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POPULATION-NEPAL: Untold Stories Show Growing HIV/AIDS Risks

Ramyata Limbu

KATHMANDU, Jan 10 2003 (IPS) - Seated in the pleasant confines of the Blue Diamond Society here in the Nepali capital, Sunil Panta and his peers voice their frustrations and fears in a society that largely views Kathmandu’s gay community as invisible, freakish, or abnormal.

Seated in the pleasant confines of the Blue Diamond Society here in the Nepali capital, Sunil Panta and his peers voice their frustrations and fears in a society that largely views Kathmandu’s gay community as invisible, freakish, or abnormal.

They talk about human rights abuse – verbal and physical abuse – rape, torture, blackmail, family apathy and denial, and the individual fear of coming out of the closet.

When Sunil frequented cruising sites in and around Kathmandu to seek like-minded individuals to found a support society for homosexuals in 2000, he almost gave up.

But today, the Blue Diamond Society, formed in 2001, provides psycho-social counselling, sexual health services for homosexuals and male sex workers in Nepal and is a drop-in centre as well.

”When I tried to register Blue Diamond Society with the Social Welfare Council as a non-government organisation working for the health of homosexuals, I was advised against it as it may lead to legal and social complications,” recalls Sunil.

In the end, he registered as an NGO working for male sexual health.

Sunil’s story is not among those heard in ‘Kathmandu: Untold Stories’, a film produced by the United Nations Children’s Fund that explores the role that society plays in the growing spread of HIV/AIDS in this Himalayan country.

But the founder of Blue Diamond Society was instrumental in helping filmmakers Subina Shrestha and Alex Gabbay put together a 26-minute documentary that explores the underbelly of Kathmandu society.

They interviewed friends, friends of friends, and with met high-risk, often marginalised groups with the help of the society, the drug rehabilitation centres Richmond Foundation and Freedom Centre, and the Kathmandu-based Life Giving and Life Sustaining Society (LALS), which works with intravenous drug users.

” ‘Kathmandu: Untold Stories’ is not really an HIV/AIDS awareness film in the proper sense,” says Shrestha, who conducted the research and wrote the script for the film.

”It’s more about young people in the city who live secret lives their families know nothing of or don’t want to know about. As they tell their stories, it becomes clear how complicated everything is. And how young people are forced into dangerous situations that often expose them to HIV/AIDS,” Shrestha adds.

One of the interviewees, 27 year-old Kishore Pandey is a government employee, a happily married man who loves his wife and has two children.

But Pandey, in his own words, is living a third kind of life. ”What do I lack? Why shouldn’t I have married? Nobody in my family can tell that I am gay and I could not tell them. I didn’t even know myself. I came to know about it much later.”

But unlike the majority of gay men who visit the Blue Diamond Society’s counseling centre and drop-in clinic, he is aware of the dangers of unsafe sex and the vulnerability of gay men to HIV/AIDS.

”Gays do test for HIV. We enjoy having sex and, we have to be extra careful that we don’t harm othersà. I don’t think I can stop having sex if I am HIV-positiveà but I’ll continue to practice safe sex,” he says.

Personal testimonies throughout the film consistently point out that denial is dangerous and families need to listen and talk, that society needs to take note.

”The most ironic and hypocritical thing about our society is that families will get their sons or brothers married, knowing that they are HIV-positive. They know that the son will die. Society knows that he’s an addict. But they still want to save face,” says Rajesh Chettri, a 23-year-old student who took to drugs as a teenager after his parents died.

”My parents expiredà. I was all aloneàI could not deal with myself. I guess I took drugs because I felt isolated from my family,” he explains.

Some 15 to 30 people are being infected by HIV daily in Nepal. HIV/AIDS is the main cause of death for people between 15 to 49 over the next 10 years, a trend that has led to it being upgraded to a ”concentrated epidemic” – meaning anyone, not just the so-called vulnerable groups, may be at risk.

”Most policymakers, if they saw a film about the HIV/AIDS problems in far-west Nepal, probably wouldn’t identify with it,” says Shrestha. ”So we filmed in Kathmandu, where teenage kids lead secret lives, and try to tell parents to open their eyes to what their kids are up to and to question their own social behaviour.”

”Then they’ll identify it as a problem not far removed from themselves,” Shrestha adds.

The film features individuals like Nisha, who arrive in Kathmandu with big dreams. A dancer in one of the city’s popular dance restaurants, outside the routine of her work and few gatherings with friends, Nisha feels an emptiness in life.

Many of the girls, including a few of her friends, have become commercial sex workers. ”Girls end up going in for money and get trapped,” says Nisha. ”Just about everyone in Kathmandu has an untold story,” says Anjan Amatya. Amatya, an outreach worker who tested HIV-positive three years ago.

”It’s time to realise that HIV is not just about a virus àit’s about our relationshipsàabout facing up to our problems. It’s about you and me,” Amatya told audiences at the premier of the film in December.

Added Amatya: ”Denial is dangerous, it’s not just enough to fulfill the material needs and comforts of children. They need someone to love them, understand them, someone to talk to and share their problems with.”

 
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POPULATION-NEPAL: Untold Stories Show Growing HIV/AIDS Risks

Ramyata Limbu

KATHMANDU, Jan 10 2003 (IPS) - Seated in the pleasant confines of the Blue Diamond Society here in the Nepali capital, Sunil Panta and his peers voice their frustrations and fears in a society that largely views Kathmandu’s gay community as invisible, freakish, or abnormal.
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