Kam Kar Rahi Hun

In hushed tones, the HIV positive program participant recounted how her family treated her and her husband when they disclosed their HIV positive status.

When we told my brother-in-laws they began to treat me..us...in a new way. We only have one shared kitchen but they did not allow me to cook there, they did not allow me to use the same utensils, and they were so scared they discouraged me from using the same toilet. My family told our neighbors they were fearful for our children and for themselves to be living with people with such a disease.

In certain areas of India, it is common for people in rural communities to have low levels of HIV/AIDs awareness that can actually serve to protect PLWHAs from the stigma normally associated with a sexually transmitted disease. However, this program participant explained that it her rural village it was her own family that spread the true virus of discrimination and intolerance that has created obstacles for them in seeking lifesaving medication and assistance. Family, above all, can be crucial in allowing people to live holistic lives, and yet her family's fear created additional obstacles for her and her husband.

Following the end of our interview, she ran inside and returned with an arm's worth of beautiful fabrics. With pride she explained that since attending an income generation training program at WBVHA, she has begun contributing to her family income by purchasing fabrics from her sister in Siliguri and selling clothing door-to-door to her community members.

Program participants and their family members holding the Chowmein and Momos that will be sold at new food cart that was purchased by the WBVHA.

The last few weeks working with the WBVHA are extremely difficult to summarize as every single day has held its own particular adventure, but I am having an incredible time and growing in many directions. The WBVHA has hopes for me to conduct an impact assessment on their HIV/AIDs mainstreaming program and the Female Sex Worker (FSW) program. In preparation for writing this report, I am busy gathering qualitative documentation that can be used to illustrate how PLWHAs and FSWs are responding to the WBVHA assistance in their lives.

This means that I have the great privilege of travelling all over Siliguri, being welcomed into people's homes, introduced to their family and friends, and for thirty minutes to an hour I am allowed to listen their personal stories as people living with HIV/AIDs. In their own language. Although all these program participants are threaded together by certain larger social forces, no two participants have looked the same and no single narrative has been repeated. Some have experienced discrimination while others were readily accepted by their families. Some were widowed, some were in abusive relationships, and some were happily married with healthy children. Some even went on to become peer counselors for the WBHVA. HIV/AIDs seems to be neither an insignificant nor a defining moment of those I have interviewed.

At the end of every interview, after being served chai and sweets, I have nothing to offer in return for their generosity other than putting my hands together and repeating dhuyavaad, bahut dhuyavaad. And of course, smiling for the selfies.