Soma Basu
MUMBAI/MADURAI, Dec 2 2005 (IPS) – Across India, from the densely-populated western metropolis of Mumbai to the conservative southern temple city of Madurai, students are taking messages to end the stigma and discrimination around HIV/AIDS from classrooms to communities.
On Dec. 2, outside Mumbai s humming Churchgate Station at rush hour, a group of young people from university and schools all members of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) stage a streetplay to raise awareness. Stretched above their heads and that of hundreds of commuters streaming out of one of India s busiest railheads are banners: Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise.
If you are not aware, HIV/AIDS kills, whatever your religion, says Lt. Shyamalee of the NCC, a countrywide youth network of 1.3 million that regularly mobilises its members to sensitise citizens on social issues.
On Wednesday, NCC cadets organised a huge rally that was joined by Army officers, sailors of the Indian Navy, and hundreds of ordinary people at Chowpatty, Mumbai s most popular beach.
Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, is celebrated globally as a grim reminder of the fact that the most feared disease was getting out of control despite efforts to check it. Health professionals and activists are trying to put a brake on the illness, particularly in urban areas where HIV prevalence remains worryingly high.
Recently, a dozen HIV-positive women met in Madurai to share the stories of their lives and tell the world to let them live a life of dignity. On Dec 1, the city played host to a bigger group of 80-odd children aged between 10-18 years whose lives have been touched by the disease.
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Sixteen-year-old Marianmuthu came from a city slum along with her two sisters, one four years younger and the other three years older. The most articulate of the three, she narrated how last winter, her father whom she had always seen as an alcoholic died suddenly.
We really didn t mourn his departure because he was a burden. He never earned a penny but always abused my mother and beat us sisters. But the blow came when this summer our mother suddenly developed rashes all over her body. We took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed HIV-positive. She couldn t believe or bear the news and within three months was gone. Her voice faded into a whisper.
Fortunately, the siblings are unaffected by the disease, but they find themselves in a quandary. Being girls and born in poverty, they never went to school and are now unable to find any work for themselves. We are living at the mercy of our neighbours and relatives, the teenager said.
In sharp contrast, however, was 10-year-old Nandini from Theni district. HIV-positive and orphaned by AIDS, she refuses to give up. Since there is no other go, I have learnt to live with it and the anti-retroviral drugs, she said nonchalantly.
What makes her surprisingly confident is also the courage with which she says that she attends a regular school where she is not reminded every day of her HIV status.
Each child has a different story to share.
Prema who had come to the Madurai meeting from her home in Perambalur recalled how her blood test showed she too was HIV positive after her parents had succumbed to AIDS when she was just 13. However, neither the villagers nor the teachers and students at the school she attends taunt, harass or ostracise her, she said. This has helped me to think of life positively.
Latha of Namakkal district had a harrowing tale to tell. Their community members treated the 14-year-old and her mother as outcasts, she said. It is very difficult to live with the pain of dying a slow and inevitable death, she added in tears. But Latha was not giving up. I try to attend school regularly, she said.
In fact, Latha was a member of a children s delegation that called on Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Kalam in New Delhi recently to tell him how a majority of HIV-infected or affected children were living a life riddled with stigma. The president gave them a sympathetic hearing and assured them that he would ensure no one troubled them for a disease which they inherited through no fault of their own.
Children s voices remained unheard for many years after the protracted battle against AIDS began with the pumping in of enormous amounts of money and human resources. It is only now that stakeholders have begun to realise that children are the missing link in the fight against AIDS.
Interestingly, at the function in Madurai while most girls (though their names have been changed) had no qualms narrating their story, the boys were more restrained and did not want to be identified. Many said they were trying to lead a normal life with people around them unaware of their ailment.
The organisers, the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society, TN Positive Women s Network, said children were mobilised from seven districts neighbouring Madurai.
We want to and try our best to motivate children and encourage them to overcome all difficulties, howsoever tough, said Pichamani of TN Positive Networking People. It is society s duty to ensure that children are not discriminated against but given an equal opportunity to live normal, healthy and fruitful lives, he added.
Madurai is among seven districts in Tamil Nadu state identified with a high prevalence of HIV infection . We have to serve an infected or affected child s need rather than simply adhering to a methodology. We should create solutions for children, inform them properly that their problem can be contained through medicines and they should not fear or await death due to it, said Jeyapaul of the Positive Network group.
It is reported that less than five percent of all HIV-infected children in the country actually receive any medical attention and treatment.
Recent studies have shown that in some districts like Namakkal and Tirunelveli, 30 percent of children belong to families with members infected by HIV/AIDS.
The problem arises when children, ignorant about medical facts, suddenly become symptomatic. It is difficult to pull them out of the quagmire of depression and fear of death and societal stigma, said Rajeshwari, a sero-positive woman who has turned a counselor at the Madurai Government Hospital.
An effort to reach school-going children is being made through the School Adolescent Life Skill programme, which has been introduced in a majority of public and private schools. Batches of teachers are being trained to incorporate lessons on sexuality, gender and health in the school curricula.
We ve come a long way, said Dr Evelet Sequeira, UNICEF extender to the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society. Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chennai are the only three Indian cities to have their own AIDS programmes.
Talking about HIV/AIDS in classrooms was out of the question even five years ago, she said. Parents and principals would insist that it was not (appropriate) for our children , she told IPS.
Today, schools compete with each other to win prizes at HIV/AIDS awareness quizzes and competitions. School-going children across the social spectrum are learning the Lessons for Life early enough. Maybe India s schoolchildren will stem the HIV/AIDS tide.