“Coming from 20 years in banking, working with the underprivileged women of the Indian society showed me a completely different world for the first time in my life.” – how Lalitha tries to support HIV/AIDS positive women to escape the vicious circle.

Lalitha Rajaram, Manager - Community, SIAAP, Chennai, India

“India’s AIDS crisis is huge and growing, but both its government and wider society have yet to acknowledge the scale of the problem.” - A huge Indian magazine titled in its June 2005 edition. According to the official count, India has 5.13 million HIV/AIDS sufferers, while U.N.’s estimate is up to 8.5 million and some foundations claim the real figure may be closer to even 15 million. In a country where people simply don’t talk about sex, where there are 1200 brothels and 2 million prostitutes despite prostitution being officially abolished, where Supreme Court effectively reaffirmed a ban on homosexuality last year, where respectable Indian women still wouldn’t dream of wearing miniskirts and bikinis, where even condom ads were pulled from state TV two years ago for indecency, Lalitha is one of the few woman, who tries to help those who are effected already. She directs a team of SIAAP grass-route social workers and works directly with groups of HIV positive women in the rural areas to give them the necessary advise to escape the vicious circle which leads to death rather sooner than later.
On this site we try to give you an impression of our meeting with Lalitha in Chennai, her life full of new experiences and her challenging job. You might be able to read more about her and her amazing stories in our book “MyImpact”.

Lalitha Rajaram’s selected quotations:
"I guess I used to live in a kind of cocoon; I have never before been exposed to this underprivileged part of society."

“As a child I was sick a lot. Many people supported my family and took care of me; I experienced a lot of kindness which I might be able return now.”

“The first months in this new job were really hard, only after a while did I learn how to deal with different, difficult situations.”

“The affected communities are often quite closed, skeptical of help from outside and mostly financially vulnerable. Starting with financial self help in small groups we often are able to win people’s trust and encourage their willingness to fight with the disease.”

“The greatest learning I have is about the power of resilience, the great strength to withstand.”

“I was lucky to have a mother who showed me the importance of caring and helping and I am lucky to have a husband who gives me a lot of freedom and support, without which it would not be possible to do what I am doing.”

Some background on Lalitha Rajaram:
Lalitha was born and educated in Delhi. After spending 20 years in the banking sector and moving to Chennai because of her daughters’ careers, Lalitha decided to take some time off and enjoyed a break of around 2 years to read, travel and try new things.
Being someone who enjoys interaction with people, she agreed to work for SIAAP for a trial period of three months in 2000 and stayed there until now. She is mainly responsible to help people escape form the vicious cycle by improving there financial situation by teaching them about micro-finance opportunities.

Some background on SIAAP (South Indian Aids Action Programme):
Siaap is a not-for-profit organization working for HIV prevention and care in India. The projects include support for community development, counselling for informed choices, advocacy for progressive policies, and training to build capacity for change.

If you would like to engage with the work of Lalitha or get to know more about her organization, please visit http://www.siaapindia.org,
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly