INDIA Project IMPACT / Agape Sparsh

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1 INDIA Project IMPACT / Agape Sparsh July - September 2011 Partner: Inter Mission Care & Rehabilitation Society (IMCARES) Dear Supporting Churches Greetings and heartfelt thanks to the Connected Church partners for your fervent prayer and consistent financial support. The IMPACT project now has a new name: Agape Sparsh. Sparsh is an Indian word meaning touch. The Project is renamed Agape Sparsh to reflect our aim in Touching the poorest of the poor with the unconditional Love of God. Touching the poorest of the poor, marginalised people living on the streets The team spends time interacting and giving HIV education. This also helps us to find those who are infected with HIV/AIDS, to give them the right information, and remove fears and misconceptions. IMCARES was able to identify one such new area in an old abandoned shed belonging to Food Corporation of India in Reay Road. About 40 families live in this shed. The living conditions are not good as the shed has a broken roof. However it has been encouraging to note that as we imparted HIV education to the residents we discovered two families living with HIV and a TB patient. In the last six months we have found 10 people living with HIV on the streets who are now being provided with care and support. Touching sick people living on the streets The plight of sick, poor and marginalised people living on the streets is very devastating, especially those with open wounds. When IMCARES staff find such people on the street, they accompany them to the nearest hospital, sometimes with the help of the police, where they can seek free medical treatment. They are visited regularly on the streets or in the hospital. We talk about good care and health and also about HIV/AIDS and encourage them to be tested for HIV infection. Sometimes their physical condition is so bad that they only survive for few days. Touching those living with HIV/AIDS We provide counselling to help deal with fears, feelings of shame and rejection. Practically, we provide food and nutritional support and help people to adhere to medical treatment. It is important to touch the hearts of the church and to motivate them to open doors to those infected with HIV/AIDS. Through film shows and testimonies of caring for HIV infected people, IMCARES motivates the church to be sensitive to the needs of people living with HIV and extend support. Touching poor communities through regular medical clinics These clinics are held once a week in five different slums where there is no easy access to government hospitals or dispensaries. The poor and the marginalised cannot afford to lose a day s wages to go to the doctor and often neglect their medical needs, which leads to more medical complications. The Agape Sparsh clinic at different slums facilitates early diagnosis and treatment.

2 Special health camps are also conducted once a month, on the invitation of any local church that desire to work in their neighbourhood and community. The purpose of these camps is to provide treatment of minor illnesses, focusing on health issues of women and children. This also helps the local church members in caring for their community around the issue of HIV/AIDS through personal counselling, door to door education and film shows. Challenges In the last 3 months one challenge that we have faced is discouragement and hopelessness among people living with HIV/AIDS who are living in such extreme situations that they are unwilling to take opportunities of available help. At times they feel trapped in their situation. Another challenge we have faced is with people living with HIV/AIDS who are suffering with Tuberculosis. They often lose their jobs because of ill health, and are unable to have good nutritious food along with the strong medication. This adversely affects their healing. IMCARES conduct training for church volunteers (Community Training Course). It is a challenge to find young men to apply for the course. This year the CTC course will run from Nov April Answered prayer We thank God that Painamma, (Jan- March 2011 update) has improved health. Her son Maniganda had temporary work but is now looking for work again. Please pray for him. Garib nagar near Bandra railway lines where fire destroyed over 700 huts in March 2011 is getting back on its feet. Since the fire, IMCARES have continued to provide a weekly clinic. Ajay Vishwakarma: We thank you for praying for Ajay, a 13 yr old boy suffering with AIDS. His lungs are affected. There were days when he was very critical but the Lord has so far sustained him. It is a joy to see his smile despite his weakness. Please continue to pray that God will heal him. Subhash Barve: Thank you for praying for him. He is now better and has gone to his parental village.

3 Mohan s Story IMCARES started the mobile clinic in a new area in the Mankhurd slums. The Savitribai Phule Nagar Slum is a very unique slum. It has about 200 huts made of plastic and sometimes tin sheets. Initially, it was a transit camp when people living in a slum in Kurla were given huts here. After a few years their huts were demolished due to the proposal of a metro train terminus on this land. They have no sanitation facilities. They have managed to avail themselves of two water taps in small pits. From these pits they fill water using small cooking vessels. There are no slum lords, no one owns a hut but people just come and live in the empty space and when they find another place to live, someone else will come and occupy the place. Since June 2011 IMCARES has started a weekly medical clinic in the slum. When the first clinic was held here, the IMCARES team went from hut to hut giving HIV education, mostly to women in their huts. In one hut they met a young man named Mohan. He lives with his mother and his 30 year old handicapped brother. As they heard the staff talking to their neighbour about HIV, they invited her into the hut and disclosed that this young man was HIV positive. They come from waghari castes, who sell plastic items on old clothes. Mohan used to live in Santacruz (a suburb of Mumbai) with his wife and two children. He came to stay with his mother four years ago when he came to know that he was HIV infected. Four months ago he was diagnosed with T.B. and is under treatment. His CD4 count is 125 and he has been on ART treatment for two months. Both he and his mother were totally dejected thinking that he did not have much time to live. IMCARES Staff spoke to them, explained to them that HIV does not mean immediate death but with proper care, food, and a heart at peace, a person living with HIV can live for many years with good health as a normal person. This gave them a hope. Their anxieties were diminished as they realised the misconceptions about HIV. Their financial situation was very bad and they did not have food in their home. There was no bedding in the house so Mohan was sleeping on the wet ground. IMCARES provided him with plastic sheets to cover their hut, a blanket and dry rations as an immediate help. The staff visited them once a week. Just before the heavy rains, they were provided with old plastic sheets so they could mend their shelter for protection from the rains. When he was very sick with fever and was unable to eat, IMCARES helped him to be admitted to a hospice. With all the IMCARES intervention, today he is back to work and is also united with his wife and children. We praise God that He enabled us to help Mohan in his time of need and help him to get back on his feet.

4 Prayer points For beneficiaries: Laxmi lives on the footpath in the Red light area and is an alcoholic. Pray that through the ministry of IMCARES she will find meaning in life and that her life will be transformed. Sunita lives with her mother and brother s family in a very small house in a slum. There are daily fights within the family. Her 8 year old son is also HIV positive and has lung problems. He is very ill and the family atmosphere adds to his discomfort. In the month of September one of our health worker visited the home daily to help care for the boy and she prays with the family. Pray for them all, that there will be consideration for each other and the peace of God will rule in their hearts Priya and both of her sons are HIV infected. Her 13 year old son is suffering from Typhiod. He is under medication but is very weak. The family is facing difficulties as Priya is unable to go out to work because of her son s illness. Please pray for healing. For staff: Agape Sparsh project staff are mostly women. Pray that Christian young men will be motivated to join as staff. Pray for good health for the staff as during the last three months some of the staff were down with viral fever. For the project: Pray for the Community Training Course which started in November. Pray for men to apply and remain on the course over the next six months. Our hopes and fears for the next 3 months: This year the Community Training Course will last for six months with the students working directly with churches and pastors. There will be greater involvement of the pastors in the training. This is a new venture for IMCARES. We desire to identify more HIV infected people from the poorest of the poor and marginalised sections of the society living in abject poverty. But often it is very difficult to actually them so please pray for God s help in this.

5 It is a joy for us to share the love of God with these poorest of the poor suffering from HIV. Because it is a joy and not a burden, our staff can take up these challenges with a smile on their face. There are discouraging moments, especially when we lose people to AIDS, and we feel we could have done more. But then the Holy Spirit revives our soul again, knowing that in heaven there will be no sorrow, no pain and no AIDS. We want to thank you for upholding us in your prayers and for supporting us. We deeply value your partnership. With love in Christ Timothy Gaikwad, Director IMCARES and Gauri Bhalerao, IMCARES Nurse Report writer Gauri Bhalerao is a nurse in charge of the medical van and the clinics. She has been brought up in the IMCARES Children s Home. After her Nursing training, she expressed her desire to serve the poor just as she was served as a child and joined IMCARES as Nurse aide. She lives with her husband in Badlapur which is about 50 km from the IMCARES office. About Project IMPACT Project IMPACT seeks to provide complete care and support to the poorest of the poor people living with HIV, enabling them to gain control of their situation and to restore their dignity and defend their rights. IMPACT sensitises and builds the capacity of local churches, community leaders, politicians and children to respond better to HIV and to the needs of people affected by the virus. It works mostly in Mumbai, India. Funding target: 50,000