Bharatpur opens up to AIDS awareness

Anjali Aggarwal / TNN / Feb 17, 2006, 00:08 IST

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You could hardly imagine that this shy Thakur basti teenager would have courage to speak her mind on unprotected sex.

BHARATPUR: Dressed in salwar kameez, words fail Pinky when approached by reporters. You could hardly imagine that this shy Thakur basti teenager would have the courage to speak her mind on unprotected sex and HIV/AIDS.
Coming from an orthodox community in Khareri village of Bharatpur district, where women are still barred from going out even to fetch water, Pinky is not the only one to have broken traditions and joined a bold initiative to spread AIDS awareness.
There are others too, and these young women are trying to do more than just carrying out domestic chores. As you arrive in Khareri, the first thing that strikes you is the walls splashed with HIV/AIDS messages.
Meet Shyamlata (20), a 'community mobiliser'. She has 13 villages under her wing, where she encourages others to act as catalysts of change. Her work may have been ridiculed earlier, but acceptance has come gradually.

Manisha and Sulakshana ride their two-wheelers to villages earmarked for them. "I faced tremendous resistance from villagers. But I used innovative tactics to win their trust," said Manisha (22).
The initiative is the brainchild of international NGO Oxfam (India) Trust, in association with local NGOs Educational and Rural Development Society (ERDS) and Society for All Round Development (SARD).
The movement is gaining ground in 230 villages in the Bharatpur district. The European Commission funds the programme, which targets out-of-school adolescents, who are trained as peer educators.
There are 2,500 peer educators in the area, of which 50% are women. Initially, there was strong opposition in Muslim-dominated areas, but change is visible there also.
"We sensitised maulvis and panchayat members and approached people through them. "Now, of the roughly 500 peer educators engaged with the organisation, 30% are Muslims," said Biswajit Mitra, Society for All Round Development project coordinator.

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