At Jyothis Terminal Care Center for AIDS, Dr. John and Sayeeda talk with a mother dying of AIDS. Sayeeda is in yellow on the right.
Sayeeda Banu's Story
On the outskirts of Mumbai, India, in a village of poor shacks and open sewers, I met Sayeeda, a young mother who unknowingly contracted HIV at 16 from her 18-year- old husband. Two of her three children were born with AIDS. Out of fear, the villagers refused to let the children play outside her hut. In front of a crowd of surprised neighbors, I asked Sayeeda if I could touch her and hold her baby. She was shocked that a foreign man would make this request. Once an interpreter explained that I wanted people to see that I was not afraid of her AIDS, Sayeeda handed me her crying baby.
Understanding my mission in her community was educational, she later asked to join my group of young volunteers. Over the next few days, Sayeeda spoke to many women who knew nothing about HIV/AIDS. Her decision to join my AIDS prevention campaign was one of many courageous acts I have witnessed around the world.
Below is an article from our old website written about Sayeeda:
India: "Sick HIV+ Widow Denied Hospital Help"
So read the afternoon headline. In crowded old Bombay (now known as Mumbai), Sayeeda, a 20 year-old widow lives with her three young children. After reading of her plight in a daily newspaper, Dr. John visited to offer support.
First diagnosed with HIV when she first suffered a severe fever this spring, Sayeeda occupies a tiny hovel along a crowded alleyway that is barely big enough for two people to squeeze past (or one Dr. John). Her youngest baby, Arbaz, was born with HIV a year ago. With light curls and soulful eyes belying his age, he laughs and tugs at the long hair of his older sisters. Anjum is almost three. Her braided black hair and ornamental jewelry look like any other Indian child - except she is living with HIV/AIDS too. Only the oldest girl was born without the virus that will kill her siblings prematurely. Although science has found that AZT can help some vulnerable babies at birth avoid the mother's seropositive status, India does not make the medicine available to its poorest.
Sayeeda's young husband died six months ago of AIDS, leaving his family destitute and shunned by frightened neighbors. Even members of her husband's family refuse to help her. Usually, a widow receives small donations to feed her babies - but in this case, nothing was given to the young widow because of the stigma surrounding AIDS. Yet, her scared neighbors raised 500 Rupees (US$ 12) to buy phenyl to wash the alley after his coffin passed. "It's difficult to accept that neighbors and family would treat this girl like a pariah. She's known nothing about AIDS except that it came to her through her husband. They see Sayeeda as the guilty party, not the victim of their own ignorance," said Dr. John.
Sayeeda was married by her impoverished parents at "ten or eleven" but is not sure, she told Dr. John. Sayeeda has been cleaning dishes for people to earn money but that's not much more than the equivalent of two dollars a month. Even in an impoverished slum where living standards are low, that amount cannot feed her family - let alone buy medicine.
Sayeeda and Dr. John.
Mumbai's largest TV station followed Dr. John to the neighborhood of Trombay. Many neighbors were amazed as he held Sayeeda's hands in his, and little Arbaz in his arms. Seeing a foreigner touch the "AIDS untouchables" on a primetime special about Dr. John's Global Walk, Indians saw that there is nothing to fear from casual contact with people living with AIDS. Dr. John told people massed in the crowded alley that they should love and care for Sayeeda and her children, not abandon her to die.
"I found Sayeeda to be a most beautiful young woman with a calm demeanor that was captivating," said John. "I work with many young volunteers, but she has impressed me tremendously with her power to reach out to young women." The next day and thereafter, while an aunt looked after her children, Sayeeda joined Dr. John in his street outreach around Mumbai during India's holiest Divali (festival of lights) celebrations.
Dr. John remarked, "When we visited the Jyothis Terminal Care Centre for AIDS [run by the Sisters of the Destitute], we comforted the very sick and dying. At first, Sayeeda broke into tears upon seeing them lying in their beds. She ran out of the ward. But within a few minutes, she was back sitting and holding their hands." She later told John, "We made them happy tonight, yes?" The experience made Sayeeda happy to know that there will be people like herself who will reach out to her children someday when she cannot.
[Dr. John has arranged a home job for Sayeeda with the help of LEO, the youth branch of LIONS International in Navi Mumbai, India].
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