Live & let live is the motto

KANPUR: Kamlesh was confused when she saw strangers around her but something connected her to them. Like her, many had gathered at Lucknow in 2006 for Action AIDS Training programme, hoping to break free from isolation and social stigma. Turning the pages of her life, she recalled how she had lived every moment in the shadow of fear and death after she was detected HIV positive.
It was her husband's death due to infections that spurred Kamlesh to get herself tested a few years ago.When she was diagnosed with HIV she was depressed but happy that the virus had not been passed on to her daughter. Trapped in despair and dejection by society and her own family members, Kamlesh decided to triumph over her isolation, anger and frustration.
Four years from then, Kamlesh's life has changed in the way she could have never imagined before she attended the Lucknow workshop. Presently, leader of a self group for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), Kamlesh says, "I want to create an enabling environment for those living with HIV/AIDS by educating them and their families. When one is detected as HIV+ve, the journey becomes much tougher. It is not the virus that kills, but we ourselves destroy our will to change the course of life."
Therefore in this direction Kamlesh provides counselling to HIV+ve people coming to her after being isolated by the society and their family members. Each day coming across 2-4 such patients and their kins, this female fighter shares her own personal experience to console them and to prove them that life has not ended and their hopeful signs to live a normal life like others.
Perhaps not one of the most visible face of the women PLHAs movement in the city, Kamlesh has become today's voice for those suffering with the deadly disease. She not only creates awareness and emotionally strengthens the diseased but also conducts awareness programmes in nearby rural areas along with the other counsellors.
Striving to support the HIV+ve women, Kamlesh says "There are still thousands of HIV+ve people who are suffering emotionally and women are the worst affected, thus HIV/AIDS needs to be de-stigmatised. As after getting detected I don't want to look back and wish to move ahead, thus I want other HIV+ve people to realise the same".