Day 1 - Tuesday 7th October
The Hotel is a haven of air conditioning, clean cotton sheets and serenity – a far cry from just outside where the madness of Chennai unfolds for us.
We landed at 0325 local time, after two hours in the airport waiting for baggage; we managed to get one-hour sleep before our breakfast meeting with Silvano who works for IID.
For Rianna’s Fund the trip is about beginning to understand the issues faced by the poorest of children in this area and meeting up with some of the local organisations who are offering some assistance to see if there are projects which Rianna’s Fund can become involved with. It is also forming relationships with some local NGO’s (Non Governmental Organisations), which may blossom now, or in the future.
IID is an organisation that has been involved in helping the very poorest in this area for over 30 years.  Silvano took us the short drive to the coast to see the Ethos Project and Day Care Centre. The South Eastern coast of India was one of the main areas hit by the Tsunami in 2004. Some very basic huts have set up along the beach, and step back just a few hundred metres and you are in a slum area. Here basic housing is in huts made of palm leaves, and children sit among the rubbish surrounded by flies.
The Ethos Day Care Centre has been built to offer an alternative to pre-school children aged between 3 – 5 years old from the slums. The centre also offers a daily distribution of milk and bread for mothers of younger children. They entertained us singing and performing the actions to a number of songs. One small boy led us in the Lord’s prayer. Meanwhile, we melted in to puddles of sweat from the heat inside the day centre. The teachers were delightful and so committed to their work.
Our next visit was to the other side of the City through the most horrific traffic. Mopeds transporting whole families with children perched on the handlebars, taxis, rickshaws, buses overflowing with bodies, and push bikes being used to carry huge amounts of provisions, and all the time that deafening sound of blaring horns – this could only be India.
Our next stop was at the IID College. Here children from the school drop outs and children from IID Orphanages can receive training in practical skills such as Accountancy, Computing, Tailoring and even the old craft of batik.
On again to our lunchtime meeting and to our delight this was in an air-conditioned hotel - what joy! Here we enjoyed a banana leaf lunch; small portions of different food are served on a banana leaf and eaten with your hand. We met Sam and Priya who had previously worked for IID running a home and community centre for 105 boys. Through them we visited a community centre, which was another 40 minutes drive. At this community centre we met two groups of the most marginalized people being helped via the Church of South India – families affected by AIDS and transgender.
 We were very encouraged to hear of some of the positive work being undertaken by the Indian government to create awareness of HIV AIDS, however, in a society where clear sex education is still not accepted, the messages are not always clear. We met ladies who had been infected by their husbands prior to their deaths from the disease. The stigma of being HIV positive has led to their families ostracising them and so they are left to support themselves and their children, many who are also HIV positive. There is access to anti retroviral drugs but we heard of the problems associated with taking these drugs, mainly lethargy and the need for a very regular and wholesome food intake, which is not always available.
I think we were all a little anxious about meeting the transgender ladies. All were born as boys but realised from a very young age that they were not happy living as males, this realisation can be from as young as 8. There is no opportunity for counselling or support, and most are bullied out of school and then disowned by their families and society in general. Their only options for employment are begging or the sex trade, and so desperate are these individuals that many have their male organs removed by other members of the community, a barbaric practice which leaves them with many problems later in life. Hats off to the Church of South India for identifying these people as being at the very bottom of the pile and offering them support. We went on to visit a children’s home being run by a transgender called Nuri who is also HIV positive. As Nuri said, “Many people used me and threw me away. I know what this feels like and I don’t want to treat people the same way”. The home houses 32 children, some who are HIV positive and some who were dustbin children, literally abandoned by their parents.
We returned to the Hotel for an evening meeting and managed to keep our eyes open until 1030 when it was a very welcome lights out for all.
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