A Full Tummy and Eyes Filled with Dreams

We all love children, mostly our own, our friends' kids, kids in our extended families but rarely do children on the street inspire love specially the ones ailing with HIV and AIDS. Pity wells up, of course not unkindly at the sight of them moving about in tattered clothes, runny noses and hungry bellies. The offspring of parents infected by AIDS have no one to heat them milk, comb their hair, calm their fears or wipe their tears.

We at SPARSH Balgram make an attempt to provide a home to these children despite all odds. Odds that would break ordinary people but we aren’t ordinary because we take the responsibility of looking after these beautiful children and give them a normal life with the best we can.

I put this together in the summer of 2011 with the help of Mr. Mahesh Yadav, a brave and not so literate man. My sister-in-law, Pavitra Sirse Tandon designed the website for Sparsh Balgram and it was up and running in no time. Since then the organization has received generous donations – ration, old clothes, toys, books and birthday celebrations.

People come with goodie bags and great intentions to spend a day with the children.  They laugh, joke, play and make the children feel really loved. Sparsh Balgram is very grateful for all that they receive and more. But what the organization is in dire need of is ‘money’ and that people are not willing to part with. 

The popular misconception about giving money to a NGO is, ‘we don’t know where our money is going. We prefer to carry eatable or buy them what they need that way we are sure of having done our bit’.

Excellent sentiment, noble and very astute! But they forget that goodie bags can’t pay the bus fair or meet an auto-vala’s running meter.

You see, the treatment and medicine for HIV affected children is free at Government hospitals but someone needs to take them there. Unfortunately, none of the volunteers have wings and need to pay the auto fare. It’s a very small example of the expenses an NGO that has no government funding faces on a daily basis. Then there’s the rent of the of the two-room apartment, the gas cylinder, electricity, phone bill etc. I could go and on but I think you got my drift.

 Now, let’s see who lives at Sparsh Balgram.

Today, the organization boasts of sixteen children between the age group of 3 to 16 years and looks after their mental, physical and emotional needs. Lack of funds and Government support does tie our hands to a great extent but a noble mission such as this can hardly be put aside for the sake of convenience or comfort.

The children are housed in a 1bhk apartment which they share with us. It‘s a tight squeeze and every other day is a struggle to make ends meet but the joy of seeing them smile makes it all worthwhile.

When I wrote the copy above in 2011, there were about 11 children, out of which five were HIV positive. Due to personal commitments and being away from the city I haven't visited Sparsh in over a year.The organization has obviously grown in the last couple of years. The lack of funds didn't stop them from taking in HIV affected children, abandoned by their families; in most cases orphans of HIV affected couples.Due to personal committments and being away from the city I haven't viisted Sparh in over a year re

I can’t emphasize enough what this prize money would mean to this organization. The life span of these children is not very long; a diet devoid of nutrition and a pollution filled environment only accelerates the process.

Currently Sparsh Balgram is focusing on a rehabilitation project for the children at Talegaon MIDC (land available for the project is 11,000 sq.ft) outside Pune.  Come to think of it,‘currently’ is not the right word, the NGO has been striving to make it a reality since 2011.

This is what they are attempting to do:

  

 a. Shelter, food, medical treatment, education and industrial vocational training.

 b. Project capacity 100 children's.

Here’s hoping that the valiant efforts of the volunteers and the innocent children at SPARSH Balgram www.sparshbalgram.com win your heart at iDiya and the prize money!

The children deserve to benefit from this excellent initiative and so do Mr. Mahesh Yadav and his lovely wife, Sujata. Fingers crossed!

In their smile lies our future,

So what if they may not have one, not a lasting one at least,

Yet, I am  at peace knowing that for as long as they live,

They have a place to sleep; a full tummy and eyes filled with dreams.

To know more about the iDiya initiative log onto http://www.isb.edu/idiya/