Our week in Delhi began with a quick introduction to India time as we arrived promptly at 9:00am for our internship and were seen at 10:30. Although we were warned about differing conceptions of time, I was struck about how frustrated I became everyday, feeling that my time was ‘wasted’. This made me think about the adage so central to Western society that ‘time is money,’ and the idea that we have to pack every minute of the day with a ‘productive’ activity to feel good about it. It really pushed me to take my own initiative to fill my time with brainstorming for project proposals, and to re-direct my thinking from contemplating on time wasted, to re-inventing this waiting time to something useful.

Having mentally adjusted to the miscommunication and waiting common to our organization’s business practice, we attended a two day capacity building conference for all the HIV AIDS initiatives of HRLN across India. From this conference we were able to glean common issues affecting PHA’s across the country. These include: the refusal of insurance companies to pay out premiums to PHA’s, unavailability of CD4 counting machines (there is only one machine for the state of Orissa, who’s population matches that of Canada!), and refusal of medical treatment by government hospitals.

Two sessions that stand out in my mind from this conference was a talk regarding the experience of homosexual positive men in India, and a sex education class. I was struck at the homophobic remarks (homosexuality referred to as a psychological problem) made during this session, given that these individuals work with the LGBT community as one of their key client groups within the HIV/AIDS initiative. I was also surprised at many of the misconceptions about sex and HIV/AIDS transmission voiced. This was a good learning experience as it can serve as a litmus test to the general attitudes to homosexuality and sexuality in India, given the conceptions of the participants, who are considered to be highly educated and familiar with the above issues.

During our orientation, we visited a ‘rehabilitation’ area, which is essentially an organized slum created by the government for all those landless individuals displaced from their land in Delhi, which has no doubt been snatched up by developers to turn a nice profit. My feelings about this initiative were mixed. On the one hand, the durability of the brick walls provides a stronger physical structure for safety, yet the reality is that the ‘rehabilitation’ project is a de facto relocation project to expel the poorest from the city. My thoughts on this will be further developed over the coming weeks as we will be sure to visit the area again to run a legal training camp.

Next week, we will be travelling with the HIV/AIDS team to Daramsala for a legal training camp, as there is no HIV/AIDS positive network in this area. I’ll try to post my next blog before we leave, but if I don’t get the chance, I’ll post it when I get back on Wednesday.