“It was a dark night. We had just managed to survive a raid by wild elephants the previous night. But this night it was difficult to manage the human mob that wanted us out of the cow shed that we had rented in Karamadai to house the kids. We had to move out of that place like nomads to find another temporary place”. The narrative may seem to be right out of a movie scene, but this has been the life of R. Riyaz ever since he decided to adopt children living with Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 2010. The support he received from his wife R. Marjuk Begham was not forthcoming from his neighbours.

“I am a B.Com. graduate from Udumalpet and wanted to join the Police Department. I was working for a reasonable salary in a corporate. But resigned the job and even gave up the post of a Sub-Inspector in Erode. I realised my heart was not in those things and chose to raise kids living with AIDS,” says Riyaz who is now running the ‘Mercy Home for AIDS Affected People’ near Puliyakulam.

Though he is now living undisturbed with his wife, daughter and 25 children, the journey till here has been strewn with thorns.

“I first rented a place in Mettupalayam and stayed there with the kids for six months. But people made me vacate it, for fear of the spread of the virus. I then moved to Ganapathy and later to Seeliyur near Karamadai. But again I was forced to vacate from Karamadai in the middle of the night by an angry mob,” says Riyaz.

He was able to find the present building with the help of the then Mayor of Coimbatore S.M. Velusamy. “The current place is rented to me by the Corporation. Yet, here too people are trying to make me vacate. But the worst part is that even my own relatives think that I have AIDS and don’t visit us often. We have become orphans too,” says Riyaz.

Another major worry for Riyaz is that the kids are discriminated in school, and even in their village.

“One of the girls living in the home was forced to sit in the last bench by a government school Headmistress and it required the intervention of the District Collector to sort out the issue. Another boy was not given a job in an IT company despite proving that he is qualified for the job,” he says.

Riyaz, who has lived with the kids for more than five years, has also seen many kids die and has buried them with his own hands. “Even if we inform the family members, they refuse to come. At first it was very hard to accept, but we gradually got used to it,” says Riyaz.

“These kids should not suffer for the mistakes of their parents and we should educate people well about AIDS so that they treat these kids with dignity. If only such an understanding comes can these kids be safe,” he says.

His immediate need is a permanent place to ensure a permanent home for these children living with AIDS. “I request large hearted people to donate a place for peaceful existence of these kids,” says Riyaz.