Budhathoki, 28, and Dangol, 31, got acquainted while growing up in the streets and have been living as husband and wife for over 12 years. [break]
The little space in front of Bishwajyoti Cinema Hall at the heart of Kathmandu had been their refuge for long. They have been scavenging, picking plastic bags from garbage heaps and selling them to scrap dealer, to eke a living. They cook food burning anything that may substitute firewood.
Budhathoki has given birth to four kids -- all delivered in the streets. “I had gone to the Maternity Hospital in Thapathali to deliver the fourth,” she says pointing to her 10-month daughter, “But they threw me out after knowing that I was HIV positive.”
The illiterate duo knew of the infection after a nongovernmental organization (NGO) representative took their blood sample for test.
“We did drugs during our adolescence and used syringes discarded by drug addicts,” she explains. Her rickshaw-puller father was also an HIV patient and died of tuberculosis last year.
Her sons, aged 11 and 10, luckily tested negative but they have yet to know if the disease has spared their three-year-old daughter and the last kid. The NGO which tested them for HIV and others who spend millions in the name of HIV-infected have done nothing for the couple.
Their earnings have dwindled in the recent past as Dangol has contracted tuberculosis and have to walk to Bangemuda daily for DOTS (directly observed therapy, short course) while Budhathoki has to look after her youngest daughter. Luckily an orphanage took charge of their sons around a year ago and a relative of Budhathoki has been raising the three-year daughter. But their deteriorating health has made it difficult for them to earn two square meals a day.
Budhathoki´s body has swollen from cold and her 10-month daughter is also unwell. “The money is hardly sufficient for food and we can not afford to buy medicines,” she says. The couple used to sleep in a public toilet built by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) in front of the cinema hall but now have nowhere to sleep as the toilet has been brought down.
They have two cooking pots, a plate and a glass as kitchen utensils. “We usually take turns eating. Sometimes we even share from the single plate while one of us eats from the pots,” she says. They run with the daughter to search for shut shutters to seek shelter when it rains. “We often have to sleep on empty stomach when it rains as we cannot light fire. We have eaten under-cooked food,” she reveals.
The security police of KMC regularly threaten them to leave the place but they have nowhere to go. They hope the government, NGOs or some kind an individual would fulfill their dream of having a safe shelter. “If not for anything else, we can at least bring our sons from orphanage for Dashain if we can find a room,” she wishes.
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