The Chaos Within - Being an HIV Positive Community...

We had a meeting with the community leaders of Tadiwala Road on the 26th of March.

Sunday. It was potentially our most challenging event yet, not withstanding the pseudo-conservative and God's-hour-is-Sunday-morning-at-8am churches we've been to... the best church experience we had thus far was at Pastor Dominic's church at the YMCA, they were evangelical and charismatic, but there was no pseudo-conservatism there. Just a sense of mission to reach out to those who need it.

On the 26th, we had over 40 leaders there, young and old, from Tadiwala Road listening to how their community is on the frontlines of the battle against HIV/AIDS. The response was overwhelming, 99% - if you want to put a number to it - signed up to the vision 'To make Tadiwala Road a Model Community in the Battle against HIV/AIDS' and pledged over 12o of their personnel for training in awareness programmes and fighting stigma. These training programmes begin in May, and will include participants from our 'Be HIV Positive' programmes in University Depts., Colleges and Churches.

On the 'Be HIV Positive' front, some individuals on my team have got a little nervous about me going around talking about being HIV Positive and indicating that my team is HIV Positive too... they feel uncomfortable. Marriage proposals may dry up, for example, if they are suspected to be HIV+. I sometimes wonder if I unconsciously ignore the sensitivities of those on my team that aren't HIV+ because I am so concerned about those who are... but... being HIV Positive is what we have to be. We can qualify it, anyway we like if we feel the need to, but after a meeting with Zinabu and some other students from the School of Health Sciences last week, they are still going on about how they are HIV Positive! Which is fantastic... and if they can... then my team, those who are concerned, will learn to do this one day too. Soon, I hope.

If I stand up at a 'Be HIV Positive' programme we are conducting and talk about me being HIV Positive, and talk about what it means, for example, 'being positive about educating yourself and others on HIV/AIDS and related issues', I am not out to create a doubt in anyone's mind about me being HIV+, but if they do think so... its a bonus, because they'll realise that someone who is HIV+ looks like anybody else, and that is what we strive to inculcate.

More significantly, my HIV+ team members have shared with me how supported they feel by the fact that I call the team HIV Positive, which includes HIV+ people.

Confusion? No, solidarity.

People have requested to say ‘positive about HIV/AIDS,’ rather than HIV Positive... they say that India is not ready, there is too much ignorance etc etc etc.

I don't know... if the School of Health Sciences and Pastor Dominic's Evangelical church is anything to go by, not to mention the community leaders who stood up and called themselves HIV Positive on Sunday last... then maybe India is ready.

But are you ready to be HIV Positive?

The Chaos Within - In giving you receive?

It's that time of the evening when you're staring at the computer screen and wondering why there is a computer screen to stare at... why are my fingers tapping away at the keyboard spilling my thoughts on to something as disembodied as a 'create' page on a blog site... if I pause to think then my fingers pause too. See... just happened... and again... and again...

Fatigue. I am on that road - yes, this blog is going to be a little bit about me today. Fuck, Navin, who would have thought that I can be as naked as this... again fatigue rips away the dross of inhibition and you are splayed out raw... as is! - that road of burning out.

If I speak of this to those that know me, they refer immediately to my loss of faith: "You need faith in God to sustain you and replenish you emotionally and physically and of course spiritually in the work you do..." Some don't understand how it is possible to come into work every morning without doing it in the service of our Lord and Saviour. After all, while Deep Griha purports to be secular, it is no secret that this organisation was founded on Christian principles...

"In giving you receive" - is the motto that curls about the foot of the DG light house logo. Yes… but is that why we give... if we didn't receive, would we continue to give? But how the fuck can we not receive? Lalita's smile and the other visceral smiles that greet us on the project, the clutching of my little finger by Kumar, the way he runs into office with his latest creation for me to take home and put on my wall... Maya's eyes that will forever haunt me.

You can't help but receive...

And yet, if we do it say… only for the smiles - what happens when the pain and tears and anguish comes? What happens if there are no smiles - unlikely! - to draw succour from? What happens when Kumar gets too sick to tear around the upper floor of Deep Griha? What happens when the light dims in Maya's eyes? (The haunting will grow more acute!) But what happens when all that we take as 'receiving' flies away? Do we continue to give?

Yes. Simple, really.

But, in my fatigue I know more than ever that giving does not necessarily predicate receiving.

Now, there are multiple options open to me - other than falling on my knees and bearing my repentant soul to a transcendent being. I am not denigrating this option, only making it clear that I cannot. - to change direction and avoid the burn-out that looms ahead.

Verite, I will and have to guard against the burning because it is irresponsible and self-piteous - my blogs probably often belie my consciousness of this - and frankly 'not an option.'

But in this state of I-just-want-to-lie-down-and-sleep-so-I-should I can't escape that giving cannot be based on the hope of receiving. It is the path of sadness. Disappointment.

Some call me nihilistic. The fuck I am!? But you cannot impose meaning and purpose into the work we do because we feel we should be rewarded either in the ephemeral here and now, or in that abiding and perpetual nextness.

Why do it?

It needs to be done.

Of course we get paid for what we do - and there is a fucking fuck load of money in poverty! HIV/AIDS is an industry! But sadly, little or nothing reaches the beneficiary. Come, work on a grassroots project for a local NGO and you'll understand what I am talking about. Some are great at accessing the ubiquitous funds, and others struggle on scraps. Deep Griha is in-between, and Sahara Care Home is lucky if they can scrounge any scraps. Some mornings Errol gets up to no money for a gas cylinder. No tea. He lives at the Care Home 24/7 and he sometimes doesn't get paid for three months. He uses what little money he gets to make sure the clients have food and medicine.

In giving you receive... he believes passionately in God. It keeps the tired smile on his face and the spark alive in his tired eyes.

Passion and courage like Errol’s is rare and beautiful.

Ground Control to Major Tom... we have lift off.

A sea of Chapatti's

Well, I've been here for nearly 1 month and 1/2 and what an experience it has been!!! I didn't think I would be riding elephants back at home, or walking down MG road alongside a cow or hog! The experience has been too much, when crossing the road, no matter how quiet, your risking your life!!! I keep thinking to myself I've been here for a month, I'm staying here for another 5!!! But I'm sure it's going to be the best 5 months of my life!!!!

Also, the kids are absolutely amazing!!!! The smiles that they give to when you first walk into the classroom are so heartwarming!! They are endless opportunities of what you can do with them as well!! I don't know how much I've spent of paper and crayons, but I think it's starting to mount up! But not too much I hope, I need some left over for travelling!!!
Also, when finding out that my computer class had all passed my computing test, it was a nice feeling to know, that what they are being taught is sinking in!!

The food here is amazing as well! As you can read from the title, they are endless amounts of chapatti's!! Although, chapatti's aren't just good with rice and dahl, but they are amazing with jam and butter. If they are available for breakfast, then I get one out, slap the butter and jam on, and it's gone within 30 seconds, maybe even less!! But it is also nice to get out of the house once in a while and go to McDonalds, for a taste of home!! However, last time I went, I was violently sick during the night, so maybe McDonalds is off the menu for a while!!
It's nice to know on Friday's, we can go out for a meal, and wake up the next morning at 11am! or even 1pm! Then we would slap on the suncream and go on the roof to top up our tans!!

Anyway, I'm having the best time here, and there's many more months for that to happen even more.

Philip Ross

The dance that needs to start

I kept meaning to write another blog entry to tell of everything that has been happening back where I stay about the fundraising and support for Deep Griha. The words though have been never been there to describe how things have been. People get your hopes up and let you down, I have been angry with half of my community for being so small minded a glimmer of hope can appear when you here a story where the smile appears back on your face but then it disappears as fast and that lump appears in the back of your throat!

The last ten months have been full of trials and tribulations but I got told a story yesterday which broke my heart, my aunty is a social worker, and one of her weekly visits is to a client who is HIV+. Even in this country the stigma still lies, this man had been abandoned by his family and no longer sees his adoptive children. My aunty was talking to him and the man began to cry, he had given up the will to live he wanted it all to be over. She went over to him and put her arm around him, his reply was ‘You shouldn’t come near me, everybody who does always leaves and never comes back afterwards. They are scared they will catch it’

Do I need to say anymore, DISHA fights to break the stigma, to show life can go on, just look at Lata and Maya, those women have more courage and determination than anyone I know, they truly are dancing stars. Even today in a country I thought I was proud to live in we need to break all those barriers. My grandparents were the same, you had lunch with people who are HIV+,??? The look on their face was a picture, now my grandparents are my biggest fundraisers! The world we live in is mad, the dance must go on in India, the dance needs to start back home!

Under an Indian Sky

Pune the city that never sleeps. This place is non stop although its partly done in a chilled out mode! Well almost being here a month, i am almost used to the smell and I think I'm getting used to the heat and its getting hotter.The food is great I'm loving the fact that using your hands to eat is necessary.The best way of getting around is a motorbike with a roof on top AKA a taxi rickshaw. No matter what you get told or what you see in pictures you don't actually know anything until you have been here. It's different in almost every way to Scotland although I have not been here that long my eyes have been opened now i think there is more to life than worrying about the little things. The things that has really touched me is the kids no matter what are always smiling. At the end of the day there is nothing more reasuring than lying under an Indian sky.
Stevie

The Chaos Within - SMARTF

S - Simple
M- Measurable
A - achievable
R - Realistic
T - Timebound
F- UCK!

This last week has been one of review, setting team goals and individual objectives, new contracts, and a whole lot more of all that... the team has been office bound with their heads in their hands - trying to figure out which indicators to set for each objective has been the toughest! All of us already have detailed job descriptions, but post DISHA team appraisals and DGS team leader appraisals, each member of a team must have individual objectives for each task. Orders must be followed. To begin with, it IS a pain... but as you get into it, you realise that the process actually gives you more focus.

Now we did have good project objectives... but not all them were SMART... and we did have individual planners... but we had not really set ourselves individual objectives.

Fuck, how boring all this sounds! Its probably not what someone visiting the blog wants to read... and its not that I don't have any other stories... but this has been my week.

one of our clients is pregnant and due to a misunderstanding with her husband - who is not really her husband because he lives with his family just outside Pune and has placed her with his parents here in Tadiwala Road- he has forbidden her from taking any help from DISHA. He doesn't provide her with the necessary nutrition and supplements either, which is required during any pregnancy, and more so, because of she is HIV+.

We have another client at the TB hospital in Aundh. She has been there for over 3 months. Her mother doesn't want her to return home. The young woman does... she misses her kid. Lata has had repeated sessions with the mother, but no headway yet.

Lovely smiling Lalita! She came to our notice over five years ago. Her mum wanted us to look after her. The mum died soon after. Lalita had a wound on her head. The doctors at Sassoon General treated her like a fucking pariah. They refused to even touch her, forget cleaning the wound. She was 13... what do you think she felt like? We cleaned her up at DGS. She wore a scarf on her head until two months ago... that's a scarf for over three years, every day. Now, she smiles again. The first time I saw her face light up, being the overly emotional and sensitive type I felt like bursting into tears. This kid had been through so much. Two of her five brothers died within the space of a few months. The youngest one, Karan, was only six.

But let's go back to doctors... story after story all knotted and clotted together seem to emerge like squishy worms after the rains.

I have nothing against doctors... there are great doctors in Pune. Sanjay Pujari from Ruby Hall is one of the best in the field of HIV/AIDS in India, maybe Asia... but some of them, due to ignorance - and how can a fucking doctor be ignorant about HIV/AIDS?! Don't they learn about it at medical school?! Don't they refresh their knowledge?! Didn't they fucking take the Hippocratic oath, or was that hypocritic... - despite their know-it-all exterior, have told my clients, who have just been diagnosed as HIV+, that they have as little as 6 months to live! You're a young mother, and your doctor tells you that you and your husband and your son will all be dead within the space of a year!

To convince them of the efficacy of good nutrition and vitamin supplements after a revered doctor has passed sentence is extremely difficult.

We are now drawing up a strategy to work with other HIV/AIDS NGOs in Pune to plan workshops on how local GPs and doctors in general can help win the battle against HIV/AIDS... not contribute us losing the fight. We have to be SMART. If we are then the tired and angry F can be made to stay away.

I wish you could record sighs on the blog... its been a tough few days personally... but sitting here and writing... venting... as always has helped give me perspective.

The dance must go on...

The Chaos Within - Bidar

Just back from a couple of days in Bidar, in the state of Karnataka.

DISHA was invited there by Velmegnar Hospital to conduct an HIV/AIDS training and awareness programmes. Velmegnar intends to begin a grassroots HIV/AIDS project, and through Link Overseas Exchange, an organisation in Scotland that sends us volunteers, a link between Bidar and Pune is in the forge.
The training session was for the local pastors. Velmegnar has a strong Christian ethos, and runs a theological school for trainee rural pastors. Being an HIV Positive church is not so much a choice, as a need in this region.

HIV/AIDS works in noisy silence. Ignorance screams and fear whispers in people's ears.

I had met these young and not so young independent church leaders in August last year when I visited Velmegnar and the Link volunteers there, and also conducted an informal session on HIV/AIDS. They are an enthusiastic group, and appear committed to their congregations. Almost all of them have seen HIV/AIDS and its sycophants - ignorance, fear, stigma - at work. They know that the 'faith and works' of the book of James must now be put into practice... not only will faith die without works, so will life.

On day 2 we visited the town of Basavakalyan. This is a couple of hours drive from Bidar. It is supposed to be home to one of the largest truck stops in India. Truck or lorry drivers in India are often considered to be the 'carriers' and 'spreaders' of HIV/AIDS up and down and across the subcontinent. They are Aaron's scapegoats for a nation that struggles to contain their ignorance and fear.

consciousness of the 'other' helps.

"Those people are responsible."

The 'those people' often come in multiple shapes, sizes, and smells. Not to mention creeds, castes, and colours.
Truck drivers must not be stigmatised. They have to be approached - so do other high risk groups - not ignored and vilified.

Velmegnar hospital afforded DISHA a great opportunity. The team was at their best. I have never seen them work the crowd around them so well. Avinash was magnificent, so was Lata and Santosh, and everybody contributed to an extremely successful session.

It was a beginning. Basavakalyan had never seen anything like it before. We set up in the equivalent of their town centre. The traffic halted, and was diverted by the local police who turned out to support the initiative. The team had learnt songs in Kannada to engage the town. But it was a melting pot - it would be! - Hindi, Marathi, and Telegu, along with English, it all came in use.

By the time we finished... when the last line of the street play was said,when the lubricant from the condoms were washed off our hands - when I requested a volunteer to demonstrate the use of a condom, this rather inebriated man walked up, and suddenly I thought we were going to have a 'live one' lose! All I needed was for him to hold up two fingers. - when the posters were taken down and banners rolled away, all I could think was how wonderful it is to work with such committed group of people.

Of course, two days of travelling, eating and sleeping together - the girls were housed in a converted hospital ward, and the boys in a smaller ward for contagious diseases! - afforded me insights that I would have never otherwise had.

They are naughtier than I had thought. They can be rude... and extremely lude. They are noisy... the slumbering carriage was awoken with much laughter and argument as they fought over which berths they would occupy. Incessant shushing had no effect. They are human, all too human. And they are not afraid to show it. They are courage.

On the evening of the second day we visited the 14th century fort that Bidar is famous for. In the midst of the ruins and forgotten grandeur my team danced and sang and posed for pictures. I also thought them a few lines from one of my favourite songs...

Yes, you guessed it - "Ground control to Major Tom..."

And as the sun went down they formed their circle of song and their voices, hoarse but strong, reached out to touch the night.

At Home

I've been in Scotland for quite some time now and in that time I've turned 18, got a job, applied to go work in America and I've started to think about my next trip to Pune. I've just finished reading the new volunteers' posts and I'm green with envy and choked up with homesickness. Hearing them talk about the smiley hyper-active creche and balwadi kids of Ramtekadi and Bibwewadi reminds me of my favourites (I know I wasn't meant to have favourites but I couldn't help it). Little Sono with his 11 toes and cheeky grin, Preity with her big smile, Allaan with his endless hugs, Vishal with that constant trail of snot down his top, cheeky mouthy Rajashree, lovely Anita, loud Deeshan, bright Nikita and adorable Deepali (so I had more than a few favourites). I'm missing my band of Indian Mothers greatly and my Indian brother, Arun. Coming home I've realised that these friendships mean so much more to me than some of the friends I have here in Scotland. I feel awful that I havent sent a letter out yet but it's on my to-do list for tomorrow and it'll be a long and, probably, unintelligible one.

I think I've finally got my sugar levels back to normal after a month without chai (woes) but I'm still not used to this cold weather thing. We've had snow can you believe it!

But the one thing I'm missing every day is waking up knowing that I'm part of a bigger thing. Working at Deep Griha, no matter what your job is whether you're working with Disha, teaching English to the staff, keeping the kids from throttling each other you're contasntly aware that you're a part of something so much bigger than yourself. But you're proud and happy to be a part of it, knowing how big a hole there would be without Deep Griha and knowing that Deep Griha would be nothing without the people who give up their time, money and love to help and support.

Hopefully I'll be posting again next year while in Pune!

-Catriona

This is the life!

Listening to my Chillout Ibiza album, I'm suddenly so very aware that I'm here, the songs I've listened to at home have so much more meaning here in India. One song in particular called "universal unfolding" by Grandma funk over soul, feels like my bible or something, cannot believe how true it is. I have absolutely fallen in love with this place, there is I feel, so many things wrong and so many things which need fixed here but they make up a crucial part of how India is and that is amazing. I love the pace of life here. For all that India (what I have seen so far anyway) is crazy and so unbelievably busy, with roads filled with everything under the sun and animals which don't even exist back at home, there is such a sense of calm, no hurry, there is always tomorrow.
When I first arrived here I completely freaked out and wondered why I was doing this however the whole time knowing that I will miss this place so much when I have to leave and this was when we arrived in the airport! I felt in complete awe, looking out of the bus window as if in a bubble, not feeling anything really but total exhilaration and complete happiness to see this beautiful place.
I feel like I am starting to think so much more out here, I have always been a bit of a thinker back home but it feels like being away from my society is helping me to see more clearer about this other world and also the world I live in back home. The western world has a lot to learn from this country. I feel everyone needs to live or even only visit India to wake up and realize that only the simplest things in life really matter, family, friends and the words from my song mentioned earlier, love,peace,joy..and happiness.
I have seen so many things already that I do not like and feel angry towards. The slums in particular, how close they are to big air conditioned, plenty of food in the fridges, houses. The contrast is so strong, such as life and the difference between mine and theirs. My room is bigger than some of their houses and to say I appreciate my life so much more is an understatement of how I feel on this subject. One thing that struck me is how happy these people are and how beautiful the children are and how little they whine, back home people can moan on for ages about something that means absolutely nothing in the grand scale of things. I already felt I knew what was important in life. Having been brought up with two working class parents who are heavily involved in education and working to get people out of poverty, I share their views on education being a way of people not getting swept up and corrupted. If people can express how they feel and have the education to do this then they will always have the opportunity to move forwards. Having said all this I feel I have a better understanding on what really matters and feels as if this is only the beginning and when I get back home I may only then start living.
For all the ups I've had here, I've had the downs to match it. I've been ill and being ill in this country does not feel good, I've been to the hospital twice which sounds so much more dramatic than it actually is and had a little of the 'I'm so lost' feeling. But I got over it and realized I was glad it happened at the start and now India is in my system and can start to feel more settled.
Being told what I was going to be doing was probably the most scariest moment in my life, I haven't actually fully started yet because like most things here in India things rarely start on time or according to plan. I keep reminding myself that I am at the advantage as the language I am teaching is my first language and what I speak but little had I realized just what a complicated language English really is.
I have really enjoyed working in the balwadis and with the younger children in the creches, getting my mindee paint done on my hands and speaking to so many welcoming and kind women.
I feel so privileged to be involved in this work with Deep Griha, I can see how many peopleit helps. I went along to a DISHA, Aids Awareness day which was fantastic,
getting involved and being hands on, I could see that these people are doing a really great thing, in spreading the word that aids is not the end of a person.
Falling asleep is a bit of a nightmare although I am starting to get used to it, probably because we have the air condition on now, its probably drowning out all the other noises. I am also dreading to think how i'll cope without my mosquito net back home but like that a lot of things are going to change when I get back home.
I cannot believe how different I sound after just nearly three weeks, I have rambled on and on but I just feel so much more in tune with my own thoughts and without going too deep almost as if my soul is cleansed and I'm starting a new. I am so glad I have decided to do this and actually got on that plane,not looking back and I have realized that you don't just experience one new thing a day here, you experience many new things a day here.

Tess Barber

Rice, rice and more rice!

Sitting under a palm tree watching the sunset, you couldn't do this in Dundee. It's mental and to add to it all its absolutely boiling. I feel a tan coming on.
When I first arrived in India all I could see was a sea of Indian people all huddled together outside of the airport. Scared, that's what I felt. After that I just felt numb and still do. On my way to Deep Griha I seen a lot, smelt a lot and really didn't think I would like it, but I do. It's so different here compared to Dundee, for one, you don't get buffalos walking past you in the street and it's not just one it's about 4!!
Arriving at Deep Griha is all a blur now and seems so long ago but the one thing I can still remember is seeing the smiley faces that welcomed you on the arrival. The next day when everyone eventually woke up we all got to taste the food for the first time and I actually enjoyed it. Now I think I've ate enough rice to last me a life time.
In the first week we spent most of it just looking around and getting to know the place. We got taken around the three different slums which really open my eyes and made me realize there's more important things than worrying about not having enough toilet roll. People appreciate things a lot more over here than what they do back home. What I expected was nothing like reality. I was thinking that once I started to work then the days would go a lot quicker and they have. Also in the first week I got to ride an elephant which was amazing because I had never seen a real life elephant before so I was totally in my element and loved every minute of it.
The night before I started work was my worst night here. All I could worry about was them not liking me, getting compared to former volunteer's, what if they didn't like what I was teaching them? But then the morning came around I had calmed down and was quite excited about the day ahead. When I got to the to the creche it was noisy and they were hyper but at the same time it felt good to be here. I had been waiting for a year to get here and the time has passed so quickly and I'm here! Before I left when people asked about what I was doing (whether I was going to Uni or working) it was always easy to say I'm going to India for six months but it's another thing actually doing it! Being away from your family and friends is really hard but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I would have regretted it if I didn't take it.
Well after my first day at work I felt so good because I was worrying over nothing and I felt as though I could do it everyday no problem. It also feels good to have people around you that are doing the same thing and feeling the same, but we're all in good hands so there's no need to worry. The only thing that bothers me which I didn't think would is the language barrier. The kids are asking you questions and repeating themselves and the only word I really no is 'Ha' but I'm sure I'll learn a little more after all we are here for another six months.
Well I think I've rambled on enough but there is still lots of things that I want to say but can't think of right now apart from I'm really looking forward to spending the next five and a bit months in India.

Sam Duffy

Arriving in India

Arriving here in India was one BIG shock. Coming into Mumbai and seeing people sleeping on the street was just hard to take in. Arriving at Deep Griha was ok, as I knew I was going to be safe. It was about 5am before we arrived, and we were all shattered.
Waking up the next day at 2pm was great, except the heat was unbearable - 35 C. By this time, a lot of the other volunteers had showers and a walk around the area, which was amazing, the first time you see it in daylight. Going up on the massive roof was good as well, because, the views were just picturesque. The initial feeling of I'M IN INDIA hadn't come alive just yet as I was still bewildered to the fact that I am away from my parents.

A group of us, in the evening, went to the local bar on M.G road - which was great as it was my first drink in India - what a feeling. Then we got lost on the way back, and spent about 30 minutes trying to get back. So we didn't exactly set a good first impression when we arrived 15 mins over curfew. But all was good in the end.
We then met Hans for the first time, and he told us that if we had any problems, that we can talk to him. This set our minds at ease, as we were wondering what we should do. All was good, until we were told we were supposed to be ready to leave for a tour at 9.15am the next morning. At this point, I didn't exactly realize how much of a shock I was in for. But there was no shock to start with as we all went to the DISHA project which was held at a local college, which was amazing as all we had to do was give DISHA badges to students and tell them of a talk about HIV/AIDS. It was amazing, lots of pictures taken.
Then we came to Tadiwala road (where the Welfare Centre is situated) and we had an amazing lunch, and got a tour of the centre. It was amazing, as the kids just look at you and smile and wave. It was so heartwarming to know that we are going to be working with these kids. Then we had a tour of the local Tadiwala slums, which was the shock that I had been bracing myself for. It was horrible, but enlightening to know that not all the houses were tin boxes.
When it was time to come home, we didn't want to, but we had to. It was good when we got home as we just sat on the roof most of the night and just chatted.

So that was my first two days on India, and they were the best two days ever, and I'm sure there will be many more good (and bad) days to come. Goodbye for a couple of weeks.

Philip Ross

The Chaos Within - Being HIV+

Celebrate Life

Be an HIV+ Church!

We have begun our education/awareness programme for the Churches in Pune. First up was St. Crispin's. The response was overwhelming. Especially as there were over 300 students fromSt. Crispin's girls home in attendance.

The second presentation will be at St. Mary's Church on the 5th of March. It is a middle-class parish. God's hour is eight o'clock every Sunday morning. It is a recovering Anglican church. The English Hymnal was considered gospel until very recently. Tradition is next to Godliness.

St. Mary's supports the DISHA Nutrition Centre with dry rations- rice and dhal. Contributions from members of the congregation. There is also a very close connection between St. Mary's and Deep Griha, as it is the church that Rev. & Dr. Onawale, the founders of Deep Griha, attend. Quite a few of our young local volunteers have come from St. Mary's.

The pastorate committee of St. Mary's church was a little bemused with the poster we sent them for the church notice board. Celebrate Life, yes... ok... but how can a church be HIV+? Objections were raised. The congregation would react to being identified as an HIV+ church. It implies that the church is comprised of people who are HIV+. This is not acceptable.

Now what we meant was... an HIV+ church is a church that is:
a) positive about educating its youth and congregation on HIV/AIDS.
b) positive about raising awareness of HIV/AIDS related issues in its wider community.
c) positive about reaching out to people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

The poster had to be modified - 'The Church and HIV/AIDS'

As one of the more astute congregants of St. Mary's pointed out to me, "It is important to make sure we do not alienate anyone before the presentation."

I do accept the argument. I also accept that to ask a church or college or school to be HIV+ can be provocative without the necessary explanation. However, it is meant to be provocative. The slogan 'Be HIV+' is meant to make people think about what it could mean. At the very least, to make a person think about HIV/AIDS, to give an individual access to a little window that will lead her outside of his/her carefully constructed yet often fragile-as-fuck weltanshuang.

I have also realised that when we speak of those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, we speak of more than an individual, a family, a community, a nation, we speak of humanity. Whether humanity is conscious of it or not, we all live with and are affected by HIV/AIDS. We don't need to be working at the grassroots or policy level... HIV/AIDS is as ubiquitous as the God of St. Mary's church. The omnipresence of HIV/AIDS is palpable if you read the UNAIDS report on the pandemic, but more so, when you realise how indiscriminately it has ravaged humanity.

If the conspiracy theories were true about ultra right wing scientists in the west creating the virus to eradicate homosexuals and people of African origin, then they fucked up. The entity is omnipotent. It can be contained but it cannot be eradicated. It has no conscience. It does not choose white black green purple or yellow. It is insatiable.

For years the church had a theory... it wasn't conspiracy, just conviction. HIV was the curse of their God on humanity. It was... and for many is, a condition of the fallen world. It is a result of humanity's sin. Its is the modern equivalent of sulfuric rain and salt pillars.

My friend Patricia Sawo, the Pentecostal pastor from Kenya, preached this. The association of HIV/AIDS with sin and sex was unquestionable... She received a blood transfusion during an operation and contracted HIV.

She thanks her God for this.

Why?

She has joined the battle on the side of life.



Ground control to Major Tom... you have God's perch, do you see his work?

Major Tom to ground control... I see it. Its beautiful... Good bye.