Saturday 13 January 2007

Dancing the Day Away - by Mike

An emotional day for many of us today but we finished it smiling! Dancing outrageously with our new Indian friends following a meeting of the YMCA and the All Indian Christian Movement was just the tonic to what was quite a mentally exhausting day.

Myself, Andrea and Hannah left the YMCA on the back of scooters (which was quite the experience – I have the video evidence to prove it!) and set off for our first meeting with one of the PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS).

The story of Purin was quite difficult to handle. Diagnosed with HIV eight years ago, Purin was an accomplished footballer who played and scored goals for India’s youth side following success at his local St John’s school. His family had seemingly not forgiven this “sin” until recently. Purin had been discharged from hospital only a few days ago but from the looks of him you would initially have not known. Only when he struggled to climb the stairs of his four-storey house and clearly had difficulty seeing and hearing everything could you tell that he was ill- such was his courage. His weakness was exposed but that did not prevent him from smiling and having optimism. He spoke of a foreigner in Calcutta who was distributing the second line anti retroviral drugs that he now requires with such hope that it was heartbreaking to think that this dream may well come to nothing.

More whizzing around the streets of Nagpur found us at a slum area of the city. A new client of the PLWHA programme was in need of a follow-up visit. The reality of this is difficult to put into words here. Stuart arrived with Iva in time to get some video footage of this, which will aid in the explanation. The situation, to summarise, was desperate. The family had essentially been destroyed by HIV since the father had been diagnosed HIV positive. His wife was clearly angry given her positive result which was received only 3 days previous and while their children visited (they stayed with grandparents 50km away) the father was laid up in bed, struck down by TB and clearly suffering from hallucinations. Having not drunk water or taken any food in the past four days, it was clear that without significant help this man would die soon and his family would be left in tatters.

It appears Andrea and I have the knack of choosing programmes that are heart-wrenching and really difficult to deal with. Still, I feel I have seen the reality of the HIV/AIDS problem in India and would bet that a similar problem exists in the rest of the developing world. The lack of education and the confusion regarding the drug treatment are a step that is overlooked by the press and politicians alike and it is only through visits like these that we can communicate this essential home truth to the decision makers at home.

Thankfully our day ended in some style and with much laughter as the whole group joined in with ‘traditional’ Indian dancing (to a rather disjointed Indo-Brit-Pop soundtrack), much to the amusement of the locals. Stuart thoughtfully decided to grab the camcorder so no doubt that footage will be posted on YouTube for the delight of the world.

A great way to end another rollercoaster day and while it’s easy to use such sweeping statements, the fact that all of us feel that we have been through so much that it feels like we have been here for months rather than days, is a testament to both the scale of the work and also the level of dedication that is going on here in Nagpur.

We will all be sad to leave here.

Mike

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's amazing to hear what you and the others have been up to Mike; I really admire you guys for having the courage to go out there and make a difference.

Annika

Anonymous said...

back of scooters??? don't you be leading andrea astray - we need her back in one piece.

hope it's going well, keep up the good work on the blogs, can't imagine what it's like to experience first hand but realy interested to hear what you're all doing

sue