A Visit to the Field

Last Thursday, I went with Meena, Ashima and Mamatha (Ashima and Mamatha are social workers who do administrative type work at the MILANA office) to do some field visits. The first site we visited was the Accept Care Center, which, as the name suggests, is a care center for PLHIV (people living with HIV).
It’s important to note that Accept was located far from the center of Bangalore, close to the outskirts of town. I think that says volumes about how people here feel about HIV in general…but that’s an entirely different issue. Accept is a Christian-funded, Christian-based care center that people with HIV and AIDS are often referred to by local organizations. Accept hosts people not just from Bangalore, but from all around Karnataka.

We got off the bus and walked about at least a kilometer through nearly empty fields and brushes until we came upon Accept. It is a compound comprised of two buildings, a care center and an orphanage for HIV positive orphaned children (the orphanage was empty at the time, as all the children were at school). It was lunch when we arrived, and we decided to take a walk around the area until someone was ready to meet with us and give us a brief tour of the care center. I couldn’t help but feel calm and at peace there; no street noise, very few people, and some of the coolest looking trees and plants I’ve ever seen. They had mango trees, jackfruit trees, banana trees, and more, and I made sure to take pictures of all this strange and new foliage.
We made our way back to the care center, where I was greeted by one of the patients, a young boy who couldn’t have been more than fifteen. He didn’t speak English, and it was clear that AIDS had taken its toll on him and his body. I still remember his name: Kumar. He asked me mine, and had fun saying it (by the way, “Melissa” in Kannada, the language here, means “thin,” so people tend to get a kick out of my name). We made our way inside and waited for a while until one of the workers sat down with us and began to explain Accept. Accept has enough beds for about 34 people, although not all of them were occupied that day. Accept cares for people with HIV and AIDS for a maximum of 10-15 days, during which they nurse them back to health and provide proper medical care and nutrition. They also counsel people upon arrival to help them cope with their status.

I found it kind of frustrating, though, that Accept cares for people for such a limited amount of time. Shouldn’t the length of care be determined on a case-by-case basis? As we were walking around the center, I saw people that I couldn’t imagine being released in less than two weeks. These people clearly need constant care and support, not just a temporary fix. It was the first time I had visited a care center, and it was quite depressing. I can’t describe in words how sick and destitute some people appeared, and it still bothers me. I also couldn’t help wondering what Meena was thinking. Thankfully, Meena is very healthy, and despite being HIV positive for 16 years now, has not taken ARTs in close to a decade. But when she sees such sick people like we saw at Accept, is she compounded by worry that one day she might end up in the same situation? I noticed that she held my hand often throughout the day.

From the Accept Care Center, Meena, Ashima, Mamatha and I grabbed some lunch at a local restaurant and headed to the Infant Jesus Home, which was just a short walk down the road. Upon her arrival to Bangalore, Meena was dumped at Infant Jesus by her relatives, who, after that point, wanted nothing to do with her or her four children. She stayed there for two and a half years, until Jyothi offered her a job and found an apartment in Bangalore. We met with one of the nuns there (Infant Jesus Home is also Christian-run and Christian-based), and she gave us permission to explore the compound. Infant Jesus supports HIV positive women and children, as well as HIV negative children. However, Infant Jesus employs a policy which I do not support: they keep HIV positive children separate from HIV negative children. The HIV negative children attend a different school, reside in a different building, and do not really come in contact with the HIV positive children. What kind of message are they trying to send here? It’s very frustrating that these people seem to harbor such feelings of stigma and discrimination, despite the positive message they supposedly embody.

We first visited the building where the youngest HIV positive children live: there must have been over a hundred kids and only 7 or 8 bedrooms, which means lots of kids in each bedroom. We then visited the building where HIV positive women reside, although most of them were at the canteen having tea at the time. On our way to the building where the older HIV positive children live, we saw the school they attend (of course, the school is only for the HIV positive children). When we arrived at the home of the older children, Meena introduced me to her 16-year old daughter, her only child to have been born HIV positive. She lives there, at the Infant Jesus Home, and has for nearly 10 years now. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have lived over half your life in somewhere like Infant Jesus. Meena spent some time with her daughter and the other children, many of whom she seemed to know quite well. It was nice to see them interact and spend some time together, but before we knew it, it was time to head home.

The journey home was not without excitement, however. Earlier in the day, I had agreed to go with Ashima and Meena after our visits to Infant Jesus Church, a church close to the office in the center of Bangalore that apparently “everyone” attends on Thursdays. The bus ride to the church was absolute chaos; the seats were all full by the time I got on the bus, so we were forced to stand. During the half an hour bus ride from where I had gotten on to where the church was, at least 30 people must have crammed on the bus, and ALL of them got off once we had arrived at the stop for Infant Jesus Church. The street was packed with people and vendors selling strings of beautiful flowers. We turned a corner and there it was: Infant Jesus Church. It’s the biggest church I’ve seen in Bangalore so far, and I was impressed by the size of the building where the main service was taking place. To the left of this building was a smaller one, but inside it was packed with people facing an altar and praying.

What, you might ask, was on at the altar? Infant Jesus. That’s right, statues of was supposed to be the infant Jesus. People filled the pews, and there were people lined up on both sides of the altar waiting for their chance to touch one of the two statues of the infant Jesus. Meena, Ashima and I got in line, and I have to admit, I was feeling quite uncomfortable. I had been raised Christian, and I do consider myself a somewhat spiritual person, but never in all my life did I see such doting on a statue. People would wait their turn, walk up to the statue, place the flower necklaces they had bought outside the church over the head of the statue of the infant Jesus, and then touch it, from its feet to its head. Altar women were collecting the necklaces from the statues when they began to pile up and broke them up. They then proceeded to take chunks of these flowers, touch them to the altar, and then pass them out to the people who were waiting. It was quite a surreal experience. I watched as people made their way to the statue, touching it and touching themselves. After a few minutes of waiting, I had made it to the statue of the infant Jesus. And I froze! All I could do was look at it! I mean, I felt really uncomfortable. I was A) the only white person in the church and was therefore already being looked at, and B) I couldn’t touch the statue! It was just too weird for me! Of course, the fact that I didn’t touch the statue garnered some unwanted attention, so I hightailed it out of there as soon as I had the chance.

After the experience at Infant Jesus Church, Ashima invited Meena and I to her house for some tea and snacks. It was exactly what I needed after what was one of the most interesting run-ins with religion I’ve ever had! She pampered us with ginger tea, samosas, cake, and these delicious deep-fried rice-coconut balls! It was the perfect ending to a long, thought-provoking day.

Until next time.