Orphans, Vulnerable Children, and Parents Get Help

OCTOBER 2007 — In a drop-in center for orphans and vulnerable children in a slum on the edge of Delhi, India, last October, about 20 young children play games in the large entrance room. In a smaller back room, Maya, 16, is guiding a reading lesson for another dozen grade-school-aged children. She takes a break and visits the computer room, where a 20-year old staff member shows another adolescent girl how to make PowerPoint presentations.

"I have gained a lot of strength and support here," says Maya, who takes care of her mother and brother. She learned about the center when she brought her mother to a 10-bed residential care facility for people with AIDS.

Maya, 16, whose mother has AIDS, says, "I've gained a lot of strength and support" at the CHELSEA program.

"Before coming here, I would be scared or timid. I stayed at home with my mother," she says.  Now she feels confident enough to go out on her own when she needs to, and she even leads casual discussions with young people in her neighborhood. "We sit around and talk informally about sex and boyfriends," she explains, discussing things like abstinence and life goals.

The drop-in center that has given Maya and others so much care and encouragement was founded by the Women's Action Group (WAG) CHELSEA, which stands for children, health, education, ladies, senior citizens, environment, and awareness. WAG CHELSEA was formed in 1992 by wives of ex-officers of the Indian Army with funding from USAID, Catholic Relief Services, and others. "I wanted to give something back," explains Neelam Dang, the founder secretary who is still active in the group.

Staff from the CHELSEA project with FHI staff member at the residential facility for people with AIDS.

Family Health International has been providing technical assistance to WAG CHELSEA since 2002 and continues to do so under the new USAID-funded SAMARTH project. In the last year alone, the project has helped more than 50 infected children and approximately 300 affected children and youth. The program provides medical care, HIV testing, education on sex and sexuality with a focus on abstinence and being faithful, and multiple services at the drop-in-center facilities, including psychosocial support.  

With this support, Maya has hope for the future, even though her mother is sick. "I want to give information to everyone!" she says, smiling. "Maybe I can start my own business someday. I'd like to work with computers." She's preparing to take a nine-week course on making videos, where she will learn to write a script.

A teenage girl at the CHELSEA storefront education center learns computer skills.

With funding from USAID, Family Health International has provided technical assistance to WAG CHELSEA to provide referral for HIV testing, offer care and treatment to people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), and provide community-based care and support for children and youth in Delhi. Large numbers of migrants from northern India states have moved into the slums on the city's northeastern edge, which lack good hygiene or sanitation. Many residents are unemployed, have chronic diseases, and cannot keep their children in school.

Beginning in 2006, as part of USAID's SAMARTH project, FHI began helping WAG CHELSEA mobilize neighboring communities to address stigma and discrimination against PLWHA, develop a more enabling environment for orphans and vulnerable children, continue to provide care and treatment for PLWHA and their families, implement a quality assurance and improvement plan, and serve as a learning site for other such programs.

 — Photos and story by William Finger