Beauty for ashes

It was a personal tragedy that got her thinking. When she lost her 24-year-old son in a helicopter accident, Countess Albina du Boisrouvray put aside her grief and wondered how she could best pay homage to a young man who was deeply caring, sensitive and utterly involved in humanitarian issues. "I thought who can we cater to," said Boisrouvray. "We were not the Rockefeller fund but I wanted to do something for the really needy." It was at this time that she happened to read an interview with Dr. J. Mann who was running a global AIDS programme. "I wanted to do something with children," said she, "and when I realised what he was saying, it struck me that there would be so many orphans after this outbreak." So she set up the FXB or the Francois- Xavier Bagnoud association, liquidating her personal wealth of $ 100 million. "It is wonderful chemistry to transform possessions, fossilised money into living hope and living changes for people," said Boisrouvray.

Today the FXB is involved in 17 initiatives with children's rights, health and human rights and HIV/AIDS in 13 countries. Boisrouvray's aim was to set up homes for children either orphaned by the AIDS blitz or those afflicted by it. She was, and continues to be, dead against the concept of orphanages in its literal term. The ideal is to incorporate these little lives into a family-like structure and rehabilitate them for the rest of their lives.

The FXB has also set up an international paediatric HIV training programme at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the FXB Centre for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health among other activities that it conducts. As its patron and founding member, Boisrouvray has made it her life-mission to bring awareness about the spectre of AIDS, specially the fall out on children.

In India to launch the FXB India Society, she spoke with SUCHITRA BEHAL about her ideas, what she hopes to achieve through her work and about HIV/AIDS. Excerpts:

How did you start FXB?

MY son was a rescue pilot who died on a rescue mission to Mali. He was a passionate, caring, loving person and I often wondered what we could do to continue to uphold his values. Whatever it was, it had to have a humanitarian mission to it. Who can we cater to? I thought it was then that I read an interview with Dr. J. Mann who predicted a huge AIDS outbreak leaving many orphans. I thought these are the ones we can help. I wanted to do something for them that would replicate a home - a mother and father - like a family which could compensate for the loss that they had suffered. So, in many places we have been able to set up small homes with these children.

Why the decision to start work in India?

I came here 10 years ago. I love India and I feel there is something that bonds me to this place. I have read the Bhagvad Gita too. But when I came here, I realised that this was going to be a major place for AIDS. All the roads of transmission are here - poverty, the sale of blood, migrant workers on a large scale... I started my work in Rajasthan then in a modest way. Prevalence rates there in the rural areas have gone up which is very worrying. I set up little houses for children which are not like orphanages which remind me of warehouses.

How do you intend to tackle the AIDS problem in India - given its unique cultural resistances, religious diversity and other factors. Will the workers be local?

FXB India is made uniquely of Indian people who draw up the programme. They are themselves Indians and will take in the social and environmental factors before tackling the issue. We also involve social and community leaders in the areas. I recently spoke boldly about the need to break taboos and cultural moorings so that we could have a mutual empowerment to be able to face this problem. I felt that my presence as a foreigner allowed me to say some of these things, which were later on taken up by the local people present. It helps sometimes to be outspoken and make a breakthrough. Once the veil of shyness has been lifted, there is scope for a better discussion. Breaking taboos is essential also because people have to bond together to fight this. In India we plan to begin work in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. We will also interact with the government and other like-minded organisations. FXB will set up training camps for doctors, health workers and counsellors. We plan to run public awareness programmes as well as raise funds - it is through this last that we intend to garner financial support. There is a lot of money set aside for these things with NACO. We do put in our own resources but we also go to other agencies for support. NACO has a huge mandate for these programmes and that should be tapped.

So do you feel that the governments do not do enough to help combat HIV/AIDS?

I think it is the NGOs that work. In our countries too it is the activists or people afflicted with AIDS that did the work. Not the government. Only in two places have I seen government initiative as it should be - Thailand and Uganda. China, Russia and some other east European countries are ticking away like bombs. Interestingly in America, once again we are seeing an increase in infection in the Black community and if this is not checked it will spill over. There is even today a lack of precaution by the young. They feel that this scourge has been around for too long and have grown complacent. Sure, there are some very careful people too. But there is a huge lot that has a "who cares" attitude. In Western Europe and Canada there is now the emergence of a very worrying group of young gay men who feel that they do not have the virus so they take no precautions. I don't know if this group is going to grow or stay put but it exists. Governments must act more. They must take the lead in getting money and policies organised. Unfortunately, everything is left to the resources of the NGOs - this is the case the world over for AIDS.

What target groups are you aiming your programmes at?

Basically for instance, here it is migrant workers, truckers. You need an awareness programme for truckers, because I believe they are the single largest carriers of the disease. At the same time, it gives me a lot of hope to see the demand for not only information but also participation at the grassroots level. Doctors want to know, health workers want to be updated and so do people. This is very heartening. Doctors need to be educated. We do all this along the way as part of our ongoing programmes. In Rajasthan for instance, over three years, we have trained over 10,000 counsellors.

What about celebrity endorsements for a cause? Do you feel they help?

Well, it empowers others to come out of their silence. They feel if he or she (celebrity) can say this, so can I. It creates a sort of solidarity and that is important because people must bond together. Magic Johnson's coming out was crucial. It is also vital to bring about that awareness through a name which eventually is used for fundraising.

With a problem like AIDS, which seems to have permeated almost every country, every strata of society and is a growing spectre, is enough money being put aside?

What we get to spend on combating HIV/ AIDS is so little compared to the huge defence budgets of nations. You may spend as much as $ 3-4 billion on a presidential campaign. The money is there in the world, its just not spent on the issues of the poor.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Features
Previous : Preserving Egypt's monuments
Next     : In search of a gene for history