Hospitals

Asha Kirana is an HIV/AIDS hospital that is next door to our hostel, and they arranged an education presentation to a nearby police training facility in which I tagged along. The police sent a bus with bars over the windows (clearly for transporting criminals!) which picked us up and drove us across the city. When we got there, we were brought to a room with about 200 constables wearing tan colored uniforms and matching hats. They reminded me of "man in the yellow hat" in curious George... but with tan hats. I got some pretty hilarious photos of some officers posing on their motorbikes afterwards. The talk itself was in Kannada (the language of Karnataka), but the presentation was in English, so I understood most of it. I feel it is actually fairly strategic to inform the policeman who will be enforcing prostitution laws (for example) how HIV can and cannot be transmitted, as it will help their judgment and keep them from propagating social stigmas. But can you believe that men who have trained and educated for 12 years in the police force have never heard of the basics of HIV/AIDS? How much do uneducated know about it? It's scary to know that a very conservative figure of 5 million HIV positive people live in India. Who knows how high the liberal number reaches? With little education, lots of stigma, and not universally organized system of ARV distribution, this country may see the ravages of HIV/AIDS similar to the likes of South Africa or worse.

On a lighter note, we visited the "Hospital in the Forest", which is an NGO that operates about half an hour away from Mysore. It serves tribals of the area, but also provides schooling and sanitation. It is an organization that operates very well, and shines as a model for other NGOs that want to do similar work in other areas of India.

Now I gotta study, I have 3 tests and 2 papers due in a few days, so phir melege (see you later)!