Bitter

We have made some really big advances in caring for people with HIV. Hospitals in the West have long since shut down their 'AIDS Wards' since the advent of AntiRetroviral Therapy. People with HIV are living longer and healthier. More people are getting into treatment. There is a reduction in the numbers of new cases of HIV in many places.

All this is wonderful news.

But there are still so many who are suffering. In the thick silence that smothers so much of our Positive Friends lives.

Sheba went with our new staff member Santosh and Anil (a young man who is checking out JSK) to meet a man we will call 'Tarun.'

Tarun has been bed-ridden for months now. His family is tired of helping him out. They are angry at one and all. Including Tarun himself.

Tarun is now paralysed from below the waist. He has been incontinent. The cost of the pads has been adding up and his uncle decided yesterday that they would no longer buy them. Tarun was instructed to tell when he wanted to urinate and they would bring a bottle.

While Sheba and the staff were visiting Tarun wet the bed. His mother flew into a rage. She cursed him, telling him she wished he was dead and gone.

Our young men helped clean up Tarun and change the bed clothes.

Sheba then sat down with the mother to try and explain that Tarun has no control over his urination. Since he is paralyzed he cannot tell when he will pass urine.

A few minutes after this conversation Tarun wet the bed again.

His mother angrily grabbed the cloths and went off to wash.

We want so much to help Tarun and would love to look after him at our centre - but we need at least one female relative to come along. Tarun is not married and no relative is ready.

In the meantime this young man is dying - lying on a small cot in a 8 x 10 ft room which he shares with his mother, uncle, brother, sister in law and her children.

Its a silent bitter harvest.