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She dug into the hot curry nonchalantly. She seemed completely
at ease with the crowd in the humid dining hall, mingling
with doctors, researchers and members from NGOs during the
recent 4th International Conference on AIDS INDIA organised
by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. Indeed,
Countess Albina du Boisrouvray seems to know more about women
with HIV infection and orphaned children across the globe,
from South Africa, to the backwaters of Uruguay and to the
sands of Rajasthan, than many natives. Albina is the founder
president of Association Francois -Xavier Bagnoud (AFXB) with
its headquarters in Switzerland. At the Chennai conference
she was honoured with the "Life Time Contribution Award"
for "fighting the AIDS pandemic and caring for AIDS orphans
and vulnerable children." In India, AFXB operates in
all the 35 states and union territories. This summer, she
was also on the TIME magazine as one of the "heroes"
who have made a difference through their work.
Talk about orphaned children left behind by parents with
AIDS, or abandoned by a cruel society, and Albina's face lights
up with passion. It has been a long journey indeed for her
from the luxury of chateaus, jet-set parties to working among
the poor and the deprived. A French countess, journalist and
movie producer, Albina's life changed forever when in 1986,
her 24 year old son Fr
ançois-Xavier Bagnoud, a helicopter rescuer, died
in an accident in Mali. Shattered, she contemplated suicide.
But then, she thought she would be a "wimp" if she
did so. "My son was a rescue pilot, my job was to carry
on his work at a different level, of rescuing people in distress,
of course, within my capacity," Albina decided.
As a college-student in Paris Albina was a part of the 60s
Leftist student movement. Later, she was exposed to the huge
health problem because of AIDS looming ahead through association
with Jonathan Mann, who was known for his work on the effects
of health policies on human rights, particularly in the field
of HIV/AIDS. She had also worked with the famed "Doctors
of the World". All these influences lay dormant and now
found a way to express themselves through her work.
In 1989, Albina sold off three quarter of the large fortune
she had inherited from her father and launched AFXB with a
global mission to assist AIDS orphans and abandoned AIDS/HIV
children. "Everybody has a lobby, but not so the children,"
she says with feeling. She started out by establishing shelter
homes for them. By 2010, UN experts estimate that the number
of orphans will reach 106 million, around 25 per cent of them
AIDS orphans. Today, with 87 projects in 17 countries, AFXB
fights AIDS, prostitution and child labour, while supporting
health, education and human rights.
Changes came in other experiences too. In 1990 Albina went
to Africa. "There I sat in a village in Uganda, looking
at the women, many of them widows of AIDS afflicted husbands,
and their children, stigmatised, poor." The women didn't
beg for charity, they wanted money to buy cows, so that they
could sell the milk, and seeds to grow vegetables to feed
the orphans. "I knew about the micro-credit revolution
in Bangladesh, and wanted to mould the idea to local needs,
AIDS is a different story as you know, and started by giving
grants from the fund to the women. They are much better at
repaying than men any day." Just throwing money to charity
is wrong, Albina feels, one must go to the roots and try to
find a solution. "Today these women are so self-assured
that it's a pleasure to observe them. Do you know , they are
known as FXB widows in the countryside today?" Albina's
laughter has a hint of pride.
In mid 90s Albina's Indian journey began. "Even that
early I realised through my work that India was going to face
a big health problem due to HIV/AIDS, especially because of
the huge population. There would be orphans, people needed
to be educated." But she didn't have a clue where to
begin. "Well, I knew about Goa . I could approach the
Catholic sisters and priests who ran schools and they helped."
However, when she wanted to talk about sex education, it was
not very welcome. Later she started a shelter for children
for sex workers and the work began.
A fortunate meeting with a doctor from Rajasthan, who was
working in the US, helped her to begin her work there, at
first by starting a day shelter. Now it covers 180 villages
in Rajasthan. Today, Albina says, there is a political will
to fight the disease in the country. Of course, the level
of efforts differ from state to state, but in places like
Tamil Nadu it is particularly strong, she observes.
"I see health as a part of human rights, a part of child
rights," Albina says, "There's so much to do. But
as I look at the women and children on field trips I get the
energy to go on."
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