HIV/AIDS remains a taboo topic in India. This woman, back in the 1990s, made a bold attempt to work on this subject. It was her unwavering persistence and mindset that got her to where she is now.
Meet 68-year-old Mangal Shah, who is uplifting the lives of over 100 HIV/AIDS-affected children. Since her teenage days, she was always enthusiastic about assisting the needy.
Shah realized a lack of family support to women when she went to a government hospital to help disabled individuals, pregnant women, and HIV-positive women.
She, therefore, got determined to look after and assist such individuals. She started bringing home-cooked meals to the hospital’s indigent patients. She quickly understood the importance of working with HIV/AIDS-affected female sex workers, the most marginalized bunch of women in Maharashtra’s Solapur region.
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Shah and her daughter Dimple were trying to raise HIV/AIDS awareness amongst sex workers in Pandharpur, they learned of two little girls of three and two years, who had been abandoned in a barn because their parents died of AIDS.
Their relatives believed that the girls might bring dishonor to the family and pose a risk of infections. When they failed to persuade the locals to look after the girls, they chose to take the children home.
Shah then decided to offer refuge and care for these children independently and constructed an HIV+ children’s home, Palawi. Project Palawi is a Maharashtra-based organization that is part of the Prabha Hira Pratisthan.
Each child deserves to be happy, safe, healthy, and educated and so does the hapless children of Palawi. The team makes sure that every child in Palawi gets the basic education so that they can stand up on their own. And not only that but the children are also introduced to various skills/crafts sewing, plumbing, and steaching.
“We believe in empowering each child in our care home by encouraging the child. We help them accomplish what they are meant to be and that would gradually lead to more value being added to society. At the local level, it is a huge change to see HIV-positive children receiving a formal education. More than 12 young boys and girls in past 3 years have made more independent lives and have started earning a livelihood and stand independently in society,” says Shah.
Palawi has designed a set of programs and several new concepts to reach out to the most vulnerable groups during the last 20 years. It has been raising awareness among various segments of society and offering care at home for orphan children and other HIV/AIDS patients.
It is currently looking after 125 HIV-positive children. The organization hopes to build Matruvan, a facility that can someday house 500 HIV-positive orphan children. It also intends to make these kids self-sufficient and independent to support themselves.
Her dedication to creating a better life for HIV/Aids children gives a ray of hope for humankind.