"Pay It Forward", A Charity Project to Help India's HIV/AIDS Orphans

September 13, 2007 (PRLEAP.COM) Education News
Global E-learning company SkyQuestCom is pleased to announce the launch of a charity campaign called "Pay It Forward".

The term originates from the movie, "Pay It Forward", a story of how a boy who believed in the goodness of human nature set out to change the world.

In a similar concept, SkyQuestCom Managing Director, Miss Tan Yang Po said the aim of the campaign is to spread global awareness about HIV/AIDS. It also pledges to help its beneficiary (Shelter) to provide support for orphans ravaged by this killer epidemic.

"When someone has done something good to you, most of us want to return them a favour. However, most people don¡¯t need the favour in return.

So instead of returning a favour, those who have benefitted are asked to do something good to someone else instead. We would like to join together to "Pay It Forward" by helping those who cannot help themselves," Miss Tan said.

SkyQuestCom has chosen a home for orphans with HIV/AIDS in Chennai, India. The name of the home is "Shelter: Hope for Every One".

About the Beneficiary

Shelter's aim is to provide love, laughter and life to HIV-positive children.

* Love - because most of these children have lost their parents and are longing for love.
* Laughter - to take them through the difficulties of their situation.
* Life - to give them a quality life for as long as they live with proper care, food, clothing and other needs.

There are HIV-positive kids and 4 HIV-positive women as staff in the home. 90% of the children have lost both parents. A couple more have a single parent who is not in a position to take care of them because they themselves are in the back end of life.

No Financial Support to Help Anymore Children

The shelter has had to turn down kids who need help because they do not have the financial support to take on any more children.

They do not currently have any support from the corporate sector, or government sector or international funding. The shelter is being run on an individual basis, but is a registered trust in India. Currently the shelter is only supported by friends, relatives and a few local individuals.

Finances are an added stress to the already present stress of taking care of these very sick and needy children.

They have difficulty finding proper schools for these children. If the kids have a fall or get sick, the shelter gets desperate calls from the school for them to come and take them. Emergency help from hospitals is difficult. Even simple issues like getting a haircut are difficult because they have boils all over their heads and it can stink quite badly. Barbers are not willing to come in and do a simple haircut.

There are also food issues; as some children have different dietary requirements and cannot eat the same things. Feeding them in front of others can be difficult because they may want certain foods that they cannot eat.

These kids go through a lot of emotional trauma in their lives and often don't know how to express themselves.

A Happy and Peaceful Home

Through SkyQuestCom's "Pay It Forward" campaign, Shelter is able to provide a family atmosphere where these HIV-positive children can get love, laughter and are provided a quality life so that as long as they live, they have a happy and peaceful home.

Those interested in participating in SkyQuestCom's "Pay It Forward" campaign - which will allow Shelter to benefit from proceeds - may do so by visiting http://TINYURL.COM/3CV0B5.