By Michele Leight

In an invitation to members of the Delhi community for World AIDS Day, Nafisa Ali, founder and chairperson of Action India (Trust) wrote:

"We at Ashraya will be very grateful if you could invite someone who has a soft heart for our patients that will help them to feel 10 feet tall."

Several hundred children from the local community - and their parents - took her request absolutely seriously and showed up at Ashraya on World AIDS Day, bringing with them poems, drawings, paintings - and essays. I spoke with Nafisa by phone after the event:

"We were mobbed!" she said happily, laughing her infectious laugh.

"Some children wrote four pages about what they learned just by coming here after school," she said. "They like to play with the rabbits. We encourage them to come to Ashraya whenever they want - the gate is always open."

A painting and poetry contest were on the agenda, explained Nafisa, "But we added an essay contest, because so many children brought them!"

Children with awareness, education - and compassion - have the potential to turn the tide of stigma surrounding AIDS, and help people confront the disease, instead of succumbing to taboos, fears, and ignorance.

Children with awareness and real knowledge about the disease also have far more chance of protecting themselves and those they love against the disease when they become teenagers and adults.

Nafisa sent the photographs featured in this story. Seeing the garden filled with children took me back to the day when she first brought me to an empty building in Rajokri, on the outskirts of New Delhi, nestled in a garden filled with fruit trees. There was no other presence but a cow inside the empty house, which we took as an auspicious sign even though it bolted from us! Cows are sacred in India.

Outside, birdsong was the only sound in the garden when suddenly the shrieks of children at play came over the wall - their screams of delight were a tonic. It was a glorious sound of life bursting with energy, laughter, naughtiness and playfulness!

The children at play were from the local community school, run by the government - a public school. Almost a decade later, children from the same school brought their poems, essays and paintings to Ashraya on World AIDS Day, 2007. There were so many children Nafisa and the Ashraya staff almost could not cope! What a great outcome for an empty building nestled in a garden in a leafy town on the outskirts of one of the most populated cities in the world.

Anupam Kataria, who is a co-ordinator at Ashraya, especially wanted to mention three important people who have been at Ashraya from the very beginning, who are an inspiration to others. Raj Kumar, who is HIV+ has been working at Ashraya from the beginning, (second, seated, extreme right) and Manoj Kumar Yadav, who is also HIV+, formerly a patient, and now employed at Ashraya as a janitor because he has no home (standing near left).Standing on the extreme right is Yashpal, also a former patient, who is dedicated to Ashraya and is currently being trained to be a TB DOTS provider. He also helps to take care of the home. As a medical rep Yashpal has a vast knowledge of medicine and inpatient care. He comes from a very disturbed family background, but none of this affects his positive attitude or his desire to help others. Anupam writes:

"These people understand the depth and thread of life. They make it strong by looking at life with a positive attitude, and help those who are like them to live life like them."

Stigma is still the toughest obstacle in fighting HIV/AIDS around the world. If we educate and inform the young, the next generation of adults may handle the AIDS pandemic entirely differently - hopefully more humanely than we have done.

Children that have been orphaned by AIDS appear with great frequency on news reports, especially in Africa, where the epidemic has peaked. This is not a disease to ever be complacent about; an entire generation of people in Africa infected with the disease were wiped out, leaving behind thousands of orphans who are often cared for by grandparents or older siblings - they are the lucky ones. Many have no one to care for them.

How do you engage an often unwilling and fearful public in confronting a disease like AIDS?

Nafisa Ali and her staff believe people can be reached through the arts in innovative ways - even if they cannot read or write - like film, television, puppet shows, plays, songs and dancing. While they have fun, children - and their families - can learn about a serious disease, and see that those who are infected can be treated and cared for, even if AIDS cannot yet be cured. They can learn to be more careful and to prevent infection.

When Anupam heard we had received a poem for World AIDS Day from a young man in India - written in extremely elegant Hindi, which neither I, nor any of my close Indian friends in New York could translate even though we speak the language, she offered to do the translation herself (it is on the website). She also sent us a poem given to her by a patient at Ashraya just before he died. He was an excellent football player at Delhi University; a young man aged 21, in the prime of life.

"I have been born among the thousands of HIV/AIDS victims.
I have been born among those numberless souls deprived, with no hope.
Every day I feel the pangs of pain of this disease that is incurable.
My dehydrated body just bones, seeking help and respite from the trauma.
Gazing blankly into open space, wondering what would be God's grace.
With no respite, no healing, no succor, death is but a step away.
The pains of death surround me.
This disease has engulfed me.
Lord, here I am. Hold me in your gracious arms. I beg thee for mercy. Shower me with blessings. I want to lay your hand upon me. Such love I crave for.
I want to lay my head in your divine lap
And peacefully close my eyes with memories of such a beautiful life."

On World AIDS Day and throughout the year Nafisa Ali and her wonderful staff think of inspiring, creative ways to engage the community - especially the young, who represent the future of all societies.

 

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