Shanker Foundation Darjeeling- May 2008 Update

Time…seems like yesterday and a month has gone by. We have experienced so many incredible moments in the Darjeeling Hills in the past month that this update would be an impossible task to capture all these moments. But the purpose of these updates are not to make a political commentary but to document the Shanker Foundation and Friends thus would like to restrict my expressions to those and not be one of the additions to all the happenings in our beloved hills.
Momentous has been the past month so would like share some events which I feel are the important ones.

Shanker Foundation Darjeeling Network of Positive People was faced with their first public allegations of corruption in Himali Darpan 19 April 2008. The story was that Shanker Foundation is receiving DOLLARS from foreign sources, charges Rs. 20000 to Rs 24000 per patients, caters to drug addicts and neglects other patients. The story appeared as a quote of Mrs. Ramala Sharma "The foundation also made it clear that anyone who wishes to check the accounts and reports can do so by coming over to the office."

Incidentally, we were in our monthly members meeting when the story appeared so we broke up into groups and discussed possible actions. Lot of anger and ideas later considering the parameters in Darjeeling we drafted a response. Jist of our response: The story is totally wrong and should be retracted. Himali Darpan should have contacted Shanker Foundation with their response to the allegations before printing. Shanker Foundation does not receive DOLLARS and has been supported by Darjeeling AIDS Control Centre (DACC)(for the past year), Opportunistic Infections treatment from CHAI Project and contributions of FRIENDS. The membership fee is Rs. 5 which also is seldom collected due to the economic status of most members. Shanker Foundation is a network of HIV Postive people and does not discriminate or look into the mode of acquiring the virus of the member.

With this response all of us trooped to Himali Darpan office. My personal experience "Wish we had just taken a legal action against Himali Darpan. They had the audacity to tell us that due to media ethics they have to print any news that is given to them and it is the duty of the other party to refute the charges. We are filled with self righteous so called intellectuals in Darjeeling". Finally we came to an agreement that the response would be printed and it was printed as a response to the allegation in the following day's edition 20 April 2008.

The fallouts:- The damage has been done, a sense of doubt has entered all the readers of the story. - It has increased fear amongst positive people who are still an invisible community in the hills. - A number of organizations including government officials are now keeping a distance from the organisation and some have withdrawn support. Relationships with these organizations had been cultivated over a period of time which has come crashing down.

We are recovering from this story and as one of the damage control exercise have been sending the response to key stakeholders in the government and non-government organizations. But it is damage control only.

Well, this one tops the lows of the month and let me not add anymore. Most of the other lows are stories of discrimination and denial.

Positively: CHAI Project is going to support 2 staff in Darjeeling, 1 in Pokhriabong, 1 in Kurseong and 1 in Kalimpong for six months. Their roles will be to organize awareness programmes as well as strengthen the network. Kurseong and Pokriabong are strategic as the network has very little presence and a large number of patients have been emerging from these areas.

DACC will be extending their support for the next 3 months.

We had our first case of a positive mother give birth in the Darjeeling Government Hospital with all necessary Prevention of Parent to Child Transfer Treatment measures being followed. The story is covered in 8 May 2008 Himali Darpan and Telegraph. Telegraph should have an electronic version of the story. We have our fingers crossed and prayers for the mother and the child.

Shanker Foundation and Friends in Darjeeling will be meeting next week. This meeting has been long overdue. Hoping Friends meeting are taking place other cities, towns and villages.

peace
Roshan