The Chaos Within - The Return
I'm back. Just about.
A lot has happened while I've been away at Deep Griha, and within DISHA in particular. To begin with DISHA lost two HIV+ clients while I was away. Sushila died on the 12th of September, and Renuka died later that month on the 25th at Sahara. Errol and I discussed her case before I left and it didn't look good. When I last saw Renuka at Sahara she didn't recognise me. I was another faceless being stroking her head as she simultaneously vomited and defecated on the bathroom floor. Her pain was manifest and unapolegetic. Hers was the release that is often spoken of in death.
Sushila was a client that came to us in the last stages of HIV/AIDS. Her son had heard about DISHA in the and brought his mother to see us in a rickshaw. She couldn't walk and we went down to see her and assess her condition. Maya, one my dancing stars, then accompanied her home. We admitted Sushila into Inlaks Budhrani hospital she died a week later. DISHA and death are uneasy bedfellows, and will forever be! We were told to expect it. We have been counselled on how to counsel. The darkness in the gaze of clients in the last stage grows more perceptible every day. But the force that drives us continues to be life. This life-force ebbs with loss. It breaks down and cries when a warm fluid bucket of it grows cold and dead inside a person who lived with HIV/AIDS.
Life finds a way to survive. The human body, the mind, has a force so powerful that almost all of us have no control of, or even inclination of what this force is capable of. The charismatic godmen and women of this world tell us this. Is it true?
Recently there has been a lot of press coverage over Andrew Stimpson's claim to be cured of HIV. First he tested positive in 2002 then in October 2003 the test came back negative. His body may potentially hold the cure for HIV/AIDS according to those two premier newspapers in Britain the Mail on Sunday and News of the World. Sensationalism aside, and unlikely though it is, it is possible that Stimpson's body has a unique HIV fighting life force. But it is even more possible that the first test was a mistake. Or the second. It happens. Three days ago little Karan Patel, a child in our Aadhar Kendra child sponsorship programme died at City of Child. He had tested positive, and then negative, and now months later died of acute diarrhea. A common cause of death for a children with HIV/AIDS.
Uplifting as ever these Chaos Within blogs aren't they?
After spending a considerable period of time on my butt recuperating from surgery the forces that make up life dance but sluggishly about me. To return to DISHA is to feel the surge within. To meet with the team and the clients again was wonderful. To see their smiles again is brilliant. There are new smiles too. And it means DISHA is working. People living with HIV/AIDS have realised that we provide a space of comfort and encouragement. The cricket tournament quarter finals are on, the local schools are enthusiastically acting out their original scripts for the street play competition. The focus on HIV/AIDS has never been stronger in the Tadiwala Road community.
Too upbeat for me eh? So here goes...
Just after I got back I had a conversation with this absolutely ghastly bastard who suggested that we should allow HIV/AIDS to go on the rampage because then it would shock the nation back into morality. He argued that what we were doing at Tadiwala was futile. We are apparently underfunded and smalltime! Better to let them die. He knew he was being provocative. My inane smile told him that I knew he knew. His comments about DISHA being limited is true. We are aware of the millions but focus on the 39 we know about, and have the resources to help. Tadiwala road's response to DISHA proves that grassroots NGOs are ideally placed to fight the pandemic. We are trusted. We are part of the community. We don't need to dissemble.
What was also sadly true about that ghastly bastard's tirade was his misbegotten belief that HIV/AIDS results uniquely from the lack of what he calls morality. It is attitudes like his - what Indians would clamour to call well educated - that are body blows to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The virus runs rampant, it is amoral, it gives a fuck whether you contract it by visiting a commercially exploited sex worker without a rubber, or whether you receive an infected batch of blood during an op!
Well... needless to say that it worked. The provocation I mean. My smile couldn't hold. Invective didn't quite flow, but I am cursed with a sarcastic edge and eyes that help those who miss the sarcasm find it.
Its good to be back.
A lot has happened while I've been away at Deep Griha, and within DISHA in particular. To begin with DISHA lost two HIV+ clients while I was away. Sushila died on the 12th of September, and Renuka died later that month on the 25th at Sahara. Errol and I discussed her case before I left and it didn't look good. When I last saw Renuka at Sahara she didn't recognise me. I was another faceless being stroking her head as she simultaneously vomited and defecated on the bathroom floor. Her pain was manifest and unapolegetic. Hers was the release that is often spoken of in death.
Sushila was a client that came to us in the last stages of HIV/AIDS. Her son had heard about DISHA in the and brought his mother to see us in a rickshaw. She couldn't walk and we went down to see her and assess her condition. Maya, one my dancing stars, then accompanied her home. We admitted Sushila into Inlaks Budhrani hospital she died a week later. DISHA and death are uneasy bedfellows, and will forever be! We were told to expect it. We have been counselled on how to counsel. The darkness in the gaze of clients in the last stage grows more perceptible every day. But the force that drives us continues to be life. This life-force ebbs with loss. It breaks down and cries when a warm fluid bucket of it grows cold and dead inside a person who lived with HIV/AIDS.
Life finds a way to survive. The human body, the mind, has a force so powerful that almost all of us have no control of, or even inclination of what this force is capable of. The charismatic godmen and women of this world tell us this. Is it true?
Recently there has been a lot of press coverage over Andrew Stimpson's claim to be cured of HIV. First he tested positive in 2002 then in October 2003 the test came back negative. His body may potentially hold the cure for HIV/AIDS according to those two premier newspapers in Britain the Mail on Sunday and News of the World. Sensationalism aside, and unlikely though it is, it is possible that Stimpson's body has a unique HIV fighting life force. But it is even more possible that the first test was a mistake. Or the second. It happens. Three days ago little Karan Patel, a child in our Aadhar Kendra child sponsorship programme died at City of Child. He had tested positive, and then negative, and now months later died of acute diarrhea. A common cause of death for a children with HIV/AIDS.
Uplifting as ever these Chaos Within blogs aren't they?
After spending a considerable period of time on my butt recuperating from surgery the forces that make up life dance but sluggishly about me. To return to DISHA is to feel the surge within. To meet with the team and the clients again was wonderful. To see their smiles again is brilliant. There are new smiles too. And it means DISHA is working. People living with HIV/AIDS have realised that we provide a space of comfort and encouragement. The cricket tournament quarter finals are on, the local schools are enthusiastically acting out their original scripts for the street play competition. The focus on HIV/AIDS has never been stronger in the Tadiwala Road community.
Too upbeat for me eh? So here goes...
Just after I got back I had a conversation with this absolutely ghastly bastard who suggested that we should allow HIV/AIDS to go on the rampage because then it would shock the nation back into morality. He argued that what we were doing at Tadiwala was futile. We are apparently underfunded and smalltime! Better to let them die. He knew he was being provocative. My inane smile told him that I knew he knew. His comments about DISHA being limited is true. We are aware of the millions but focus on the 39 we know about, and have the resources to help. Tadiwala road's response to DISHA proves that grassroots NGOs are ideally placed to fight the pandemic. We are trusted. We are part of the community. We don't need to dissemble.
What was also sadly true about that ghastly bastard's tirade was his misbegotten belief that HIV/AIDS results uniquely from the lack of what he calls morality. It is attitudes like his - what Indians would clamour to call well educated - that are body blows to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The virus runs rampant, it is amoral, it gives a fuck whether you contract it by visiting a commercially exploited sex worker without a rubber, or whether you receive an infected batch of blood during an op!
Well... needless to say that it worked. The provocation I mean. My smile couldn't hold. Invective didn't quite flow, but I am cursed with a sarcastic edge and eyes that help those who miss the sarcasm find it.
Its good to be back.
posted by Deep Griha at 10:55 pm
1 Comments:
Hi
It was interesting to read your article the return of the chaos
Disha - As the word i understand could mean "the Way"/"The Route"/"The Path"/"The Direction".
When you write ablog on a person who really cant grasp the issue of AIDS and the morality attached to it, its your duty to show him the "DISHA" , not abuse him. Being educated does not mean that you cannot be ignorant. Sad but true accross the world,(and Not a phenomenon only in India),few people have the correct awarness of AIDS.
DISHA has a long way to go in spreading this awarness and will keep praying for it " Gods Will in Gods Ways (DISHA) will Never lack Gods Supply". So follow the right way and the means will follow.
Teach People what is Morally right and then you will see the difference in the no of AIDS patients coming down, you will see overall develeopment of health and growth and resurrecting of Communities.
India is a male dominated society and even more in the Ecnomically trodden, I see many organisations spending a lot of time and money on Women Folk, which is Good, but people and organisations like your need to also spend a Good Deal of time in Investing in The Male Folks..
All the best and keep blooging...
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