By Shashikant Torane | Project Manager, Himmatgram
Please join us in wishing a happy birthday to our farm Security Guard, Baba who turned 77 last Tuesday. He may be the oldest security guard in town, but the gatekeeper to our Hamlet of Courage sure is doing a great job at keeping our beneficiaries and resources safe and sound.
Baba’s wife died several years ago, and with no children to look after him a friend suggested he come and live at our farm. He arrived five years ago, and started off looking after our cows - when his heart condition slowed him down he moved to our polyhouse and fields helping with the sowing and harvesting of the crops that feed us.
In July 2015, our security gate and house were completed and Baba moved in with his trusty sidekick, Himmat (Courage) the dog. His beaming smile now greets all our visitors and he diligently maintains logs of everyone coming in and out of our farm, keeping trespassers and uninvited visitors away, and tending to his garden. On his birthday, we managed to convince him to abandon his post long enough to celebrate his big day with our other farm residents to tuck into some birthday cake.
Among those he’s keeping safe and secure are Aditi, 21, and Vivek, 26, who are part of the team looking after our 20 cows. The two grew up together at Snehalaya and married in 2014 at our annual marriage ceremony, held as part of World AIDS week each December. Initially they moved away to live with Vivek’s uncle but they missed their Snehalaya friends so six months later they moved to our farm.
They both dream of having a large family but unfortunately Vivek’s CD4 count is too low to make is safe to have babies right now. Therefore, he’s focusing on improving his health and until then Aditi, who has quite a talent for drawing and painting, is concentrating on completing her 12th standard exams. She needs to pass these exams to do an art, technology and design course and follow her dream of starting her own art classes for people living with HIV.
Thank you for supporting young and old alike at our farm. With your help, we are providing older people with a purpose and place to call home in their twilight years while also giving those just starting out on their family journey a strong foundation upon which to build their dreams.
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