Why Navratri will end on +ve note for them

[Guest guest]

Why Navratri will end on +ve note for them

Express News Service.

Surat, september 28 AS this Navratri season ends, life is set to

begin on a happy note for over 300 HIV-positive people from across

the State. For a " swayamvar " of HIV positive couples will be held on

October 1, where candidates can interact and choose their life

partners. Of the over 300 HIV positive people from all over Gujarat

who have filled applications for marriage with the NGO, Network of

Surat People Living with HIV AIDS (NSP+), more than 40 entries have

come from Surat, informed the project officer of NSP+, Harsh

Chauhan.

For the past two years, the NGO has been organising garba during

Navratri where HIV-positive people take part and spread awareness

about it. Chauhan informed that every year an additional 25 per cent

people attend the garba and over 14 marriages between HIV-positive

people have already been solemnised. ``Moreover, the concept of

Swayamvar has never happened before in India, " he says.

Hena Patel, centre counsellor, and Jagdish Patel were the first HIV-

positive couple to get married two years ago, following which they

set up a marriage bureau in 2004, and now the idea of Swayamvar,

informed Chauhan. He said that on October 1, though no marriages

will be solemnised, HIV-positive people will meet each other and get

married according to their customs and with family consent.

One such case is that of Rani Patel, working under the fellowship of

Action Aid based in Ahmedabad and Umesh Patel, state coordinator

working for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa. ``I learnt I was HIV-

positive after my first husband died. He had never tested for HIV

AIDS and his family never knew the cause of his death. Later, when

they came to know, they told me to leave home as I was living in a

joint family and they feared I would transmit the disease to the

children of the family. But I too had a child, who was not HIV

positive, and therefore I filed a case against my in-laws. They gave

me a one-room flat for accommodation, " said Rani. Rani said she

decided to stand on her own feet and began to work as a researcher

in a project when she met Umesh.

Chauhan informed that while there are more than 900 people who are

HIV positive who are registered with NSP, in total there are more

than 22,000-25,000 people affected with AIDS in Surat. However, the

problem is they prefer kept their affliction a secret and take

counselling from private doctors. According to Chauhan, programmes

like garba and the Swayamvar provide them such HIV-positive people a

chance to bond with each other and make them stronger. ``We have

kept stalls where HIV-positive people will distribute pamphlets and

create more awareness about AIDS, " said Chauhan.