HIV positive woman spreads hope in UP

[Guest guest]

Gorakhpur, March 28, 2010

HIV positive woman spreads hope in UP

After she tested positive for HIV three years ago, Bhanumati (name changed) was

shattered. Living under the shadow of death, the 36-year-old feared she too

would die of the infection like her husband. But today Bhanumati spearheads

AIDS/HIV awareness programmes in villages of Uttar Pradesh.

Bhanumati, a resident of Tilauli village in Gorakhpur district, some 300 km from

Lucknow, has constituted an all-women group that undertakes counselling of

AIDS/HIV patients and also organises sensitisation programmes in India's most

populous State.

" I feel extremely satisfied in being associated with AIDS/HIV awareness

programmes. I want to serve the patients afflicted with the dreaded disease so

long as I am alive, " Bhanumati, who belongs to Other Backward Classes (OBC),

told IANS.

Bhanumati's group of nearly 35 members includes 17 HIV-positive women who

organise AIDS awareness programmes in several villages of Gorakhpur district.

" It's not only in Tilauli where the group functions. We operate in nearly 10

villages with the support of an NGO -Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group

(GEAG), " Bhanumati said.

" It's only the NGO that assists us in developing pamphlets and other manuals

related to the AIDS awareness programmes. The NGO also supplies us with models

of the public-address system through which we are able to address people on a

large scale, " she added.

Incidentally, it was during a free HIV check-up camp organised by the GEAG in

association with government officials that Bhanumati was diagnosed with the HIV

infection.

" We knew that her (Bhanumati's) husband had died of HIV. So, we asked Bhanumati

to go through the check-up after which she was diagnosed with the HIV

infection, " Jitendra Dwivedi, a member of the GEAG, told IANS.

The people of Tilauli village socially boycotted Bhanumati after they came to

know she was HIV positive.

" They (villagers) stopped inviting me to their houses during functions...It was

quite painful... A life of stigma and isolation, " said Bhanumati.

" It all continued for nearly one year until I decided to work for HIV patients.

I approached the NGO members, who appreciated my idea. Then came a new hope of

living and I started working with them in AIDS sensitisation campaigns and

programmes, " she added.

Today Bhanumati has a job of a peon at a private office in Gorakhpur and is

taking care of her five-year-old daughter.

" ly speaking, my participation in the awareness programmes and my job keeps

me occupied and as a result negative thoughts do not enter my mind. Actually

during the work hours, I get totally diverted from my problems, " Bhanumati said.

" Today I have a mission to sensitise more and more people about HIV/AIDS. It's

the driving force behind me... I hope more and more villagers will join me in my

awareness campaigns, " she added.

http://beta.thehindu.com/health/policy-and-issues/article318083.ece