By Kulsum Mustafa,
Gorakhpur: Eight year old Khalid (not his real name) seemed dazed, awe struck as he stepped into the Gorakhpur Press Club. He clinged tighter on to the sari pallu of his maternal aunt (khala) Nasimun. The two had traveled in a bus from a distant village (name withheld to protect identity of the child) in Mau district to be in Gorakhpur for the ‘media dialogue with HIV\AIDS affected children.
Khalid is HIV positive, the only issue of his parents who also died of AIDS one year back. Khalid has since been living with his maternal aunt. His grand-parents and other relatives have refused to keep him with them. But Khalid still misses what was once home- when his parents were alive. He recalls how he climbed up the guava tree near his hut daily, not fearing a fall. The village children all were his friends- he freely shared the ripe guavas with them.
But things are different in his new home. His aunt’s family keeps distance from him. He has been given a little place in the outside verandah. His cousins have been instructed by his uncle not to get close to him. The other village children also look at him with strange eyes. When one day he tried to make friendship with the boy living in the opposite hut the boy told him. “You will pass on disease to us.”
When Khalid asked what disease, they said it was “the killer disease and that his parents have asked him not to go near him.”
Khalid says that he spends his time playing marbles and ludo. He keeps shifting his position after every try as he also plays for the other partner who is not present.
“If this is a killer disease it will kill me soon. Then at least I will be with my parents again,” says Khaid. An innocent remark that can bring tears in the eyes of any human being.
There were eleven more AIDS-Affected children like Khalid present at the Press Club. It was a way of commemorating World AIDS Day, December 1, 2010. This media dialogue with AIDS affected was an initiative of Uttar Pradesh Welfare For people Living with HIV\AIDS (UPNP+) supported by UNICEF and Media Nest, a pan India body of Media professionals. The one-hour interaction under ‘Media for Children” saw journalists from different streams interact with these children who were living a life of agony and pathos and above all social ostracism for no fault of theirs.
The session saw children from different age groups have a direct dialogue with Media persons. They talked about stigma, discrimination at school, society and in health services. They talked about how nobody wants to make friends with them, even their relatives maintain a safe distance from them fearing that they may get infected too.Many
had lost their parents and sibling to AIDS and were hurt and humiliated the way they were treated by their relatives and neighbors.
They shared it all- the pain the trauma and the pathos of being AIDS affected children. Their life before and after HIV\AIDS.
While UNICEF AIDS consultant Meena Jadav, UNICEF AIDS (Primary Prevention) consultant and senior members of the UPNP+ were present there was no formal presentations by adults in the session, the floor was left to the children, many of them infected but all of them
‘affected’ by HIV \AIDS. Many of the children who had come for the sessions were orphans, HIV\AIDS had claimed one and in many cases both their parents. They had seen deaths at close quarter. Their siblings had died due to AIDS. All the children talked with great emotions about the life they lead because of not just the loss of their near ones but the discrimination that they had to face because they were “AIDS affected.” And living in a society that has a lot of misconceptions about HIV\ AIDS.
While the electronic media persons had not been invited to this session, even the print media photographers had been requested not to click photographs or use the real names of the children. This was in an attempt to guard the privacy of these very special children.
The media persons were asked to freely interact with the children one to one or in group.
“The children had total freedom. They talked reality; they talked about true life as they lived it. It was bound to touch hearts, it did” said Dr K Bhuyan, UNICEF AIDS specialist.