Lessons to be learned: Samraksha- Bangalore incidents

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

Although Samraksha succeeded in retaining their community care center with their

hard efforts I think it is a lesson for all of us. We from SFDRT Pondicherry is

also running a NACO funded similar care center who did have to face such

expereinces but we managed with less efforts I should say probably we were

careful in dealing with these since these were assumptions and risks that are

bound to happen. I could summarize a few experiences as follows:

1. We ensured that the building that we hire should be one that no influences

could vacate us. So we hired a building from an owner who was a very close

relative of the secretary of SFDRT you could even say blood relation. Therfore

we ensured that there was no way of vacation within the premises at least.

2. As for another organsiation named Shathi Bahvan who takes care of AIDS

patients at their terminal stages in pondicherry faced a similar situation where

in they werenot allowed to bury the dead from AIDS by the local community and

there once happenend top be a time where in the dead body of an AIDS patient lay

uncared for near the burial ground for over 4 hours during the night due ot the

protests after which it was settled amicably.

However SFDRT was invited to join hands with the organisation to intervene. We

then as a team spent one week with the community in first trying to elicit their

anger and concerns and probably educated with them with the requirements. What

we took care was to take the subject from their concerns and touched more on the

same. It worked and we went through the entire excercise with them. So much so

that these days the community comes forward to ensure that space and help are

rendered to the people who die of AIDS.

3. We also made sure that we prepared the community quite well before we started

the process of setting up the community care center where in we planned to lodge

the same and therefore the protests were little less and highly manageable which

is then one way of looking at it.

How ever these are simple tips that we went through as an organisation and could

help others.

We once again are with samraksha and the PLWHA in particular to ensure that we

do not discriminate maintain our dignity as a human bieng after all the

communities that protest, the PLHA, the NGOs etc etc. should remember are from

one sect and that being " human beings " which cannot be dinied.

With regards

shyamala ashok

sfdrt - pondicherry

E-mail: <aabinand@...>