Found on a pavement,Adia now has aunties across the globe
When two Americans,Nicholas Avirett and Echo June Vincent found Adia,an emaciated baby on the pavements of Hyderabad...
When two Americans,Nicholas Avirett and Echo June Vincent found Adia,an emaciated baby on the pavements of Hyderabad last month,they did not look the other way. Her grandmother was asking for change,begging. Adia was on the verge of death. We went to the police,but they thought we were being annoyed by the begging. They didnt understand, they say.
Echo June and her husband,who are freelance artists,with some difficulty,convinced the childs parents to let them take her to the hospital. There,the doctors told them that the child who looked two-three months old was actually 14 months old and was severely malnourished.
Echo then posted her thoughts on finding Adia on her blog http://www.pop-india.blogspot.com. What followed was support from all over the world. Echo and Nicholas have been networking Etsy.com,a US based website where members from over 150 countries can buy and sell handmade goods. When Echo,a seller on the website,posted about Adia,the support for the child was overwhelming.
Athena Corcoran-Tadd,an Irish music student who is currently living in Portugal and is a buyer on Etsy says,Echo,aka nutmeg on the website,is a frequent contributor. When she first encountered Adia she wrote about as one would,to share her experience in a supportive community. She wrote about the emotional impact seeing this starving child had on her. She posted regular updates on Adia,and soon had many of us in the community following and doing what we could to support and help.
Like Athena,over 33 other members have formed a club known as Adias Aunties on Etsy.com where they make,sell and buy artefacts ranging from bracelets and umbrellas to soaps for Adias cause. So far,they have raised around 400.
The cause has also moved on to http://www.adiainindia.com,a site set up by Echo. In first world countries,a lot of people are not aware of these things. When we posted about Adia,they asked us to get in touch with the social services or the police. They dont understand that things dont work this way here. The government officials have not tried to help us. It was a natural progression for people who read about it to want to help. There are around 300-400 people involved right now, says Nicholas. Several artists like Adias Aunties have also been getting together to put up things for sale or hold events to raise money. From Brazil,a member on the adiainindia.com forum,Jessica Preuss is working on a colouring book with 25 other artists from around the world. Keala,another friend from Hawaii,wants to make a photography calendar,Hands for Adia.
The cause,however,according to Echo and Nicholas is not restricted only to Adia. We want to do something for all girl children, they say Why they chose Adia is a question they get one too many times. Nicholas explains,We felt she was led to us for a purpose. As of now,Adia is doing better and can recognise people around her.
Share
