Swayam gives them the hope to live...and let live

At this rehabilitation centre in State, destitute women who are HIV+ve find shelter, a learning-cum-work place
* Ramola, a full blown AIDS patient and a worker at Swayam, died 10 days back. Gaytari was supporting her HIV positive husband and two children by working with Swayam. The organisation is now funding the studies for one of her boys.
* Lalita, from Saurashtra, is also working with Swayam for last two years. She makes an earning for her two children after her husband expired from the killer HIV/AIDS disease. Thanks to her training at Swayam she earns some extra money after work by doing needlework for her private clients in the neighbourhood.
* Meenakshi, from Mathura, was directed to Swayam as a rehabilitation effort after she acquired the virus from her HIV positive husband. Today, she says she loves the work here and is also receiving HIV/AIDS counselling through the organisation.

These women had no one to turn to. Having undergone the trauma of losing their spouses to AIDS, they carried the burden of earning a livelihood on their fragile shoulders, already bent by the knowledge of having been tested positive. But Swayam gave them the hopes to live.

The AIDS affected group received free treatment and medication from Ahmedabad-based AARAAM, an NGO run by Dr Pradeep Pethe and his colleagues. It was his exposure to the positive people and their travails that Dr Pethe (a regular visitor to the health camps and counsellor for L&T workers), drew attention to the lacuna regarding the rehabilitation for HIV positive people.

Then the idea of an organisation catering to the rehabilitation needs of this minority was born. It started with a contribution of Rs 1 lakh from A.M.Naik, CMD of L&T, for "Prayas", the Ladies Club of engineering giant. Thus Swayam _ one of the very few rehabilitation centres in India and the only one of its kind in Gujarat_ came into being two years back on May 12, 2005. It works towards rehabilitation of the destitute girls who have tested positive for AIDS.

Girls come to this centre through Gujarat State Network for the HIV Positive People (GSNHPP). Unskilled most of them, till they come to Swayam, they are trained in various skills like papercrafts, stitching, and embroidery. Experts are brought in to enable these girls to churn out beautiful handiworks, which are then marketed by "Prayas".

They work five days a week from 2 pm to 6 pm at their small shop in the Suryakiran Complex on Ghod-Dod Road. While it does get infrastructural support from the L&T management in the form of payments of the shop rental, electricity and phone bills, it is by the sheer efforts of the women at ''Prayas'' and the workmanship of these girls, that the organisation meets its own running expense.

Recently at display in the Women Entrepreneur Exhibition (WEE) 2007, the products were appreciated by visitors. Under the supervision of ''Prayas'' president Madhu Bedi, items like cushion covers, jewellery boxes, napkins, aprons, gloves, roti covers, egg cases, shoe cases etc. were designed and displayed.

"It is an organisation run by the heart and not by the head," asserts Madhu Bedi. Encouraging people to buy Swayam products, she gives this logic: "If you gift someone a bouquet of flowers worth Rs 100-Rs150, it has to be discarded in a week. If one of these articles is gifted instead, it will be remembered for its aesthetic and utilitarian worth and

cherished for a longer duration. Thus ensuring acceptability for HIV/AIDS affected people in the society, beginning from your drawing room."

As for the girls, Swayam is a shelter, a home where their persona is cared for with compassion. Says Pushpanjali Karan from Orissa: "I like coming here, learnt a lot. Earlier there was no work, was desolate, now its much better.''