Roja

By Living India on August 24, 2011

The plight of AIDS orphans in India is one of immeasurable complexities that destines children to die with the virus left unchecked and untreated. The debilitating stigma that continues to surround HIV in India renders children orphaned by AIDS to be forcefully driven from their villages and left to fend for themselves. Living India cares for 60 children with HIV/AIDS once abandoned to these horrifying circumstances. Roja and her brother Mahesh were two of the first orphaned children to be taken into our care.

In 2007, Roja and Mahesh came to Chandrakal Hospital even before the orphan care home had been established. At that point, they had already lost their father to AIDS. Their HIV-positive mother had been a patient at the hospital for more than a year. When their mother died at home, Roja and Mahesh were forced to sit inside the hut with their mother’s body for two full days. The community did not understand the nature of the disease she had died from and what that meant about the two children who remained. Upon hearing about the situation, the Living India team rescued Roja and Mahesh and they became the beginning of Living India’s dream to create a Home of Hope for HIV-positive orphans in rural India. Sadly, in 2008, Mahesh died of AIDS – his health too far gone before coming into Living India’s care to survive.  Through everything, Roja has overcome.  Today, at age 14, Roja is the oldest girl in Living India’s family of 60 HIV+ orphans. She is very bright and wants to be a doctor when she grows up. She just tested within the top 10 percent of her class of 500 students. Roja is a leader, a young woman who takes charge of the younger ones when needed and unafraid to usher in order when the chaos of 60 children becomes a crescendo of activity. She is an eager participant in our inaugural tailoring class and very proud of her hand stitching.