I am so sorry guys about being so flaky for the past week. You see, I managed to develop yet another strange fever and spent most of the weekend in bed. Fortunately, I am all better!
So, let's see. I left off at the kite festival and Colaba (South Mumbai)....
I returned from Navsari and spent that Thursday in a pediatric outpatient department in the morning. Later that afternoon, I was sent to the Mumbai suburb of Santacruz. After some searching and walking back and forth asking random people, we walked into an older building within a hidden alley. Inside of this building was an NGO entitled the Humsafar (translated, it means fellow traveler) Project. Fortunately, they have a pretty good website:
www.humsafar.org
For those of you who don't know. With British colonialism came all of the their laws including an act making homosexuality illegal. Eventually, the British abolished this law for their own country but it continued on in India.
Now, for those of you who don't know, India remains to have a VERY diverse community when it comes to their homosexual community. Eunuchs have always existed in India from as far back as one can remember, but most all are reduced to begging from car to car.
Now place this in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This was a target community in the 80's and they had no source of aid and had to remain in fear. The very fact that the law exists prevents this community from asking most all government officials for any help. If they do, they have to admit to being homosexual and subsequently are thrown into jail. This is obviously a problem and hence this NGO was developed to help this community psychologically, socially, and medically.
I will let you read about it on the website...
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