The Hindu Business Line : `Seal'ed with love

Laughter and loud play of children come in from near while we were chatting with Pastor Karikotu Mammen Philip in his asbestos-roofed office with a ceiling fan wafting hot, summer air.

Like most, we were interested in the children and the Pastor took us to the rooms adjoining his office at Seal (Social & Evangelical Association for Love) Ashram, Wangani village, Raidgad district, some 8 km from Panvel railway station.

He opened the door of the room and we saw a one-month-old boy abandoned by his HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus) positive mother. "She left her son and went away," the Pastor told Adith Charlie and this writer. The baby was asleep on a mat under a fan.

In the next room, a mix of healthy and HIV positive children were noisily studying sitting on benches with books spread out on tables. An 8-year-old, HIV afflicted Reubena wished us a good afternoon, while warmly welcoming the presence of Pastor Philip.

"She is healthy and we always monitor the health of the children," said Philip who allowed us to mix with the kids.

Angela is about six or seven years old and was rescued from a bush by the Pastor. The little girl in a pink frock stood up as one walked over to shake hands. She was writing Marathi alphabets in an exercise book and showed the book to us. Angela with her shining eyes will not be forgotten by this writer as she fondled a younger Shanti, tested positive for HIV. "They look after each other. If one falls another offers a helping hand to stand up," remarked Philip.

Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross, says the Bible. The children at Seal Ashram are born nailed to the Cross. The killer affliction may remain dormant for years and for the time being the children look clean and healthy.

Most, if not all the children were picked off the streets or handed over by NGOs and become citizens of Seal Ashram after detailed blood tests.

One day, a mother came and deposited her male child and requested us not to train him as a truck driver when he grows up, informs Philip. Truck drivers, hotel workers and the population walking the sex streets of Mumbai are prone to carry the disease, a fact confirmed by sisters at Jyothis Charitable Trust run by the Sisters of the Destitutes, offering free care to terminally ill AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) patients.

Next to the children's ward are two rooms housing mentally challenged women. They were lying on the clean floor looking into space.

As we were looking around, one of them walked out of the room to be brought back by a second woman. One lady in the room was helped out by the Pastor from a police station where the policemen kept a safe distance from her as she was prone to be violent.

She threatened to throw a stone at the Pastor. "But we managed to bring her here and offer an extension on living," said Philip with a wry smile.

A separate bloc accommodates mentally ill, grown up men. They were sitting in a row waiting for lunch cooked in a common kitchen by the Pastor's wife.

Seal Ashram situated on scrubland with a few mango trees looks after 70 human beings, including those hit by HIV.

"First, we give a good bath and clean up the patient. It is a must before becoming a citizen of the Ashram. We have links with the municipal hospital at Navi Mumbai for regular check ups; in addition, doctors visit us offering free help," admits 38-year-old Pastor Philip, who made his first one-month visit to Mumbai on June 27, 1999. He was taken aback by the sight of physically wasted human beings on the streets of the Financial Capital of India. "I had never seen such a thing in Kerala," the Pastor said, who comes from Ranni in Kerala.

For a month, he walked the streets and still recalls the day on a bridge in Goregaon where an old man walked over with a request, "Can you help my child." Philip could not offer any, though he went back to the spot after a week to learn the child had died in an accident.

"Yes, one could have done something, One did not," stuttered the black-bearded Pastor in a khadi jibba, cotton pants and chappals. As he talks (sometimes breaking into familiar Malayalam), his thick fingers stab the air to make a point and he made a point to come back to the city.

On November 15, 1999, Philip was as usual stalking the streets when he found an old man on Parel bridge.

Usually, these unfortunates start with one version of their lives and keep altering the story lines. One has to have patience to get at the basic facts.

The old man, initially said he was from Mumbai and then shifted to Bhopal. After a time, the Pastor got the details and contacted Bhopal. The old man's wife was in Mumbai in search of her man, and the Pastor got them together.

For Pastor Philip, November 15, 1999, became the first day for Seal Ashram. In the last eight years, around 50 patients have died. Money comes from many quiet Samaritans.

A few days ago, the Ashram had exhausted its food stocks and the Pastor was in a bind. He had to feed 70 mouths including his own family. Long ago he had stopped taking any help from his relatives in Kerala. By 10 in the night, a Gujarati gentleman came up with an offer of grocery and other items to keep the kitchen going. "God is real. It is just faith," says the Pastor.

Now, the Ashram plans to set up a hospital for treating HIV and AIDS patients, as by his own admission, medical aid at the Ashram needs to be better.

For Anti Retroviral Therapy (AIDS drugs), a patient has to present himself physically at the hospital to get free drugs, say government rules. Can such a patient make it to the hospital on his own?

(Pastor Philip can be contacted on 9321261224 or reached on e-mail at: seal@indiatimes.com).

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