AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Indian matchmakers are helping HIV/ AIDS sufferers find partners, advertising in the matrimonial columns of weekend newspapers and arranging weddings.
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Matchmakers write the ads, keep the identities of would-be brides and grooms secret and arrange counseling for couples facing the rest of their lives together with a killer disease, says H. Raj, who runs a wedding bureau in the commercial capital of Gujarat state, Ahmedabad.
"It was tough taking care of my young daughter after I lost my husband from AIDS," says a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher.
"Because of my financial and emotional needs, I wanted to find a partner ... who was HIV positive like me. For us, marriage is about accepting the truth and living well, even with a killer disease."
She married a man she found through the matrimonial columns, in a simple ceremony at her parents' home. Most marriages in India are still arranged, though generally with the consent of the bride and groom, and newspapers are full of such ads.
But India's five million HIV/AIDS sufferers face vicious prejudice. They are sacked from their jobs, shunned by their families, friends and neighbors, thrown out of hospital beds and sometimes denied treatment.
And HIV/AIDS widows face a double stigma in a country where some women withdraw from daily life when their husbands die.
And asking someone to stay with you for life when you know you are dying is hard.
"It was embarrassing to approach someone to marry me when I know my life span may not be very long," says a 32-year-old sufferer who married a man with AIDS.
"But I did not want to lose hope."
Raj, who has four such marriages coming up, says he talks with couple carefully about their expectations, finances, health and the sensitive issue of bringing up children who may be from an earlier marriage.
Gujarat's government AIDS control body says the matchmakers and their clients are breaking down barriers.
"It is a positive move... which reflects that people are aware and understand that even HIV positive patients have normal needs and need a family life," says project head doctor D. Saxena.
