The future of Snehagram program

The immediate future of the program, beyond simply expanding the number of children served, involves the development a critically important transition phase.  As batches of students are now graduating from the program and leaving the protective environment of Snehagram, it is now essential to support the progressive integration of these orphaned, HIV-infected young men and women into the complex adult world of Indian society. This generally means that these young adults have to find their way with jobs, housing and relationships in the closest large city.  For most, this involves a move to Bengaluru, a bustling IT hub with a population of over 8 million people.

Here is the most urgent need. While Snehagram had been a safe and nurturing haven for these children to grow, learn, and develop, it does not prepare them adequately to function as independent adults without family support in a complex and competitive world.  Each graduate encounters challenges to healthy living (HIV medications must be taken daily and complications addressed promptly, in a poorly structured and expensive health care system), financial support (they must find and retain jobs without any safety net options), and social integration (young HIV-positive women, in particular, are preyed upon by human traffickers).  Currently, the Snehagram organization is attempting to meet these challenges by renting a single living accommodation near the city where a small group of graduates can live and support each other as they learn to survive in the working world and mainstream society.  

Self-reliance is learned first-hand, as the residents gradually take over paying the rent themselves by acquiring and maintaining jobs.  Snehagram is also providing a mentorship program to provide continuous advice and counseling, through which older (and more mature) students along with familiar members of the community guide the younger children along their path to independence and fulfillment. This nascent system has already proven effective in transitioning the first few graduates to responsible, independent living, but it needs to be sustained, improved and expanded.

 Every year, there will be a steady stream of graduating Snehagram students, and if these resources for daily living and support are not guaranteed, they will be at high risk of succumbing to the many challenges and returning to lives of depredation and illness on the streets.

We are asking for your support to truly fulfill and complete the vision of Snehagram, so that young lives saved from cruelty, poverty and death from HIV can fulfill their human potentials as productive, adult citizens of the world.