Latest / Spotlight English: Advanced / Nireekshana ACET: A Place of Confident Hope (Advanced Program)

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Nireekshana ACET: A Place of Confident Hope (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

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  Speaker 1: Ah Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Jillian Woodward.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm Patrick Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method
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  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
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  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
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  Speaker 1: India was dying. A disease was spreading. The more people
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  Speaker 1: got sick, the less others wanted to help. No one
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get the disease. People died from it. Some
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  Speaker 1: who were sick never told anyone. They did not want
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  Speaker 1: to be avoided. They did not want to lose their
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  Speaker 1: friends and family. They died without getting treatment. Other people
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  Speaker 1: with the disease tried to get help, but there were
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  Speaker 1: not enough doctors or the treatment was not good. India
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  Speaker 1: was in trouble. Someone had to do something. Someone had
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  Speaker 1: to sacrifice. Someone had to act, even if he did
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  Speaker 1: not have all the answers.
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  Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight looks at nierik Shana ASCID Niyikshanna means hope
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  Speaker 2: in the Indian language Telugu, asset means action, care, education
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  Speaker 2: and training. Niarigshanna is a medical clinic in Hyderabad, India.
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  Speaker 2: The clinic treats patients with HIV AIDS or leprosy.
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  Speaker 1: HIV means human immunodeficiency virus. It is a virus that
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  Speaker 1: attacks the human body's immune system. The immune system defends
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  Speaker 1: the body against germs like bacteria and viruses that can
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  Speaker 1: cause diseases.
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  Speaker 2: HIV and AIDS first appeared in the twentieth century. For
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  Speaker 2: many years, HIV was not recognized. The first cases of
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  Speaker 2: AIDS were officially reported in the United States in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: eighty one.
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  Speaker 1: If a person with HIV does not get treatment, the
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  Speaker 1: virus can lead to AIDS. AIDS means acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
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  Speaker 1: It is a disease that weakens the body's defense against illness.
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  Speaker 1: It is the most advanced stage of HIV. People with
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  Speaker 1: AIDS who do not get proper treatment will die within
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  Speaker 1: one to three years.
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  Speaker 2: Leprosy is a disease that affects the skin. It leaves
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  Speaker 2: red patches or areas on the skin called lesions. Leprosy
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  Speaker 2: can weaken a person's muscles. It can also cause a
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  Speaker 2: person to go blind. Leprosy has been around for thousands
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  Speaker 2: of years.
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  Speaker 1: Both leprosy and HIV are contagious. This means they can
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  Speaker 1: spread from one person to another. For many years, people
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  Speaker 1: were frightened of catching leprosy from someone who had it.
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  Speaker 1: They were afraid of the strange lesions on the person's body.
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  Speaker 1: They did not want to look that way.
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  Speaker 2: When the first cases of HIV and AIDS were reported,
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  Speaker 2: people were scared. They believed they could easily get the
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  Speaker 2: disease from someone. AIDS killed many people. It took years
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  Speaker 2: for doctors to discover proper treatment to stop the disease
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  Speaker 2: from getting worse in a person's body. People did not
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  Speaker 2: want to be around someone with HIV or AIDS. They
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  Speaker 2: did not want to get the disease and die.
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  Speaker 1: In two thousand and three, doctor sue J Sunetha was
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  Speaker 1: the director of a leprosy research center in Hyderabad. His wife,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Luvanna Snetha, was a scientist at the center. The
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  Speaker 1: doctors began seeing more patients with HIV at the leprosy center.
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  Speaker 1: These HIV positive patients could not find help anywhere else.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Suneatha also saw the number of his leprosy patients decrease.
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  Speaker 2: He thought it was time to concentrate on HIV and
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  Speaker 2: AIDS patients. One day, a mother and father brought their
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  Speaker 2: little baby girl to doctor Sunetha. The parents and their
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  Speaker 2: daughter were all HIV positive. Doctor Sunetha said.
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  Speaker 3: My heart was drawn to that child. I carried her
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  Speaker 3: in my hand. I felt that I needed to make
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  Speaker 3: that change from leprosy to caring for people with HIV.
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  Speaker 1: Dr Sunetha and his wife were both followers of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: They knew the Christian Bible teaches believers to help the
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  Speaker 1: sick and suffering. They left the leprosy center to start
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  Speaker 1: a clinic for people infected with HIV and AIDS. They
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  Speaker 1: continued to treat leprosy patients, but HIV and AIDS cases
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  Speaker 1: were reaching record numbers. In India. Million of people were
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  Speaker 1: infected with HIV. Over one hundred thousand Indians died each
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  Speaker 1: year from AIDS.
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  Speaker 2: Many building owners in Hyderabad were willing to rent rooms
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  Speaker 2: to the Sanethas for their clinic until they discovered it
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  Speaker 2: was for HIV and AIDS patients. Then they said no.
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  Speaker 2: Building owners did not want anything to do with HIV
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  Speaker 2: or AIDS.
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  Speaker 1: For six months, the Sanethas looked for a place where
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  Speaker 1: they could open their clinic. While searching, Doctor Sanetha worked
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  Speaker 1: at medical camps all over Hyderabad caring for HIV and
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  Speaker 1: AIDS patients. Finally, his wife, Lavagna, suggested they open the
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  Speaker 1: clinic in the living room of their home until they
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  Speaker 1: found a building. They used their sofa as a medical
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  Speaker 1: examination table. They kept their medicines cool in their small refrigerator.
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  Speaker 1: They named their clinic Nirig Shanna Asset.
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  Speaker 2: More patients began visiting the Synetha's home. Doctor Sunetha treated
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty people in his living room each month.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the children started asking their parents if they
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  Speaker 2: could eat with the Sunethas. Soon the Sunethas were making
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  Speaker 2: lunch for all the patients. They were sharing their plates
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  Speaker 2: and glasses with HIV and AIDS patients. Doctor Synetha had
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  Speaker 2: always believed that these patients deserved proper medical treatment and care,
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  Speaker 2: but it was not until he opened his home and
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  Speaker 2: shared meals with them that he looked at them in
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  Speaker 2: a new way. Doctor Sunetha said.
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  Speaker 3: That is how God taught us. That is how we
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  Speaker 3: learned that these people are no different from us.
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  Speaker 1: The Sunethas ran Narik Shahanna Asset in the living room
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  Speaker 1: of their home for a year. Then a Christian organization
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  Speaker 1: helped them move the clinic upstairs to their guest room.
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  Speaker 1: The Sanethas saw patients in their guest room for a
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  Speaker 1: year and a half.
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  Speaker 2: Finally, a Christian minister from Korea visited the Sanethas. The
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  Speaker 2: minister wanted to help them. He found a building nearby
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  Speaker 2: that used to make audio cassettes. It was full of
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  Speaker 2: old machinery and broken cassettes. The minister told doctor Sunetha,
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  Speaker 2: this is the place you should move into and I
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  Speaker 2: will pay the rent.
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  Speaker 1: For another two years, the Snethas slowly cleaned up the
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  Speaker 1: rooms they saw more patients. Nirik Shanna became popular in Hyderabad.
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  Speaker 1: It was one of the only places where patients with
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  Speaker 1: HIV and AIDS could get quality treatment. At the time,
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  Speaker 1: the Indian government did not have a good program to
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  Speaker 1: care for HIV positive patients. Many doctors were still scared
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  Speaker 1: to treat HIV patients. Before long, Nirikshana Asset was helping
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  Speaker 1: one thousand HIV positive patients each month. Doctor Sirneitha and
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  Speaker 1: his workers offered each patient time with the doctor. They
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  Speaker 1: offered counseling for HIV positive patients. Other hospitals could not
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  Speaker 1: offer each patient this type of personal attention and time.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Sunetha's treatment was effective. He read that in studies
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  Speaker 2: in Africa. They had used a simple medication called cartru muxazole.
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  Speaker 2: It was an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections. By
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  Speaker 2: using cartrou muxizole, Dr Sunetha was able to prevent over
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  Speaker 2: twenty infections in an HIV positive patient. Also, the medicine
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  Speaker 2: was not expensive. This medicine helped many patients illnesses from
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  Speaker 2: developing into aids. It kept the disease in the HIV
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  Speaker 2: stage where it was manageable.
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  Speaker 1: Nirig Shanna helped many women whose husbands had infected them
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  Speaker 1: with HIOS and then left them. The women were alone, sick,
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  Speaker 1: and had no way of making money. Workers at Nirikshana
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  Speaker 1: Asset taught these women how to cook, make soap, and sew.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted the women to learn practical skills that they
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  Speaker 1: could use each day to live and make money.
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  Speaker 2: The clinic also began helping families who could not pay
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  Speaker 2: to keep their children in school. They provided enough money
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  Speaker 2: to pay the school fees. Over the next twenty years,
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  Speaker 2: Nirikshana Asset helped at least six hundred children receive an education.
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  Speaker 1: One of the many women Nirikshana Asset helped was named Laxmi.
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  Speaker 1: Her husband would not stop drinking alcohol. He had HIV
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  Speaker 1: and gave it to Laxmi. Their house was in very
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  Speaker 1: bad condition. Husband would not help her. He later died
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  Speaker 1: of AIDS. Laxmi thought about selling her body to make
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  Speaker 1: money to support her three children. She visited Nirikshana. Doctor
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  Speaker 1: Suneatha treated her. Laxmi's health slowly improved. Nirikshanna Assets workers
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  Speaker 1: taught her how to sew. They taught Laxmi how to
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  Speaker 1: feed her family better food. After several years, Laxmi joined
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  Speaker 1: Nirikshana Asset as a trainer. She helped other women just
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  Speaker 1: as she had once been helped.
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  Speaker 2: Nirikshana Asseid was also able to help Laxmi's three children
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  Speaker 2: go to school. The workers at the clinic were able
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  Speaker 2: to watch Laxmi's children grow up. Two of the children
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  Speaker 2: went to school and became nurses. The other child went
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  Speaker 2: to college and got a job in the financial industry.
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  Speaker 1: For years, Nirikshana Asset fought through the worst of the
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  Speaker 1: HIV AIDS crisis in India. Slowly people got better. According
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  Speaker 1: to a Nuja Juswall, senior assistant editor at the Times
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  Speaker 1: of India, Niyikshana Asset and other clinics and hospitals around
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  Speaker 1: India are now winning the war against AIDS.
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  Speaker 4: Juswall wrote, AIDS related deaths have dropped eighty one percent
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  Speaker 4: since two thousand and ten. This is one of the
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  Speaker 4: biggest drops globally. New HIV infections have fallen by almost
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  Speaker 4: forty nine percent. This places India ahead of what is
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  Speaker 4: happening in the rest of the world.
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  Speaker 2: The word Nirikshana means hope, but it is a special
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  Speaker 2: kind of hope. It is the type of hope that
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  Speaker 2: expects things to improve. It is a confident hope for
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  Speaker 2: the Sunethas and their faithful workers at Nierikshana said they
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  Speaker 2: offer this hope to their patients every day. Their patients
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  Speaker 2: believe they will not die tomorrow, they will be healthy,
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  Speaker 2: they will live to see their children grow up.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever known someone with HIV, AIDS or leprosy?
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  Speaker 1: Did you spend time with them? Have you always felt
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  Speaker 1: comfortable around them or did it take time to adjust?
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  Speaker 1: You can leave a comment on our website at www
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  Speaker 1: dot Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us
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• 12:38
  Speaker 1: get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
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  Speaker 2: was Mitcheo Ozarki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 2: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This episode is called
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  Speaker 2: nierik Shanna Asset, a place of confident hope.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight episode. Goodbye,