Voice 1
Hello. I’m Marina Santee
Voice 2
And I’m Ruby Jones. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
‘If only he had apologised. I never wanted to leave him. I would have willingly spent the rest of my days with him.’
Voice 1
Umadevi is a young, beautiful woman. She is wearing a bright orange sari. Her long dark hair falls over her shoulders. Umadevi sits at a meeting with other Asian women. It is a self help group. The women are all HIV positive. They have the virus that leads to the AIDS disease. Umadevi has had sex only with her husband. She caught the virus from him. He had visited sex workers and paid them for sex. Then, he had sex with her. Umadevi is left with more than a deadly virus. She is also left with many social problems. In her community people do not talk openly about HIV/AIDS. Many families reject daughters with HIV. Umadevi will die, possibly alone, because her husband was unfaithful. In today’s programme we discuss the problem of women like Umadevi. And we tell how there is hope and help for them.
Voice 2
Ask someone whom they think of when they hear about HIV or AIDS. Whose face do they see? They may tell you that they think of sex workers. Or they may say they connect HIV with homosexual men - men who have sexual relations with other men. Or, they may think of drug users - especially people who share injecting equipment. They make these suggestions because they know some of the ways that people catch HIV - through sex, blood - body fluids. They read reports that connect particular groups of people to HIV/AIDS. However, not many people will think of young faithful wives, like Umadevi. Yet HIV is growing in this group of women. Here is another story - of a woman called Kousalya Periasamy:
Voice 1
Kousalya was young when she got married. In the early days it looked like her dreams of happiness were coming true. But her happiness ended very suddenly. She did not know then that her new husband was HIV positive. Kousalya said,
Voice 3
‘It was very horrible of him to marry me. He tested HIV positive before we married. The doctors asked him not to marry. But he did not listen.’
Voice 1
Kousalya’s husband died a few months later. So, the young woman was left without a husband. Before he died, her husband had passed the HIV infection to her. She was left to face a community that did not know about or understand HIV. To them, the virus bought shame. Kousalya did not know what to do. She went into a deep, dark depression. She thought about killing herself. But her friends persuaded her not to.
Voice 2
Slowly, after some time, Kousalya wanted to live again. She wanted to fight against opinion that blamed the woman for AIDS. She believed the best way was through education. So, she went and spoke to other women.
Voice 3
‘I talked about what happened to me. I advised all girls to ask for a blood test report before they marry. I told them, "If you do not - you could have a future like mine."’
Voice 1
Kousalya visited the HIV positive women in her hometown, Namakkai. This lies in the Tamil Nadu district in South India. Kousalya wanted the women to join in her fight against the disease. But they were afraid of being rejected. They did not want people to know that they were HIV positive.
Voice 2
Kousalya then moved to Chennai. Here, she joined the Indian Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS. With the group’s help, Kausalya began ‘The Positive Women’s Network’, or PWN+. PWN+ provides help and support to women with HIV. The team of advisors includes doctors and social workers. They give help and education. They work to empower women. PWN+ also gives social support. This is very important. Many of the women have experienced pain from community and family rejection. A group like PWN+ means that they are not alone. Here is one woman’s experience;
Voice 1
Padmaja was happily married for two years. Then, her husband became sick. Doctors told them that he had AIDS. Padmaja and their daughter went for tests. The tests showed that they were HIV positive. Her daughter was just twelve months old. She got the virus before she was even born, inside her pregnant mother. Padmaja remembers,
Voice 4
‘Our own relations rejected us. Our brothers and sisters avoided us. They feared they would catch the disease. We became like untouchables.’
Voice 1
Padmaja’s husband could not pay for the medical costs alone. So Padmaja went to work for the PWN+. She said,
Voice 4
‘We needed the money. And now that I work here, I can get medicines and more, the information on HIV, AIDS. The support group meetings make me happy. Sharing the sadness helps with the pain.’
Voice 1
However, Padmaja’s life is still far from easy. Like many of the women, she often looks to the past and wishes it were different:
Voice 4
‘There are lots of ‘if onlys’ in my life. ‘If only my husband had not gone to a sex worker. If only he had not caught the virus. If only he had not passed it on to us. If only our daughters were not born...’
Voice 1
Padmaja voices the thoughts of many women at PWN+. The high number of women there makes one thing clear. To avoid HIV, both people in a marriage must be faithful. One faithful person is not enough. But this fact puts many married women in a very difficult situation. Cultural and social laws often deny women rights when it comes to sex. They cannot ask their husbands to use condoms for protection. So this life saving information may not help them. For many women, their husband’s lives are of greater value than their own. These cultural and social roots are very deep and strong. But these women possess another, very powerful force. That is the love they have for their children. The lives of future sons and daughters are at risk if wives catch HIV. A mother’s love is powerful enough to give her the strength to fight against HIV/AIDS. It is powerful enough to drive women to act - to protect their children’s future.
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