Site Visit Report - SAATHI
21st June 2012
I reached the Saathi Office in Gandhi Nagar at around 2.30PM on Monday 21st June 2012. I was welcomed by Dr.Satish, who was the program coordinator. I was introduced to other members of the organization and immediately left to visit the NGO NHP+ associated with Saathi which deals exclusively with Aids infected and affected families.
We reached NHP+ at around 3.30 PM where I met with 2 field staff and 2 office staff. Picture of the team below. They spoke about the various programs being performed in NHP+ and the outreach they have. They are mainly into advocacy, awareness, nutrition and education. They showed me the files with information of all the children that are being funded by SAATHI. They had about 130 children that were being funded. NHP+ pays a partial amount as tuition for the AIDS infected and affected families. They typically finance one child per family in and around Ranga Reddy district. I was very impressed with the effort NHP+ was doing with various program and the importance they gave for maintaining thorough documentation. Each child's profile had all the details about the child, family background and if the parents and/or the child are infected/affected etc.
From the pile of 130, we picked 3 families to visit but due to time constraints we could only visit 2 families. Mr.Ramakrishna, a field staff from NHP+ assisted Mr.Satish and me to the houses. Both the families I visited, the children were AIDS infected. As we approached closer to the first house, I saw a boy waving to Mr.Ramakrishna and running towards him. Ramakrishna spoke to him very congenially and there was a warmth in his voice. The kid was very happy and teased Ramakrishna that he recognized him by his shirt. At that point I was very convinced of the commitment and dedication of NHP+. The boy took us to the house which was small and had 1 room. His mother was home and offered us some water. Once we sat down to talk, the boy and mother started showing us the medical documents that had information on them taking the ART and visiting the doctor frequently. The family was also getting the required nutrition component from NHP+. The records showed that the boy had been doing very well and there was a drastic improvement in his weight. The boy also showed his progress report. He was doing very well in school. In most subjects he scored 70-80% and at times he also scored 90%. This family gets Rs. 2000 from SAATHI which is used for the boys school and he also has a sister who is being funded by the woman's brother. This woman's husband is dead. Picture of the first family we visited to the right.
Within 15-20 mins distance was the other family we were going to visit. Here also the father was dead and it was run by the mother with 2 children with all of them being AIDS infected.
The only person in the house was the daughter. She is in her 10th grade and was waiting for her results which were due in 2 weeks time. She also showed us her medical records and has been consistent in taking the ART and visiting the doctor. Her weight also showed considerable improvement. She said she was doing well in school and also was helping her mother and taking care of her younger brother. She seemed a little apprehensive talking about her health and her condition which made me a little worried because she was 15 and needed to know what was happening with her.
Once we were out I asked Ramakrishna if she was getting sex education and education about her condition as she avoided the question when asked if she knew why she was on medication. Mr.Ramakrishna said that she does get education on her condition from the women in NHP+ but is just not comfortable talking about her condition in public.
This family is receiving Rs.3000 from NHP+ but the amount the family spends on 2 kids per year is Rs.20,000 as they go to a private school. Most families are not comfortable sending their children to government school as they feel private schools offer better teaching and they want to provide the best education to their children.
Overall, my visit was very good as far as the work being done by NHP+ and SAATHI was concerned but disturbing to still see the plight of so many people suffering on a day to day basis.
Once we left the second house, Mr.Satish and myself went back to the SAATHI main office. Ms.Harini madam, a person handling the accounts in the office showed me the receipts and the amount given to each child with the profile.
Thanks to Mr.Satish, Ms.HariniMam, Mr.Ramakrishna and the others in the NHP+ office for making my visit a pleasant one.
Swathi