India: Slum Dwellers in Madras Lead by Example

Impoverished, mostly illiterate slum dwellers in Madras have begun to give homes to AIDS orphans. Inspired by the story of Soorya Gajendran, who took in an HIV-positive girl in 2004, eight more slum families have provided foster care for HIV-positive AIDS orphans.

A World Bank report puts the number of Indian AIDS orphans at close to 2 million. Like Africa during the last decade, India is slated to become the scene of an AIDS orphan crisis. Activists urge that strict adoption rules be relaxed so AIDS orphans can find new homes with slum dwellers.

Specialists say HIV-positive orphans need a mother's touch and the intimacies of family to grow physically and mentally. "An orphan badly needs someone in the role of a mother, taking that very special role in the child's daily life," said Pinagapani Manorama, chief of the Madras medical organization that runs the orphanage where Gajendran's foster daughter had previously been living. Gajendran will soon go to court to seek the right to adopt her foster daughter.

"With her revolutionary contribution, Soorya has ushered in a new wave of compassionate carers for AIDS orphans," said Andal Damodaran, a Madras adoption specialist. "We are confident that her first big and bold step in eradicating AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in society will be appreciated by the court and the verdict will come in favor of this great woman."

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