Bengaluru: Sixty-three-year-old Koshy Varghese has made the dream of a lifetime materialise for two HIV-positive children in Bengaluru by sponsoring their trips to the Netherlands where they will participate in the International Children’s Games.
Fourteen-year-old Manik and 15-year-old Babu from the Sneha Care Home started their athletic journeys with their coach, Elvis Joseph, founder of the Bangalore School Sport Foundation. Joseph, who has worked with bringing HIV positive children into mainstream society through competitive sport since 2009, enrolled Manik and Babu in the Children’s Olympics, where they competed with kids from over 60 countries. The motive for both kids, said Joseph, was to use sport as a medium of transformation, irrespective of whether they win or lose.
“I trained the boys for five months and there were many challenges in terms of physical constraints and more so with paperwork. It took me three months to get their passports ready,” said Joseph.
The problem of sponsorship continued to loom large, until BSSF approached Koshy Varghese. “I was overwhelmed when I heard their story, even though I am a very tough guy,” Koshy said, with a smile. He agreed to sponsor their trips as soon as he heard them out.
“Their story was incredible. When I was growing up, HIV meant a death sentence, socially and in every way. Today, you have positive children who are struggling to make something of their lives and they have an attitude to match that ambition.”
