Punjab's Forgotten Women: A lonely war against AIDS

February 22, 2009

Mandakini Gupta / CNN-IBN

Published on Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 13:38, Updated on Sun, Feb 22,

2009 at 14:01 in Nation section

Chandigarh: Truck drivers from Punjab fall into the most high-risk

category of HIV/AIDs victims. But what about the women and children

they leave behind? Faced with the worst kind of social stigma and

lack of financial help, these fatherless families often sink into

oblivion.

" I didn't even know what HIV was or how it is contracted. I never

thought my family would be a victim. I am not very educated. I have

grown up in a village, " a truck driver's wife Pooja Thakur said.

At 27, Pooja's face reflects almost nothing of the struggle she has

endured. She lost her husband when she was just 21 years old to a

disease she knew nothing about. But it was not long before Pooja

discovered that she was HIV positive as well, and two of her three

children were carrying the virus too.

" After my husband died, his parents blamed me. They said if people

die of HIV, why are you still alive? Why are your children alive?

Then my in-laws threw me out, " Pooja said.

Pooja saw her life crumble into dust – she was homeless, poor,

practically illiterate and thrown out onto the streets with three

children to fend for.

Without support or money for the first time in her life, Pooja took

the giant leap of going to the Chandigarh State Aids Control Society,

telling them of her plight, and begging for a job. It was just the

lifeline that she needed. She is now the head of the Chandigarh

network of people living with HIV Aids and uses her story to spread

awareness.

But her children remain her focus and her source of strength.

" My middle son has started undergoing treatment. He himself asks for

medicines even though they don't know the disease they have, " Pooja

said.

" I hope if there is ever any cure for HIV it should be for my

children first. They are so young, they have not seen anything yet, "

she added.

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