After many years of fundraising, funding applications, and liaising through Arms Around The Child India with the Rajasthan Government the home in Jaipur India is now officially open. We have created a beautiful home for the children we look after who are all affected by HIV/AIDS, most of the children are orphans and those that have parents are too sick to look after them or unable to as they have no access to medications and have no work. Smriti Singh who runs Faith is one of Arms Around The Child’s warriors working on the ground directly with the children and their community. We have supported her over the past 14 years with her vision to provide a beautiful home for the children and support into adulthood and independence, a tough call as the stigma around HIV/AIDS is rife in India. The home is occupied by the boys as there was more space in the new home as they are greater in number. The girls continue to live in rented accommodation, thankfully the landlord is very understanding and the house is well looked after providing a great standard of living for the girls.
The original plans of the new home were for 2 floors but with the basement and the ground floor completed there was plenty of space for the boys to move in. The intention is to build an additional floor to look after more children as the need is so great. We are continuing our discussions and applications with the Rajasthan Government to support the building of the additional floor and seeking other sources of funding for the next phase. We are also in discussions with Ceinvidas, an organisation from Spain to potentially build a girls’ home in Alwar which is outside of Jaipur. We have negotiated a land purchase for the potential build and are awaiting plans and further interaction from Cienvidas.
Thank you for all your support, it means so much for all the children we look after and a relief not dealing with prejudiced landlords and neighbours plus we are saving on rental which means our funds go further with support for both the girls and the boys’ homes.
Before
After
