HIV testing camp in Airoli

It has already been a week - but we are still recovering from the aftermath of an excellent HIV testing camp that we conducted together with the Dayasagar Baptist Church and the Kingdom of God Church in Airoli on the 18th of September.

We walked into this with a lot of questions.

It was going to be our first camp where we tested and gave the results on the same day. The location was a bit far from our centre. We were working with 2 different churches. They assured us that many would come - but who could be sure. Would we be sending our staff and just seeing them twiddle their thumbs?

We needn't have worried.

Came the day - came the people. Dozens of them.

The folks in both churches had spread the word. Literally. Some were brought from distant places - having left at 6 AM to be there for the 12 PM start of the camp.

All through the afternoon we had a series of prevention presentations and films being shown in the meeting hall of the Dayasagar Baptist Church.

A few doors down in the home of Bro Guy Rodrigues - a pastor at KOGC - we had the counselling and testing going on.

Each person was met by a trained counsellor and given pre-test counselling. They were explained about HIV and what it does to the body. They were assured of confidentiality. The counsellor explored with them how the would feel if the test showed they were HIV negative - and how they would feel if they were positive. After the session, they were asked whether they would like to go ahead with the test.

In another room, the blood samples were collected and processed. It was a blessing to have hard working staff who really did an excellent job throughout the day.

By 2 pm we had already registered 30 people. At the end of the day a full 81 people had been counselled and tested for HIV!
Vinod, our lab tech was glued to his spot doing the different tests.

And our team was strengthened by the presence of our old friend (and trained counsellor) Daniel Kautikkar who came up for the weekend from his MSW studies in Ahmednagar.

Since we had so many people coming for testing we were unable to give all the reports and post test counselling on that day. It was a blessing that Daniel was able to provide this to 20 odd people on the next day.

Of the 81 people tested, we had 4 who tested positive for HIV. One was a couple who did not want their partner to know about their status. A lot of counselling is needed there. Another was a young man whose wife and children he sent back to their village in north India. A final was a young widow who thought she might have it, but was confused.

Though we are never happy that people are HIV positive - we are glad that we were able to meet these dear people. Our prayer is that they will be followed up and helped to make real positive steps in their lives. Our prayer is also that the 77 people who tested 'negative' will take this as a real God-send to make real changes in their lives.

Help

our beds at the current Jeevan Sahara Kendra

We got a call at 4 AM from Leena. Her husband Sanjay is very sick. Vomitting. Has been so for some time. Could we admit him. We told Leena to bring him to Jeevan Sahara Kendra at 11AM when Sheba will come.

When I arrived for staff prayers at 9AM I could see that they had already come.

Another call had come in the meantime. Mira and Santosh are desperate for help. They went all the way to Sion hospital where we had referred him - but were not given a bed. The hospital said that they did not have space and that the doctor who would be treating was not there - and so to come back later.

During our prayers Sanjay started vomitting. We had called Sheba. Then the sound of an autorickshaw outside. Mira had arrived with Santosh. Our JSK men put him in a chair and carried him in.

We have 3 beds in a 25 square feet space. 2 of them have 2 very sick men lying on them. Both have some cerebral infection - due to their immunity being ravaged by HIV.

We don't have the lab support, the nursing staff, all the bells-and-whistles to care for such sick men. We currently have 1 (moderately pregnant) nurse and 1 nurse aide. Our one other qualified nurse is on her way back between Orissa and Thane - and due to arrive at 3 AM tomorrow morning.

But we have few options. Today is the Ganesh Visrajan festival and the whole city will grind to a stop. Even thinking to taking these men to a govt. hospital is foolish. They will just not be admitted.

Help.

So Sheba is now with the two families. Doing what can be done. We feel weak but know that we have to trust that God will help us minister to our desperately ill friends. The public health system - as decent as it is here compared to our Jharkhand days - has failed. The family resources of these two couples are scant. We are all that they have right now.

We prayed this morning that God will help us through the day.

So we go forward on a wing and a prayer.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

Deal with it later

Mira attends a local prayer fellowship. Santosh has come irregularly. He has been sick for some months. One of their pastors was concerned and tried to approach Santosh about it. Santosh brushed him off.

Yesterday they brought Santosh to JSK. The pastor, Mira and another man. Santosh was not himself. He curled in a small ball. He got up and acted without control. He lay down again.

He has been suffering with headaches and nausea for a month. The couple has been medicating using head-ache pills for this time.

Yesterday Mira admitted to the pastor that Santosh was HIV positive. And when they brought Santosh to the centre Mira told Sheba that she was positive as well.

Its a crying shame. The pastor was so willing to help. He thought that HIV may be involved at some level. He tried to get Santosh to come to JSK for a checkup.

The family was just too scared. It was a family of two - with Santosh and Mira against the world. Too afraid to let her parents know lest they be disowned completely. Too afraid to let the pastor know.

Sheba feels that Santosh may have a lesion on his brain. Or it may be an untreated syphillus. Treatments are possible but need an immediate MRI and hospitalisation. We are unable to monitor Santosh in our present set up. We had to refer to one of the large government hospitals in Mumbai.

Thinking back on this dear tear-stained couple we realise 2 things.

1. We don't see this kind of neglect among the Positive Friends we are working with - because our staff and other church members are quick to pick up when something is going wrong - and able to treat or get treatment quickly.

2. As we move towards providing a wider suite of inpatient care services - beyond the rudamentary that we have on offer now - we are going to meet many, many more Santosh and Miras. People who are coming into contact with HIV care at a very critical and late stage in their infection. And the main reason is because of years of neglect. Years of fear. Years of hoping that things-will-work-out-and-we-will-deal-with-it-later.

Lord, help us.

Do say a prayer for Santosh - and for his brave and lonely wife Mira - and for the loving pastor who are trying to help in this complex situation.

Scrap books

We are seem to be grinding through a slow but real change in our educational system. But plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose ...

The state government has decreed that exams are bad and put too much stress on kids. Henceforth - no exams in schools. So our kids (who study in a school affiliated with the state board) are now freed from 'exams.'

Instead they get weekly 'assessments.'

The advantage - as we can see it - is that they are bite-sized and regular - so Asha and Enoch are always ready for them. This instead of the omnibus monsters that lurk at the end of term (which our 2 have so far been able to conquer pretty well all things considered).

There are to be no 'failing' of students from now on. Everyone is to be promoted. Regardless of how much they know and how much they can show.

What this will lead to is anyone's guess, but that's the party line from above.

One of the ladies who we work with has 2 daughters. Both are in pre-school. The older one goes to an 'English-medium' school. Our friend - Mrs. Maninder - is passionate about education and making sure her girls do well. The little twosome are often seen with books in hand - writing out English alphabets.

The school has told the older girl to maintain a scrap book. Every 2 weeks or so a topic is given. One day it is modes of transport. On another it is kinds of food. A third may be carnivorous animals.

Now as I understand it, a scrap book is supposed to foster creativity. The kid is supposed to look through stacks of old magazines and cut out images and then paste it into an old book in an artistic way. Mini collages anyone?

Fed into the great Indian educational sausage factory the hallowed scrap book comes out like this:

Teacher decrees what the topic is. Children write it down dutifully. Parents read it. Parents take children too nearby shop. Shop-keeper opens a drawer with multiple sheets of stickers. "National heroes? We have it here. Nutritional foods? Yes, madame. Space objects? No, problem." Parents fork out cash. Kids take sheet of stickers home and paste into multicoloured 'scrap book' which has been purchased for the purpose.

Creativity value? Nil.

Expense? Not too much for middle and upper class. Rs. 5 per sheet is not going to eat into the pockets of people living in flats that cost Rs. 25,00,000.

But for a family where the head is a widow. Where they live in a tiny room that the landlord pockets Rs. 1500 a month for. Where 5 Rs. is what will be used for the evening's vegetables. For them that is a lot of money.

And so Mrs. Maninder goes to the shop and asks the shopkeeper to make a photocopy of the stickers.

He does. She comes back and cuts out the pictures and pastes them into her daughter's scrap book.

Scraps.

Searching for a cure

'Minni' came to meet Sheba at the clinic today. Minni's name is (of course) a pseudonym. Sheba's isn't.

Minni is seriously depressed. Her husband died of HIV. She has the disease. Her daughter has been taken away from her - 'for her daughter's good' and is now in the UK.

Minni stays in the police lines. Her husband used to be in the force. Her friend 'Shobha' who is also an AIDS-widow (albiet HIV negative) and whose late husband was also a policeman - brought her today.

When Sheba asked Minni what was on her mind - Minni wanted to know about the new cure for HIV that she had seen on TV.

"Which cure?" asked Sheba.

"The one that they said was 91% effective" said Minni.

"Our anti-retrovirals are already 99% effective if you take them right" said Sheba as the conversation wound on.

Minni wants to get rid of the HIV in her body. Her immune levels are really good. She has a CD4 count of 1300 - very much in the normal range for most people who do not have HIV.

But Minni desperately wants to 'get better.'

She has been going to an 'ayurvedic' doctor to boost her immunity. He has told her that if she takes his medicines her CD4 counts will go up. She has been giving him Rs. 4000 per month for his 'meds.'

Money down the drain. Or at least put it this way - money that goes straight into that greasy man's pockets.

She has been checking her CD4 counts every month. "Its going down" Minni said sadly.

Hardly.

As she was leaving she took out a large black cloth and tied it tightly around her head like some kind of a scarf.

We invited Minni to a Family Bible Camp that we are running for and with our HIV Positive Friends early next month. We expect about 80 or so folks to be there. Last year's time was tremendous encouragement for many.

Sheba talked with Minni and prayed with her.

Depression doesn't leave easily. Its not like you can lean it against the door like you do your multi-coloured umbrella.

What a person hopes for - and their ways coping - are just not things that we can peel off like you shuck an ear of maize.

We are grateful that Shobha brought Minni to meet us today. The next steps are not going to be easy - but we know that it is possible to live with hope.

In the mean time - we do so very much want to see a complete and final cure for HIV.

We are blessed to have Anti-retrovirals (ARVs). Last month and the month before we did not lose a single one of our HIV Positive Friends. We hardly see TB in the 100 odd folks who we are following up on ARVs.

But we still need more. Anyone fancy a Nobel prize in Medicine? Its up for grabs for whoever can show us how to completely rid the body of HIV. So completely that we can stop whatever the treatment it is - and get on with life.

Recipe

Recipe for a great evening:

0. Finding ourselves all at home - without having to go out for some worthy cause!

1. Hot alu-parathas (or is it paronthas?) With dahi! Punjabi cuisine (at least the dhaba variety) rules.

2. Baking chocolate cake with the kids (licking of the bowl is an 'of-course')

3. Text and phone-calls from the JSK team who are doing an amazing job with an HIV testing camp with two churches in Airoli - 80 plus people tested! Thats more than we did last year!

4. Sheba working on her cross-stich

5. A spirited Bible-quiz game with Asha coming trumps (handicaps given based on age)

6. Another spirited memory game using cards we made from photos of the family taken over the past years. Serving fresh chocolate cake muffins - on chocolate icecream!

7. Lots of great conversation - ranging from the silly to the enlightened (sometimes swinging wildly between the two).

8. Finding out the washing-machine is still working properly - only an indicator isn't

9. Praying together - a number of times over the evening - for friends in challenging situations - for Sheba's parents as they are on the train between Vizag and Delhi

10. About to go to bed - warm with the joy of being together

All experienced in the last 5 hours.

Its a very good life.

Totally grateful to God.

Onward into the next week!

HIV Testing Camp

Today we are running an HIV testing camp.

Its the second time Jeevan Sahara has been asked to do so. We organised an HIV awareness and testing camp last month together with a local group called BIDS.

Last time we did an awareness meeting in a 'pandal' - a temporary shed which was constructed for the purpose - and local young men (mainly) came and listened to presentations about HIV - and a film that describes the way a person with HIV lives out his life - and the friendship another couple has for him.

The confidential counselling and blood taking was then done in the BIDS programme room. The picture on the right shows the blood taking equipment on a manual sewing machine stand that BIDS uses to help rehabilitate some of the women they are working with. We then took all the samples to our centre and processed them there. The post-test counselling was given the next day as people came to collect their samples.

Today's camp is different.

We are doing it quite a distance away from us - in the Navi Mumbai suburb of Airoli.

The programme is organised by two local churches. We are holding the public awareness meeting and movie show in one church - and doing the couselling, blood-taking, testing and post-test-counselling in the home of the pastor the other church. Since the location is far from our centre we will be giving the reports and doing the post-test counselling 'on-the-spot.' We expect that within 2-3 hours of being counselled, the person who gets tested will have been given their report and counselled about their next steps.

some of the participants in the awareness programme organised with BIDS last month

Its a new venture for us. New because the logistics of it all are quite different from what we have done so far. New because we will be using test-kits that have been given by the government as we are now a recognised local partner in the governments HIV testing programme. New because we have 2 amazing churches who are gung-ho to help out - who want their church members and others to be tested. And most importantly - who are ready to love and care for people with HIV.

We have seen these 2 churches in action already - and are proud to be able to help them out a bit with our expertise in this crucial area.

How many people will be tested today? We don't know. Its going to be a learning experience - but it will also be a life-changing one.

We were visited earlier this week by Dr. Shidabaram Nadesan (a.k.a. "Tygie") who is a senior consultant at McCord Hospital in Durban S. Africa. He told us that a quarter of the population is HIV positive. That 60% of the people admitted to his hospital are sick with HIV as well as the other infections they are being treated for. Though HIV is a terrible challenge in our country - we are still far from this situation - and by God's grace want to move farther and farther away from it.

Today's HIV testing camp - and the way that the churches are moving forward - are a small step in the direction we want to go!