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Akshay's Story
9 June 2006
I am a driver by profession. I have been married for 12 years now and my wife Anjana is a nurse. We are from a fairly good income family and so after marriage my family did not allow her to carry on working and destroyed some of her certificates. We have two children, a 11 year old son and a 10 year old daughter. For almost a year I kept falling ill very often. I went to a few hospitals, did a few tests and was finally treated for jaundice. I still did not get well and so the doctors at one hospital decided to test for HIV and found out that I was positive. My family and friends heard about this and hate me so much that no one visits me. Even our friends, on hearing of my condition have stopped visiting us. I tried to sublet a room so we can live off the rent but the tenants on hearing of my condition just left. We now have no source of income. My wife cannot take up any job as some of her certificates are destroyed and some are stuck in Chandigarh. The children now have no education also as we have no money to send them to any school. Anjana tried to get a job as a private nurse, earning 500 rupees. The money was immediately taken away by my parents for my treatment. The family has shifted us to an adjacent room where we are left to fend for ourselves. Our room is in front of a ‘nalla’ (open gutter) and so there is constant sickness especially diarrhea. Nav Jeevan Seva Mandal, a Christian non-governmental organization, has come forward to help us with education for our children. My main source of happiness is that both my wife and the children are HIV negative. I go to the the hospital and the SHALOM Centre for my treatment, as this is free of cost here. I encounter a lot of hatred; people just turn their faces away when they see me. I find that the most difficult to handle but I know I have to live with this. I feel very angry and bitter, and I know that I tend to take this out on my wife. Learn more
 
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