Ahmedabad: Positive people serve ‘food’ for thought

[Guest guest]

HIV-positive people serve `food' for thought

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

D P Bhattacharya

Ahmedabad, June 11: OSTRACISED by society, they cater to people's

taste buds, if not to their myopic thinking.

Stigmas, misbehaviour notwithstanding, this enterprising group of

HIV positive people have begun satiating people's hunger.

A catering service started by Ahmedabad Network of People Living

with HIV/AIDS (ANPLH), Abad NP+ is run entirely by HIV positive

people — some of whom were shown the door by their employers, while

some had to move out of their profession once their HIV positive

status was revealed.

A brainchild of Dr DM Saxena, assistant project director of Gujarat

State AIDS Control Society (GSACS), the project is first-of-its-kind

in the country where HIVpositive people operate a food business.

" Food is one of the most vulnerable areas in human social

behaviour, " Saxena said, adding that once people become fond of the

platter, the myths, misconceptions and stigmas attached with the

HIV/ AIDS will dispel fast.

" Apart from an income generation activity, we at GSACS are looking

at it as a way to eradicate discrimination, " Saxena adds.

The catering unit, which became operational only last month, has

five men and five women who are HIVpositive, barring the cook.

" Right now, we are training 10 people to run the show, " said

Vishwesh Trivedi (name changed), the project officer. Trivedi being

a HIV positive himself was forced to resign from a reputed IT

company after his status was revealed last year.

Once the training gets over, these people will set up their own

business with support from GSACS and ANPLH and train the second

batch of 10 caterers.

" By the end of this year we intend to have 10 such units all over

the State, " Trivedi adds.

" We'll gradually try to set up stalls at bus stands and railway

stations to be run by HIV positive people, " Trivedi said, adding

that in all cases, customers are informed beforehand about their HIV

status.

" It becomes very important, for HIV positive people to have their

own source of sustenance, as the societal acceptance is yet not

complete, " he said.

" So far, we have got good response from the health sector, " Trivedi

said, adding that the network is already supplying tiffins to ART

centre in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, GSACS and AIDS Project support

unit.

" In fact, in the last one month, we generated business of about Rs

16,000, " he said.

" However, some of the corporate houses have flatly refused to buy

our food, " he says, adding that in some areas the network needs to

do some advocacy to raise the level of awareness.

" People need to know that HIV/AIDS doesn't spread through food, " he

said.

" Right now, we are supplying about 8 to 10 tiffins a day, " said

Lakshman J Meena, president ANPLH.

" Our target is to reach 25 tiffins and four outdoor parties in a

day, " he said, adding that the network was planning to approach NGOs

for orders, which will make things a little easier for them.

http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=240737 & creation_date=\

2007-06-12

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