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Empathy, Education, Embracing Kindness - Together we can overcome Stigma

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Ms. Eniya is a 17-year-old girl living with her maternal grandmother. Her father left when she was 4 years old, after her mother's death, and her grandmother has been taking care of her since then. Ms. Eniya is very kind and sensitive towards other children and enjoys being with her friends in the support group. However, she struggled to express her feelings about her father's neglect and the stigma she faced because her parents' marriage was not officially registered, which was pointed out by a village officer when she tried to access a social benefit. These painful experiences affected her deeply, leading her to lose interest in her health and skip her treatment. Over the past five years, she had to switch from first-line to third-line treatment, and now even that is no longer effective. On top of that, she has developed pneumonia, worsening her health, and she is now in the fourth stage of AIDS. Stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS is one of the most significant challenges faced ...
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Educating Children Enabling Independence

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“Education is for improving the lives of other and for leaving our community and world better than we found it.” Buds of Christ organised Education support program for boys and girls on 7 October 2021. 16 children from class 9 th to 12 th participated and received school bags and notebooks.   The event started with a moral story on Being Focussed on the Vision for life shared by Mr. Jeyapaul Director of Buds of Christ. Following that Communication skill was taught to children as part of Life Skills Education.   The reason for Buds of Christ to enhance the skills of children on Life skills goes with the quote that “Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening our knowledge and absorbing the truth about life".   This was followed by life experience sharing by the Program Chief Guest Ms. Kaleeswari, Commercial Assistant from TamilNadu Electricity Board.   She shared her life history and motivated the children to be eager for stu...
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Health affected her continuing school; but skills kept her going

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After Priya’s father’s death, her mother started to go for work as a daily wageworker in a snack-manufacturing unit. With the income, the family has been a leadin g a tough life of meeting the family needs and educational needs of the children. In the end of year 2019, Priya studying in 10th was affected by a viral fever in December and was sick for nearly a month. She was hospitalized and then been at home for more than a month and that affected her attendance to school. In addition, due to hearing problem she was not able to attend the classes properly and found the en vironment  ve ry negative. She  was least interested to go to school and a lways found reasons  to be away from school. This worried her mother. At the same time Priya used to enjoy all the group sessions for children at Buds of Christ and always was very active an d regular. This surprised her mother and at the same time made her also feel happier about her daughter’s interest with the group. She was v...
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Covid-19 - Nutrition is crucial for families affected by HIV and AIDS

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The Corona pandemic is hitting  hard causing fear among the general public. The Strict measures taken up by the government in curtailing the pandemic by strict lock down procedures in safeguarding the people and preventing community transmission so far has been effective. At the same time, the effects of the lock down has been observed in the families and children reached through Buds of Christ. Majority of the children’s caretakers are daily wage workers whose income manages the family’s nutritional needs. Now with the lock down affecting their nutritional requirements, as the children and caretakers who are mostly widow women living are already immune compromised due to HIV, keeping them healthy is important in this pandemic period. So at Buds of Christ in addition to creating awareness of the Covid-19 to the children, caretakers and young people living with HIV; emergency nutritional supplies were facilitated to more than 75 families during the last week of March and ...
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