PANAJI
Living with HIV-AIDS is not easy, and those who face it every day show great courage. Their stories turn pain into strength and offer hope to others like them. Roopa (name changed), 23, shares her journey — not of suffering, but of rising with the support of the Human Touch Foundation.
“I was once the top student — scoring 90%, quiet, focused, disciplined. Life was good. My dad ran a successful business, and we had everything we needed,” recalls Roopa. But life changed suddenly. “Everything collapsed. My dad’s business failed. We lost everything. We moved to my mother’s hometown. I had to manage school and travel to Solapur for HIV treatment. Each ARV box cost Rs 2,500 — we didn’t know then that government hospitals give treatment for free,” she adds.
The family tried to keep going. Her father moved to Goa to rebuild their life. “But just when we thought we were managing, he got paralysed. We had no choice but to shift to Goa. New school, new environment — I struggled, failed and lost confidence. Then came the hardest blow — I found out I was HIV positive,” says Roopa.
A shocked Roopa tried to share her truth. “I told my friends, teachers, even my principal. Some supported me. The person I loved walked away. I broke down. I fell into depression. I stopped talking, eating, living. People’s questions hurt more than the illness: ‘Did you have sex?’, ‘Why not your sister?’, ‘How did your mother get it?’”
There were questions everywhere, and Roopa had no answers. As the outside noise grew, she shut down inside. She stayed silent for a year. But slowly, time moved. “Then one thought came — what about my dreams? I gathered courage, stood up again, and rejoined college,” she says.
In college, she met a counsellor who introduced her to the Human Touch Foundation. “At my first camp, I danced solo — something I never imagined. I found confidence. I found hope. Today I’ve graduated, started working, and I’m living proof that HIV doesn’t end dreams. It shapes stronger people. I want to be the person I needed when I was breaking. This isn’t a story of pain — it’s a story of rising. People thought HIV broke me, but it built me,” she adds.
“Roopa represents a generation that inherited HIV not by choice, but by birth — yet they still face battles society refuses to talk about. Her rise shows that young people need not pity, but safe spaces, dignity, and equal chances. When we support them, they turn pain into power,” says Peter Borges, founder of the Human Touch Foundation, an organisation working on health and human rights in India and across the world.
“Since 2011, our WeRise residential camps have been the heart of HTF’s work with children and young people living with HIV. These camps didn’t just teach resilience — they built it. In the last decade, more than 200 children have grown through these camps, finding confidence, identity, and hope. Many are now young adults standing on their own feet. Today, only about 15 remain children; the rest have grown with us, and we continue to guide them as they move through adolescence and adulthood. Their journey is also ours — growing, changing, and rising together,” Peter shares.
Founded in 2009, HTF has carried out several impactful programmes in sexual and reproductive health, HIV prevention, and substance abuse prevention. Peter’s work has been recognised nationally and internationally, earning awards such as the MTV Staying Alive Award for HIV prevention and the Youth Icon Award in 2019.
