fbpx

DRUG ADDICTION + AIDS:
DYNAMIC MODEL FOR
DYNAMIC ISSUES.

Where there is an addict, can AIDS be far behind? This was 1995. Both the Government and the society have been in absolute denial of the existence of HIV/AIDS in India. The living were discriminated and the deceased were denied a decent funeral. The trust had the need to build awareness as much as it had the need to build resources. In an herculean effort to normalise HIV/AIDS, the trust welcomed the society to visit our care centres and see the truth for itself. From the common man to Government Officials, educational institutions to religious groups, everybody was brought face to face with the stark reality.

INNOVATE – DEMONSTRATE – IMPLEMENT

This method forms the cornerstone of the Freedom Foundation trust’s work. First it creates an innovative solution that is based on the ground reality. It factors in the immediate needs of the beneficiaries and the limitations at hand. After that, the trust demonstrates the solution with the resources at hand and delivers results. This becomes the model for other non-governmental organisations and Government organisations to replicate and implement at scale. Levi Strauss. Providentially, Levi Strauss Company came forward with seed money in the form of a one-time grant that could sustain them for a year. That was in 1996. Freedom Foundation then opened its Day Care Centre for the HIV positive at Hennur. It became the first of its kind in India. Levi Strauss once again granted aid in the form of a maintenance grant for the year 1997. Since then, the Foundation’s HIV/ AIDS initiatives have only grown, diversified and spread across the South Indian states. The Foundation turns none from its doors because it works on sheer faith and the will to serve. Thus Changing Lives & help in Making a Difference!

ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • Set up our own testing centres and intervention models.
  • Worked with a Lawyers collective to create legislations for people affected with HIV/AIDS
  • Started ‘Heart counselling’ sessions to discuss and normalise death and dying among the young and the old.
  • Part of a consortia that was the first to directly receive grants* from the Global funds. (The trust played a major in the designing and implementation of programmes).
Menu