This Man Has Given 47 Disowned HIV Kids A Chance To Have A Family

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Updates (6)

Solomon Raj is a proud father of 47 adopted HIV positive children and he juggles three jobs to meet their expenses, most of which are medical. These children had been abandoned by relatives when Solomon took them under his wings. He set up Shelter Trust, where he is assisted by 11 staff, who are also HIV Positive, to take care of these children.

“I wanted to bring home a child who needed more care than others, such as a differently-abled or HIV positive child. My family had reservations about it."

However, the guilt of not going in for adoption nagged him. Then in 2005, a friend mentioned a seven year-old-boy to Solomon. Initially I declined, but when I heard story about the boy, I changed my mind. This kid had seen six HIV related deaths in his family – mother, father and siblings. He was the lone survivor, with only a few days to live,” says Solomon.

When Solomon took the child to his office, people who regularly had lunch with him started avoiding him and chose to eat at different times because the child was sitting next to him. Appalled by their ignorance he decided to prove a point and show people that its perfectly normal to live with HIV children.

So he started adopting more kids under his NGO ' Shelter trust' and today he is the proud father to a happy family of 47 HIV positive kids.

When he required help for taking care of them, nobody came forward because of the fear factor of contracting HIV. That is when he decided he would employ HIV positive widows and commercial sex workers to take care of the kids.

"In doing so I provided a home for these women who were suffering from the disease themselves and my kids also got caring mothers who understood their condition"

All of his kids call him ' Appa' and as a caring father he feels completely responsible for their education and their health.

"Since all of my children are Immuno deficient because of HIV , it is hard to predict how many will fall sick next month and what treatment they might require "

Sometimes hospitals refuse to take them and even if they do, they are charged exorbitantly because of their special requirements.

Solomon has been juggling three day jobs and multiple other odd jobs to make money for the family. He now requires your help to provide a healthy livelihood for these children, who are suffering for no fault of theirs.

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8th June 2020

Brief Update

1. With the ongoing COVID pandemic, I wish to tell you that all the children are safe and we are taking every precautionary measure- frequent handwash and sanitizing the floor 2 times a day to keep fighting against the virus. Although due to the lockdown, regular visitors and donors have stopped coming to the shelter. It used to be a big help to us, without which it is getting difficult to manage everything.

2. We are delighted to inform you that one of our girls who got married last year is 5 months pregnant now. We are praying to God that the baby is born HIV negative and healthy.

3. Currently, some of the children are having online classes conducted by their schools and colleges while rest are studying at the shelter on their own.

Thank you so much for your love and support.

28th September 2019

Brief Update

1. All the children have finished quarterly exams and enjoying their holidays now.

2. We are delighted to inform about a special good news as we celebrated the marriage of one of our girls who got married on 28.08.2019. She was in our home for the past 15 years since she was 5.

3. One of our inmates who was trafficked from Bangladesh was repatriated back to her country with the help of various Government agencies and other organizations both in India and Bangladesh. It was a very difficult task to identify her family based on the little clues given by her. It almost took us more than 8 months to identify and co-ordinate with Government agencies and send her home. I personally went to their home for their reunion.

4. Next month, we have arranged marriage for another girl who has been living with us for 14 years. The date of marriage is fixed on 11th November 2019. It is very difficult to find suitable match (positive people) and hence as and when we find , we propose to conduct marriage for our older girls / boys

Due to confidentiality of identity protection the photographs could not be uploaded

18th June 2019

Dear Supporters,

Here's a quick update:

Nine of our children are now pursuing their college education in Mechanical Engineering, Commerce, Computer Science, Mathematics and Business Administration. The rest of the children are in classes 1 to 12. The schools and colleges have reopened after summer vacation and we need to pay school / college fee and buy uniforms, books, school bags, shoes and other stationary items - A back to school kit.

The children are in good health and looking forward to the new academic year.