Women at training session at the Positive Women Network of Rajasthan.

I’ve been in India now six weeks, and I get a lot of questions and puzzled looks about my marital status. Women find it hard to understand why and how at 27, I’m still unmarried. In India, where 14 percent of women are married before they turn 15, I am a hopeless, old maid since I’m in my late 20s and husbandless.

Many of the women asking me these questions are my age or younger and like me they are now single, but their realities are nothing like mine.  Most of them have been divorced, abandoned, or widowed. Many are mothers. All of them are living with HIV. I met these women through the Positive Women Network of Rajasthan (PWNR+), a non-profit organization built by and for women living with HIV/AIDS, where I am volunteering.

Each woman has her own story, but they follow a common thread. They married young, by their early 20s at the latest. After they were married, they learned they had contracted HIV, most often from their husbands. An overwhelming 90 percent of the members of PWNR+ are widows, whose husbands died of AIDS.  The discrimination these women face as a consequence of disclosing their HIV status is also a requisite part of their stories.  And yet these women are also tireless advocates for themselves, for each other, and for the countless women living with HIV who cannot speak out for themselves.

These women are an inspiration, and I would like share just one of their stories, excerpted from PWNR+’s 2008-2009 Annual Report. Mukesh Kumari Yadav is currently the President of PWNR+.

“Mukesh Kumari Yadav was married to an Indian Army soldier, who came into contact with the deadly virus during his engagement in the army.  When Mukesh and her husband got tested for HIV, both were found positive. They have one daughter, who tested negative. They started taking indigenous medicines from Chandigarh, but after a few years, her husband’s condition became serious and he shared the truth with his brothers.  A few months later, he died.

When they found out that Mukesh was HIV-positive, Mukesh’s in-laws forced her to move to one of the corners of the house, afraid that she would infect them. They started withholding money from her and quarreling with her. A few months later, when Mukesh returned from a visit to her parents’ house, her in-laws locked her out of the house and would not allow her to see her daughter. She had no where to live, so she was forced to return to her parents’ house, without her daughter. They supported her in filing a lawsuit against her in-laws, so that she could regain custody of her daughter and property.  PWNR+ assisted her in discussing her situation with the Peoples Union for Civil Liberty, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) and the Lawyers Collective.  After the lower court ruled against her due to her positive status, HRLN appealed the case in the district session court, but the decision of the lower court remained. The case is now pending in the district court. Mukesh has since joined HRLN to extend a supportive hand to hundreds of HIV affected women in Rajasthan.

Now President of PWNR+, Mukesh has become a ray of hope for thousands of women as she successfully leads the organization. Her service in building the positive women’s movement is remarkable. Her voice is not only heard at a state level, but she is instrumental in influencing HIV/AIDS policies at a national level. Her dream is to reach every woman who is infected or affected with the deadly virus.”

Since 2005, PWNR+ has been leading efforts to support women living HIV in India. These brave women are also working to ensure that young people in India are empowered with the information they need to protect themselves and their partners from HIV. For example, PWNR+ is spearheading a national SMS texting campaign to reach 50,000 college-aged women and men with HIV prevention information. SMS texts will include messages about safe sex, and will promote an around-the-clock hotline that people can call anonymously to get accurate information about the HIV prevention and other sexually transmitted infections.  The campaign is expected to be launched in the next month.

Whitney Welshimer is the former Communications Assistant at the International Women’s Health Coalition. She is currently volunteering with Positive Women Network of Rajasthan in India. In the fall, she will start a Masters of Public Health degree at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Women at a Positive Women Network of Rajasthan meeting in India

Last week, the Times of India—one of India’s leading English-language newspapers—ran an article headlined “Man Kills Wife for Refusing Money for Liquor.” As disturbing as the article was, it is a reflection of the commonplace violence against women in India. During the past month I have spent in India, I have learned that women living with HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable to this violence.

The Ajmer district, where the incident happened, is one of the locations the Positive Women Network of Rajasthan (PWNR+), a non-profit organization built by and for women living with HIV/AIDS, has a satellite office. During the time that I have been volunteering with PWNR+, I have seen and heard that in Ajmer, like many places in Rajasthan, violence against women is tolerated and people living with HIV/AIDS experience extreme discrimination. PWNR+ is headquartered in Jaipur, one of the four locations in the state where the government offers free, first-line antiretroviral (ARV) medication. Working from the PWNR+ headquarters, I have had the opportunity to hear the personal stories of our network members when they come through Jaipur seeking these medications.

The high rate of HIV/AIDS is both a consequence and a contributor to the violence and discrimination women in Rajasthan experience. In certain villages such as Ajmer, many women in the network engage in sex work to put food on the table for their families. With few opportunities or alternatives, these women must take advantage of the fact that Ajmer is located along a major highway so it is a popular resting point for truck drivers seeking some pleasure during their lengthy journeys away from home. Women in Ajmer are also pursued by local factory workers on a quest for enjoyment during their laborious work days. Like the truck drivers, the factory workers often return to their wives at the end of night or week.

Recognizing these realities of women’s lives, a small group of women living with HIV/AIDS banded together in 2005 to found PWNR+ and confront the violence and discrimination they experience. Today, and every day, they are raising their voices to speak on behalf of the 880,000 women older than 15 living with HIV in India [1]. PWNR+ now has more than 1,000 members. The organization provides counseling to women living with HIV/AIDS and their families; secures legal assistance for women to protect their property rights and ensure they can retain custody rights; and advocates for changes that support these women in policies and programs at the local, regional, and national levels.

PWNR+ has built networks in 16 of the 34 districts in Rajasthan, including in Ajmer. In Ajmer and elsewhere, PWNR+ provides a safe space for women to meet and share information and to work together to confront the social, economic, medical, and legal challenges they face. In Rajasthan a state about the size of Germany, there are only four drug distribution centers. PWNR+ is working to increase the number of facilities offering antiretroviral drugs so women, like the ones I have met traveling overnight to Jaipur, don’t have to keep making costly trips to get the medicines they need to lead just and healthy lives.

Stay tuned for more posts from Jaipur, India.

Whitney Welshimer is the former Communications Assistant at the International Women’s Health Coalition. She is currently volunteering with Positive Women Network of Rajasthan in India. In the fall, she will start a Masters of Public Health degree at the University of California, Los Angeles.

References
1. UNAIDS and WHO, Epidemiological Fact Sheet on HIV and AIDS. UNAIDS, Geneva: 2008.