HIV Widows, sometimes through the saddest of circumstances a woman parts with her children because that is the way for her and the children to survive. The two girls came to stay at New Hope Kothavalasa. How their then HIV mother survived is an epic on its own. She eventually came to stay with us and then, being stronger physically and always independent went back to the small city of her birth and became a ‘house cleaner’ – that also meant she got at least two good meals a day. Santoshi is completing a junior nursing course through an Educational Grant Scholarship by a friend in Australia. Her younger sister is now in 4th year High School and staying in a small (tiny) single room with bathroom toilet with her mother. Today Narayanamma (with Santhoshi) are in Visakhapatnam at a clinic that New Hope considers the best and most efficient in the city. We are checking her viral levels at her request.
HIV Widows, This will determine the anti-retroviral prescription from here on. It’s a longish story and just part of the many many thing we do quietly.” Did the tests cost much?” you may ask. By Indian standards – a lot. Unaffordable by most women in her situation. The cost was paid for by – no names mentioned but 2 Petes and a Kaz and friends.
