Over 250 terminally ill children from Sion hospital come to the hospice in batches to spend their time laughing, talking and drawing from Monday to Friday. Most of them either have thalassemia or are HIV positive.
As children fight over carrom board, Mansi Shah (35) raises her voice, asking them to tone it down. They oblige for a few seconds, but soon enough the commotion is back. There are children colouring, some playing board games and others just chatting away. It is a regular day at Happy Feet Home, India's first hospice for children that has been struggling to survive, hoping once again to raise funds.
"We have Rs50,000 in our bank account and I will not be able to pay the salaries of my staff next month, but I am not worried," says Shah, adding that the last time they ran short of money, a man who had heard about the place through friends came to handover her Rs50,000 to keep the place afloat. He is now called 'Secret Santa' at the place.
Mansi also shares the story about 15-year-old Vikram Dugar, a Std X student, who has started an online fundraiser for the place on Ketto. "He has been personally writing to over a 100 people and collecting cheques from them," she adds. It is people like Vikram who have helped keep the place going for two years now since its inception in August 2014.
Over 250 terminally ill children from Sion hospital come to the hospice in batches to spend their time laughing, talking and drawing from Monday to Friday. Most of them either have thalassemia or are HIV positive.
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"I come here to have fun. When I enter this place I forget about the worries at home," says Ajay (15), who is HIV positive. Prone to frequent epileptic attacks and coming from a low income family in Mankhurd, the time spent at Happy Feet is the highlight of his day.
For Hasina Sheikh, the time spent here is a respite from the never-ending cycle of hospitals, doctors and medicines. She catches up on sleep as her eight-year-old daughter Ameena, who is a thalassemia major, plays with other children.
The idea is to keep children engaged in creative activities to divert their mind from their pain.
This May, Mansi decided to mark hospice week between May 23 and 27. There were sponsors who took the children out for a movie and Blue Frog that threw a party for them. "I later realised that it was national hospice week in the UK and not all over the world!" Mansi laughs.
She hopes the constant financial woes come to an end so that she can focus on finding a bigger space to move in and engage more children with the hospice.
What is a hospice care?
Hospice care focuses on attending to the emotional and spiritual needs of the chronically ill, terminally ill or seriously ill patients. It also focuses on relieving suffering and the pain among such patients.
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 "Mansi Shah & kids at the hospice")
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