Field Note

From Despair to Action

G. Karunanidhi

Born to a farmer at Nainamalai Adivaram village, 10 km from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, India, I have one elder sister and one elder brother.

Before HIV
After finishing my school education (10th Std), I joined a lorry shed as a mechanical laborer and worked there for two years. At that time, my brother was a cleaner in the lorry. My father used to drink a lot and never supported the family. My mother and sister worked as agricultural coolies. After two years, I joined as a cleaner in a van. Then I learned driving and joined as a taxi driver where I drove a tourist vehicle.

Since my father always created some problems at home, I hated to go home and used to stay with friends in the lodge at Namakkal.

I earned a lot as a driver and since I did not visit my home, I spent all my time with my friends drinking alcohol, watching movies, etc. It was then that I started going to commercial sex workers.

Days passed like this until one of my friends from Dubai called and told me that if I came there I could make lot of money. It appealed to me, so I applied for a passport, my friend sent me a visa, and I went to Dubai. While staying in my friend's house, I went for a medical test to become a company driver.

After the test, they told me that I was HIV positive. I did not believe it as I thought people with HIV would look like a skeleton. But I was fat and healthy. I was called by the administration and put in jail for one week where I was treated shabbily. They put me in a 5 X 5 cell where I had room only to lay by the side of the toilet. They used to throw the food inside the cell, and I was in total darkness as there was no light or fan in that cell. Even to drink the water, I had only the tap from the toilet to use. After one week, I was taken in a separate vehicle to the airport and sent back to India. People handled me and pushed me using a cane stick at the airport.

After HIV
I came back to my village, but even before my return, the information about my HIV status reached my family and the entire community. People came to my house and inquired from my parents about this. I was deeply hurt and decided to commit suicide. Then my friends asked me to go and visit a traditional Siddha medical practitioner in Kerala, the neighboring state. I also visited traditional healers and spent a lot of money in magic medicines. But nothing happened and I lost all my money.

Finally I went to Christian Medical College, Vellore, to get tested again with a big hope that I could be healed of HIV using those traditional and magical medicines. There again I tested positive and again I lost hope. I started driving tourist cars again. Once I drove for an NGO at Namakkal that was doing some work for HIV/AIDS. I told them that one of my friends was infected and asked if there was any place for treatment. They gave me the address of a government hospital in a place called Tambaram in Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu. The counselor at Chennai gave me the address of the Tamil Nadu network of people living with HIV/AIDS and told me to go and attend support group meetings organized for people living with HIV like me.

Thereafter, I returned to my hometown, Namakkal and went to the neighboring district, Salem, where there was another network of people living with HIV/AIDS who were organizing regular support group meetings. There I saw 30 more people living with HIV/AIDS and gained some confidence. I started volunteering for field work, reaching out to people living with HIV and offering them hope and confidence and providing information to them on treatment availabilities. My involvement with the network of people living with HIV/AIDS started as a peer counselor.

Gaining more confidence in life, I decided to commit my entire life to the well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS in my district. I started communicating with the national network and state level network to strengthen my own Namakkal district level network, called HIV Ullor Nala Sangam, (Welfare Society for People Living with AIDS). I developed the network and enrolled more members. Then the Tami Nadu State AIDS Control Society supported a drop-in center project at our district network. We struggled to get a space for our center and with great difficulty found a place to run the center. The inauguration of the project was flashed in all the media with lots of critics.

Afterwards, in 2002, I was elected president of HIV Ullor Nala Sangam, (the Welfare Society for People Living with AIDS.) In 2003, with the support of the national network, Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (http://www.inpplus.net ) and financial support from FHI/USAID, we established three "Positive Living Centers" in different sub-districts of Namakkal District. This is the real GIPA (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS) in implementation of this project.

Through these Positive Living Centers, we reach out to more than 1,400 people living with HIV/AIDS and their families in our district, mobilizing the support of the general community to combat stigma and discrimination. The centers offer many services for people living with AIDS, their families and the community, including infor mation counseling, medical care and support groups and legal and referral services. We also run an economic development program for women and provide educational support for children.

Problems Faced by Children
In providing these services, we find the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children the most alarming problem. Nutritious food is the greatest question mark for them. Children who are infected with HIV and those whose parents are infected with HIV are suffering a lot because of their families' poor financial conditions. They are forced to take up petty, sometimes dangerous jobs, making them even more vulnerable. Just in our client database, we have more than 800 orphans who are living only with their mother.

A Scenario of Namakkal
There are many improvements in Namakkal, including a functional antiretroviral therapy (ART) center government hospital, and around 725 people are taking antiretroviral therapy here. But we have many problems left to deal with. Stigma is not overcome - especially for young widows who are often blamed for the death of their husbands. Myths and misconceptions about treatment of HIV are still many. People lose money with magic curers. There is only one voluntary counseling & testing (VCT) center in Namakkal district, a major block that keeps the common people from getting tested.

I will be glad if the needs of our people living with HIV/AIDS are met, just like all other human beings in the world. Whatever their situation, whether it's medical troubles or discrimination, nothing can stop my work for my fellow friends living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

For further information, contact hunsmamakkal@yahoo.com

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