Read about Shib’s fight against HIV

Shib was born in Sundarbans but he spent his childhood in Ghoshbagan, Kolkata. He and his younger brother – who resides in the same slum, are the sons from their father’s second marriage. Shib’s father passed away at an early age and to he was forced to accept the job of a bus driver to earn a living for the family. The huge daily commission in the job, pushed him into addiction of alcohol and women.

When Shib was 20 years of age, he married Alo, who was only 14. After marriage, Shib brought about a change in his life style, but it was already late. Since 2001 he used to suffer from frequent fever attacks and even after visiting several private practitioners and Government Hospitals, doctors could not diagnose the real problem. Some suspected that he is suffering from TB but the root cause of his continuous illness never got detected till he started loosing weight and strength abruptly. In 2005, he had to quit his job due to decaying health. Since then, the family is suffering from financial crisis. Alo – who used to be a house wife, found a part time job of a domestic help and she sent their elder son and daughter to her parent’s place in Bihar. Babu – the youngest son (3 yrs) is living  with them. Alo tried her best to cure her husband but nothing was working.

On March 2006, one of their neighbors, a health worker by profession – took Shib to the Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center for HIV in R.G. Kar Medical College. Shib was diagnosed HIV positive on March.21, 2006 and immediately the doctors suggested him to test the sero status of his wife. In two days, Alo was declared positive as well. The situation became worse when this news flashed on a popular Bengali News channel, and their life became miserable. The neighbors started stigmatizing them. Nobody cooperated and moreover, they started being threatened by the local people. There was no one to provide care, love and support to the couple.

“Emergency HIV Response Unit” of Hive India, traced out the family within one hour of the news telecast and rushed to provided medical check up, medication, counseling & nutritional support to them. The organization is going to organize a Community Sensitizing Meeting (CSM) on this issue. Shib – who has reached the AIDS stage is improving, he knows that a slight ray of hope still remains. He wishes to recover fast to be able to start a new living, to build a secure future for his children. Alo has no manifestation of the disease, but the T.V. news made it very difficult for her to find a job. At present this family is not in the position to arrange two meals per day for each of its members. Alo wants to place her son in a safe Home. Hive India has referred the little boy to ‘Snehaneer’ – a home for HIV infected / affected children – run by BPWT. At present, all this couple need – is care, love and support from all of us. Instead of ostracization, they need empathization from all sections of the society. We hope Shib and his family will get back to a normal life very soon.