How Adelaide’s Indian community came together for two bereaved children

Help the Telugu Association of South Australia support Bhavagna and Palvith.

RAJnI AnAnD LuTHRA and RHEA L nATH report

"Iwas shaken to the core when I put myself in the shoes of this young family – what if this happened to us,” Dr Sridhar Nannapaneni told Indian Link, describing a tragedy that has consumed Adelaide’s Indian community in recent weeks.

Two children Bhavagna and Palvith, aged 9 and 6, who lost their parents in a road accident in India recently, havereturned home to the care of family friends.

Adelaide’s Telugu community, of which their parents Hemambaradhar “Hems” Peddagamalla and Rama Batthulawere wellloved members, came out in their dozens to welcome them at the airport.

The children were escorted by Samuel and Miriam Kaladari, close family friends who travelled to India to bring them home.

There’s been a groundswell of support for the kids since the tragedy took place.

“It became clear that just like me, others had had the same thought about their own families,” Dr Nannapaneni (Neni) revealed.

“Perhaps this was one of the motivating factors in banding us together for the sake of Bhavagna and Palvith.”

In a matter of three weeks, a sum of $250,000 was raised by the Telegu Association of South Australia (TASA) for the kids’ welfare, in an ongoing GoFundMe campaign set up by another family friend Shivaji Pathuri.

The Tragic accidenT

In late April, the family had travelled to India after the recent loss of their grandfather. On the way from the airport, their taxi crashed into a wall near Suryapet, Telangana, killing both parents.

The children spent the next few weeks receiving medical treatment and had no idea what happened.

“At the advice of authorities, a member of the community Dr Sudheer Talari broke the news to them only a few days ago, before they were going to leave Telangana. Until then, they thought their parents were in a hospital in Australia,” Dr Neni said. “He revealed to me how emotionally draining it was. As doctors we are used to imparting bad news but this one was on a different scale altogether, it was extremely difficult, Sudheer said.”

The funds collected have gone towards medical expenses, funeral expenses, travel and paying off the family’s mortgage. (Hems did not leave a will and had but a small Super and default insurance).

But most importantly, with the children being English speakers with only brief visits to India over the years, and aging grandparents in Telangana who would struggle to care for them, the community rallied together to find a way to bring Bhavagna and Palvith back home to

Flagstaff Hill, Adelaide.

“It was important for them to return to their regular lives, to their school, to their friends, to the people here they grew up with,” Dr Neni elaborated.

Despite fears of a long legal battle ahead, their return was fast tracked by the Australian High Commission, along with help from Indian authorities and appeals from South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas.

The High Commission was proactive in their support, Dr Neni described, sending a representative to hospital at Vijaywada and monitoring the situation closely. Dr Talari liaised between them and the grandparents constantly.

He added, “We’re really thankful to everyone for helping out with this. The community came together so strongly to help, from financial support and logistics to offering their homes to the children.”

In the short term, the children will be under the care of the Kaladaris, who have three kids themselves. “The children’s grandparents in India have agreed to the current arrangement,” Dr Neni confirmed.

The nex T sTeps

Care of the children is paramount at the moment, given they are still wheelchair bound with fractures of leg and pelvis, and face 4-8 weeks of intense physiotherapy.

Social psychological support is also a concern. “Palvith is better, but Bhavagna is emotional - somewhat closed off at the moment and not expressing herself. She’s grieving in her own way and no doubt processing it all,” Dr Neni reported.

“We are aiming for the kids’ lives to be as normal as it was – which of course it will never be, but at least we can give them a routine resembling their previous routine as swiftly as possible. The important word here really, is ‘routine’.”

In the meantime, there are plenty of chores on the list – liaising with the

Premier’s office, Immigration authorities, child protection services (where coincidentally Rama worked), the kids’ school, and their friends, while keeping the grandparents in India in the loop.

“Working out how to keep the grandparents in regular contact with the children is also important. We are trying to get them to visit, so are looking at their passports, visas etc. It could be difficult as they are in their 80s. Another possibility is to organise regular trips to India for the kids so they are in touch with their family – it will all require a fair bit of thinking and

planning.”

Throughout of course it has been a collective decision by TASA, with Sam Kaladari, Shivaji Pathuri, Dr Sudheer Talari and Dr Sridhar Neni being the most proactive.

What challenges do they foresee?

“We need to sit down together and set up a trust to protect the funds the community is raising as well as what was accumulated by Hems and Rama. How do we structure the finances so as to see the kids well provided for? Do we pay off the mortgage and rent the property out?”

Perhaps there could also be challenges arising from childrearing practices that could be different from family to family.

But the emphasis at the moment is on present day concerns.

“We’re figuring out how to keep their regular activities continuing – dance lessons, Pre-Uni, Telugu language school; who pays for these activities, and who drives them around or who shares the workload with Sam and Miriam.”

The kids’ school, St Bernadette’s, has come on board with offers to help, with early suggestions that they’ll look at waiving the fees.

Another significant activity in the closeknit Telugu community has been talking to the kids.

“We’ve all been having conversations with our kids about how to deal with Bhavagna and Palvith. Be as normal as possible, we’re telling them. Don’t do anything extreme or difficult. Be sensitive, and don’t raise sensitive issues. Try and keep it like you did before.”

They’ve also been having conversations with other adults, about important family matters.

A significant offshoot has been an uptick in the number of people getting their wills sorted. “Our community typically lags behind in this activity,” Dr Neni lamented. “I myself have been taking a relook at my own affairs in recent days – my will was made before my kids were born!”

In fact, in the aftermath of this tragedy, local association Indian Professionals in Australia took this issue up and organised a seminar on the importance of estate planning. (Senthil Chidambaranathan of the association revealed that a capacity audience heard from an expert about the setting up of a will that is legally valid, about putting a Power of Attorney in place, and about specifying advance medical directives).

Quite ironically, Dr Neni recalled a similar TASA event many months ago. Hems had attended, and had been the most prolific questioner.

show your supporT To Tasa

They say an entire village is needed to raise a child. This may well be true in the case of Bhavagna and Palvith, indeed more so than most children, as the community comes together for them.

As for the ‘village’ itself, TASA, their commitment has been exemplary. Their selfless efforts here, proactive and practically reasoned, might well become a case study for other communities to show solidarity in the face of life-changing circumstances.

Help TASA to care for Bhavagna and Palvith by donating here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-tohelp-for-mr-mrs-hems-rama-family

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With thousands of international students still recovering from post-pandemic financial and mental strain, the Indian Students’ Association of Victoria (ISA) has been a ray of hope.

It was their ground-breaking work which contributed to the Federal Government announcement in November 2021 to extend the stay of Temporary Graduate visas from two to three years for master’s coursework, along with amendments to facilitate Vocational Education Training sector graduates to receive a two-year temporary graduate visa. A replacement visa was also announced for students who were unable to return to Australia due to border restrictions.

According to ISA President Karan Mehta, this was a “massive win” for the ISA.

“Throughout last year, we were receiving high volumes of calls from students, stuck offshore as well as those onshore, who were reaching out for help,” he told Indian Link. “We conducted an online survey, and the findings were then sent to the High Commission of India. Conclusions from the same study were drafted in the form of recommendations and passed to the Federal Government.”

That the Government based its new announcements on the ISA’s initial spadework, is a “definite gamechanger”, Karan added.

The ISA’s work in this area, however, began much earlier. An early success was ISA Care, which provided international students with an opportunity to avail mental health services by professional counsellors, free of cost.

It came about after the ISA’s yearly conference in the presence of Mr Raj Kumar Consul General of India (Melbourne) along with VicVise President Manorani Guy and Indian Care Coordinator Jyothsna Rao. The aim of the conference was to facilitate dialogue towards supporting international students post COVID-19 through various programs.

“We were able to jointly identify that along with homesickness, academic pressure, unemployment and financial limitations, what students feared the most was instability and uncertainty,” Karan noted.

“It was disheartening to see that students had been suffering for so long with no place to vent out their issues. We were glad that with ISA Care, they finally had a positive and confidential forum to open up and seek assistance.”

The response has been overwhelming and ISA Care has now extended the program by another year.

“The journey as an international student has never been easy in Australia. The pandemic just made it even worse,” Karan observed. “Some of the measures we have helped put in place will provide some degree of relief to thousands of international students questioning the worth of their psychological strain, struggling to find jobs, and facing massive financial investments towards their studies.”

The idea of Indian Students’ Association Victoria was first mooted in 2019 when various international student leaders from