, even when they have nothing.
Pankaj and Maria are the epitome of inspiration. After all of the attention we’ve paid them (and plethora of field visits), the Anganwadi worker decided to bring them into her home for the past couple of months until we can all find a more sustainable solution. In just one month, Pankaj began walking, talking, laughing, and playing. Maria has started school. They’re both just incredible lights of my life, and what a joy it was to see the Anganwadi worker so active with them!
Vishal saw us coming and ran up with his arms wide open and cheeky little grin on his face. He immediately grabbed a little pull-toy duck and started pulling it over the dirt living space. He also reached for the MUAC tape to show off how much weight he had gained! We got to meet his new little sister and all left with huge smiles on our faces. What a wonderful day.
By the end of the first day, we had visited 12 villages and completely run out of toys. We had a whole list of children left, and decided to regroup the next day. Little did we know that Day Two would turn our lives upside down. Little did you know that your donations honestly would save two little lives.
Stay tuned for the Day Two story from Jaimie and further updates from the field!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com
For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here.
We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.
To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.
Tags: causes india, children india, donations india, facebook causes india, facebook india, India, Malnutrition India
by Jamie Shaff
Pankaj walking
Happy New Year!
I finally arrived back to Jhabua after several planes, trains, automobiles, rickshaws, and countries. Go ahead and throw a bicycle in there for good measure. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for skis, but it was definitely worth sacrificing the slopes for some family time. The United States showed me a wonderful Christmas and New Year, with as much family, friends, and food as I could cram in my short reprieve from India. And don’t forget the hot showers!
As I sit on my porch and watch the sunset across the valley, I find it hard to believe that just a few days ago I was sliding around in the snow. Globalization is truly remarkable.
My time in India began with an all-to-typical “doh!” moment as I heard my glasses tumble down the squat toilet on the train from Delhi. I write “heard” as I am quite literally blind, with vision of -7. I thank the Lord and every deity for the gift of contact lenses, for saving me from being absolutely handicapped, but life without glasses is not one I wish to live much longer! I do hope that some poor blind person finds the specs and is given the gift of sight. Note to self: from now on, I will only get large dark frames so that, if such an event is to ever reoccur, I will have a greater ability to see where they landed and stop them before they end up on the tracks! However, my friends, glasses are not what I want to discuss.
My first days back in Jhabua left me with enough smiles and cheer to cover the glasses and more. Some of my absolute favorite patients came back for follow up with nothing but good news!
Twins
*Pankaj (4) has finally started walking, running, and saying, “Hello!” He enjoys playing with the toys at the NRC, and his 9-year-old aunt, Maria, is still taking excellent care of him. He eats with fervor, and has turned lethargy into attitude. We are still hoping to find a school for the two of them, but for now we are happy with his health and steady development.
Naiara and Pankaj
*My goal for the New Year was to make Basanti (3) smile (a girl who presented with full body edema November 2010, requiring an intraosseous blood transfusion-sans anesthesia- and NG tube). Not only did she smile (with teeth!) but she is also trying to walk and talk! Basanti needs an operation for her cleft foot, so my new goal for the year is to fix Basanti’s foot. It shall be done!
Basanti
*Our serious measles cases-Sangeeta (3), Pannu (1), Jaimuna (2), Gunga (2), and Mahima (2)-all came for follow up happy and healthy. They had plump little cheeks, were smiling and playing, and are altogether doing wonderfully! As we jump into our new year, we have some serious follow up to do post-measles outbreak, but I’m ecstatic to start off the year with some success cases.
Sangeeta and Pannu
Altogether, a India’s welcome has been filled with miracles. As we begin to get new programs started, old programs revamped, and future programs conceptualized, these miracle cases give us hope and inspiration. I guess we did something right in 2010—here’s to 2011!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com
For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here.
We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.
To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.
Tags: donate to india, donations india, India, malnutrition clinic, malnutrition in india
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Continuing with our Malnutrition Eradication Program series and fundraiser another great blog from from Jaimie Shaff in the field in India…
by Jaimie Shaff
Every morning, when I wake up to the honking horns, howling dogs, and bustles of morning life I wonder how the day is going to be. As I lay out my yoga mat and dedicate my practice to what will be, I try to take a deep breath for all that I can not anticipate. See, life in the field is a constant state of uncertainty, a question of what will happen next, and a sequence of highs and lows, equilibrium a state I no longer know.
But it all somehow balances out.
Vishal on his first visit to NRC
Today I arrived to the NRC to the smiling face of Vishal. Vishal arrived at the NRC two months ago presenting with severe acute malnutrition, apparent moderate mental disability, vomiting, and diarrhea, and was not taking food. He had a very severe infection that was treated, but he continued to refuse to eat. His mother was pregnant, and had stopped breastfeeding him 5 months previously—Vishal had never had complementary feeding, and was not responsive to attempts to give him F75, even through the breastfeeding assist.
Vishal continuously reached for the breast of his mother and grandmother, particularly when food was offered to him. However, it appeared that when Vishal’s grandmother was with him, he was more cooperative to feeding. His mother did not come to the NRC for several days, and Vishal began to take the F75. When his mother returned, Vishal stopped eating again. After a week we referred them to seek treatment at another hospital to seek further treatment, but they told us that they had been there before and would not go back. We continued to tell the grandmother and mother how important it was to get him better treatment/nourishment. The grandmother made every effort to get Vishal to eat, but the mother seemed apathetic.
Vishal was my first seriously complicated case in which I had no idea what to do next. At one point, I was up in the middle of the night blending peanuts to make RUTF! When we weren’t watching, his mother and grandmother would try to sneak him biscuits and chips (definitely not in the protocol!), which he would nibble on occasionally, but eventually throw in a fit of anger. In some last ditch efforts, we tried to put RUTF on the biscuits to see if he’d take that, but he wouldn’t. After a week we had asked the family to go to Jhabua District Hospital, but they refused and asked to stay at Jeevan Jyoti.
Vishal after 2 months of treatment
After two weeks, the family wanted to go home for a few days and come back. A wave of kids had just arrived and we knew that another child would fill the bed—we had no choice but to, once again, refer. They told us that they wouldn’t go and asked us to try more, promising to come back in a couple of days. We couldn’t guarantee an empty bed, and when they left the hospital, we could only hope they sought treatment elsewhere.
Every follow up day I’ve looked for Vishal. We’ve sent Community Nutrition Educator’s to his village, but he was never home and no one knew where he was or if he was migrating. I knew when we referred him to a higher center that his condition was critical, and didn’t want to think of the worst-case scenario.
And then today I see his smiling face. He’s up running and laughing and sharing toys with other kids in the NRC. I was absolutely overwhelmed with happiness. His cheeks were plump, he had a sparkle in his eye, and he was smiling. Far from the listless, angry, stubborn child from 2 months ago, Vishal was on the mend.
It turned out that our counseling had actually worked. The grandmother took Vishal to Dahod for treatment and he was put on anti-Tuberculosis medicines. They used our feeding techniques to get him to eat nutritious food, and they have also been engaging him psychosocially, stimulating his mental development and helping him achieve the catch-up that he needs. His mother gave birth to her second son 15 days ago. Now is the true test to the efficacy of our counseling efforts and emotional support: will the family take back the knowledge given to them at the NRC to raise a happy and healthy child? We hope so. Based on Vishal’s incredible improvement, I think things will work out.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com
For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here.
We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.
To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.
Tags: child health, children in india, donate children, donate to india, donations to india, hungry children, India, malnutrition, malnutrition in india
by Jaimie Shaff
Street Play
Far from Jack Kerouac’s spontaneous journeys of self-discovery across the United States, here in Jhabua migration is a fact of life, with an averageof 60% of the population migrating seasonally for work. Our calendars revolve around crop cycles, and all holidays and planned family events coincide with the comings and goings of relatives and members of the village. The locals know the bus and train schedules by heart, and special migrant buses are scheduled to carry the farmers away for work in other parts of the state, or other states in the country. As the rains diminish at the end of monsoon season, communities prepare for a sequence of migration that lasts until the next monsoon. The children and wives that stay behind are supported by the village, and the children and wives that leave prepare for life on the road—although little preparation is required as this is routine and material possessions are few.
However, life on the road comes with its share of risk. Women and children are affected, going and staying, experiencing heightened levels of vulnerability and malnutrition. And then of course there’s HIV/AIDS. Globally, migrant men are considered a bridge population for HIV/AIDS, due to access to higher prevalence zones and increased participation in risky behaviors. The scariest factor of all of this is the lack of awareness of the risk: according to our baseline data, 99.4% of men migrating in Jhabua have never heard of HIV.
Migrants at Train Station
In October 2010, MPSACS enlisted RMF-India to roll out a pilot program addressing HIV/AIDS with migrant populations in Jhabua. The goal of the pilot is to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among migrants, targeting the points of transit (bus and jeep stands, railroad stations) with street plays, videos, handouts, and condoms.
Newspaper articles about the street plays
On November 9, 2010, RMF launched the pilot to reduce the number of people who have never heard of HIV and bring awareness to this bridge population of HIV/AIDS signs and symptoms, method of transmission, and prevention. Targeting the post-Diwali migrant crowd, program staff set up programs at two bus and jeep stands and one train station. A local theater troupe (including a staff member from the NRC) created a play focusing on stigma and transmission, and a good friend in New York, Ramon Rodriguez, created a ‘Stop AIDS’ illustration to develop new awareness materials with. In the first week of the program, 1815 people were reached and 10,000 condoms were handed out!
The global battle against HIV/AIDS is multifaceted and we’re all still trying to figure out the best way to reduce transmission, increase awareness, and empower the global community to take a stand against HIV/AIDS. As climate changes force people from their homes in search of livelihood, migration will become an ever-increasing factor in the fight. This pilot is a first step in the creation of awareness and prevention messages for all migrants, present and future. This is a great first step on behalf of the Indian government and RMF to stop HIV/AIDS at the source. Through collaboration and partnerships, we are able to create the most effective tools to bring awareness to large populations and take a stand to stop HIV/AIDS.
For more information about RMF’s HIV/AIDS treatment, education and outreach programs in India, click here.
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To contribute to this or any of our other initiatives, please click the Donate button below or through our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.
by Caitlin McQuilling and Jaimie Shaff
Manoj and his friend Sunil (names changed) strolled into the link-ART office today and quietly sat down, neither of their feet touching the ground as their skinny legs and knobby knees dangled over the chairs. At 7 years old Manoj is one of our youngest HIV+ patients, but also one of the most responsible. Manoj and Sunil walked 15 km to get to our office today so that Sunil could pick up his ART medication from us for the month. In his high little voice he told me how important it is to take his ART medication every day and says he follows all of our instructions strictly.
Manoj was extremely sick when he was brought to Jeevan Jyoti Hospital over a year and a half ago. Malnourished with a vicious fungal infection across his face, he was never able to attend school because he was always out sick. Both of Manoj’s parents died when he was young so his older sister has been raising him. She couldn’t afford to care for him anymore and had no idea what to do.
We put Manoj right on ART and now a year and a half later he’s a healthy, little boy with bright eyes and a mischievous grin. Manoj (and our counselor who visits him regularly) says that his sister takes very good care of him and monitors his medication and nutrition daily. With RMF and Jeevan Jyoti’s help she’s set up a small convenience shop near their home where she makes enough money to take care of their modest household expenses.
Life for Manoj, however, will never be easy. As we chatted over a bar of chocolate (okay, I know it’s not nutritious, but who can resist giving an adorable HIV+ little boy a bar of chocolate, even someone working in nutrition), I asked Manoj why he wasn’t at school. He told us that when he went to school the teacher beat him for not knowing answers and being behind other children. The other kids in the class made fun of him, not because of his HIV+ status (no one knows), but because Manoj is a 7 year old in a class with 5 year olds. Manoj was so sick the past few years before he was diagnosed as HIV+, he is two years behind in school. Since there are no remedial classes for slow students in the schools in rural India, today we agreed to find Manoj a tutor who can give him one to one tuitions so that we can bring him up to speed with the other kids and hopefully get him back in school by next semester.
Manoj is one of 18 HIV+ children that RMF India is supporting for treatment, care and psycho-social support. For more information on how you can help Manoj and children like him visit our website, www.realmedicinefoundation.org
For more information about RMF’s HIV/AIDS treatment, education and outreach programs in India, click here.
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Tags: children in india, India, India Aids treatment, India HIV children, support a child, support a child india
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