Experiment #10: Roshni and Vir

When I first met Kamlaben, I was surprised by how young she looked. We could totally be friends, I remember thinking to myself. When I first heard her story, I had pictured a woman looking older, mature and with the weight of many worries on her mind. But she looked like she could pass for 22 or 23.

I still don't know exactly how old Kamlaben is, but I've visited her home in the tekra a couple of times and played with her two young children. Her daughter Roshni is 4, and her son Vir is 10 months. I use the term "played" very loosely. Vir is a beautiful and happy baby. He smiles and goes openly to anyone. Just being around the child is a joy. Roshni is the complete opposite. She is quiet and shy, reserving the few words she does speak for her parents, Kamlaben and Kamleshbhai.

Roshni, her mother, and her father are all HIV positive.

The first visit I paid to the family's home, a fragile hut constructed of plastic, tin sheets and wooden branches, was for the purpose of convincing Roshni to take spirulina. Spirulina is a dietary supplement derived from a species of algae, that has been shown to have tremendous nutritional and health benefits for the undernourished. According to Kamlaben, Roshni refused to take the fragrant (not in the sweet-smelling sense of the word) powder in milk, and her husband was even less willing to give it a try. That day I brought ice cream to mix the spirulina powder with, in hopes that offering Roshni that sweet treat would make it easier to give her the supplement.

But Roshni was not fooled. She would not even look at the ice cream I placed in front of her, the specks of green powder were a give away that the spirulina had been added.

Before I left, Kamleshbhai and I chatted. It's hard not to get too attached to Vir, but I know we shouldn't let him get attached to us. 

This was hard to hear from the father, but seeing the family looking so healthy and happy, it is easy to forget that three of them have HIV. Kamleshbhai asked more about spirulina, and I explained its value especially for patients with compromised immune systems.

I visited the family again this morning. Kamlaben came outside to greet me, and it already feels like we're old friends. In their small, dimly lit home, Roshni was passed out asleep on a cot. Kamleshbhai and Vir played in the corner as Kamlaben explained to me that Vir has fallen sick with a cough and cold. I immediately became concerned for the rest of the family. Before I could object to Roshni being exposed to her ill little brother, Kamleshbhai told me that he has begun taking spirulina caplets.

He hasn't felt any effects yet, but I urged him to give it another week. It was not until that moment that my eyes were opened to this family's situation. With Vir the only HIV negative member of the household, his mother and father seem to be resigned to counting the days until he is orphaned. With a little bit of persuasion in the context of preserving their family, Kamleshbhai began taking the spirulina.


On my way out, Kamlaben's finger began bleeding from a paper cut. She ran off quickly to wash her wound. I was surprised at my reaction when I saw the red color dripping from her finger. I was scared. Both for her and her family, but also for me.

Is that bad?