These lovely children are starting at the Government High School in this new Academic Year.
Why is that such a momentous event?
Because they are children from Prem Nivas - the first of Brighter
Future's homes for infected HIV/AIDS children. They are not the first children
to go to High School but looking at them today I can remember how each one of them
has blossomed during their years at Prem Nivas and we thank God that they
are still alive and relatively healthy.
Only last year the front was given a facelift when Janaki, Durga, Pydi, Raju and Ramesh painted it blue and drew the animal pictures.
Vijayalakshmi teacher and Mahalaxmi were succeeded by Mrs Gowrie and Mr Venkat . They are still working with our children and we are grateful to all of them for their devotion.
. .
Some of them hve an aunty or a grandparent still living. Others were brought to us by a dying sibling or parent and have no living relations. with clean water, clean nutritious food, anti-retroviral medication and a huge dose of love, they have survived. They are treated as 'normal' children and encouraged to be kind and helpful, to study well and value education so that they may lead independent lives in the future.
We wish them well on this first step into the outside world.
The Story Behind Brighter Future
Primary School
In October 2006 Brighter Future (Development Trust), which began to enable children from leprosy colonies to get a good education, responded to a local need - the need to do something for the large numbers of children orphaned by, and dying from, HIV/ AIDS.
By 2006 most people In the UK were aware of the HIV/AIds pandemic.and it's devastating effects in South Africa. but not many were aware that there were reported to be 2 million orphaned children in India alone!.
Being an
inquisitive kind of person I had a question for Victor when I made my first
visit to Brighter Future India in February 2006. (To open DMC
House following my successful appeal called 'Building for a
Brighter Future').I asked Victor what was being done for children
infected with and orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Victor admitted that he did not
know and immediately set about making enquiries of the local
government 'Leprosy Officer' was also the 'HIV/AIds Officer'.
Brighter Future and government staff surveyed a nearby
transport industry town and found more than 500 adults and 250 children were
infected. The numbers fluctuated from week to week as
people died or, outcast from their villages, went as refugees seeking some
distant relative to take them in.
. There was no
treatment available for children. There was, and still isn't, a cure Breadwinners died and families entered the
downward spiral of poverty. Fear and discrimination were rife. Children were
sent away from school if it became known that a family member was sick or had
died. Many wives did not know why their husbands were dying or that they could
be infected. They did not know that the infection was spread in childbirth, by
blood to blood contact, and in other ways.
Brighter Future responded with a three fold strategy to;-
- Take
the most sick and vulnerable children into care
.Our social outreach workers and local doctors referred children to us
who were begging on the streets for food, for themselves and their HIV
parents.Children were suffering from extreme malnutrition, sickness and
diarrhoea.They had become traumatised as they witnessed and experienced
the emotional, spiritual and physical decline in the family.
- support
the widows and children living secretly in their villages with emergency rations
while offering lifestyle advice,emotional and medical support.
- provide
opportunities for income generation and advocacy for widow's
pensions,and for bus passes to enable them to get to the HIV medicine
distribution points.
We had £1771 in the kitty, given as a legacy
by a gentleman who had worked in India. We needed £4200 to buy some old
buildings and £1500 to renovate them. We had to find people to sponsor
the children's accommodation and general medical costs. By October 2006 we were ready to take 12 children, with a hospice ward
for three more. Prem Nivas started with 5 children but was soon bursting at the
seams and more homes followed in 2009 and 2012..Very sick HIV infected children are still being found. Today we care for around a hundred infected children. Some die and others are found.
. In those days from 2006 to 2010, we had to teach the children ourselves because we could not find teachers willing to come into contact with our children. They were afraid to be with the children.Some who came for an interview would ask for 'danger money' on top of the salary. The local government and private schools refused to admit our children.Local parents said they would boycott the schools if our children were admitted..
Eventually in early 2007, after Maggie Auntie and I left for England, we did find a teacher, Vijayalakshmi. She stayed for three years before going to train as a nurse. 
In 2010 the newly acquired house opposite Prem Nivas was incorporated into the campus and became part school and part guest accommodation. the partly finished house was completed and toilets built.
The children helped with the removal of layers of whitewash and the painting of the outside.
Only last year the front was given a facelift when Janaki, Durga, Pydi, Raju and Ramesh painted it blue and drew the animal pictures. 
Vijayalakshmi teacher and Mahalaxmi were succeeded by Mrs Gowrie and Mr Venkat . They are still working with our children and we are grateful to all of them for their devotion.
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