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"Indian barbers play key role in
combating AIDS"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(28/12/05)
NEW DELHI: Ganga Ram's barber “shop'' is a wooden chair in the shade of a
banyan tree, with a mirror propped against a fence in New Delhi's bustling
Lajpat Nagar market.
A shelf below the mirror holds the tools of his trade: Hair growing potions,
bright green pomades and perfumed hair oils jostle with gilded pictures of
Hindu gods and goddesses. And amid the bottles and brushes sits a small pile
of condoms and booklets on preventing HIV and AIDS.
When men settle into Ram's barber chair for a relaxed haircut or a shave he
has them captive, at least for a short while. That is when Ram begins what
he calls “his real mission'' – to help them avoid the deadly virus that has
infected 5.13 million people in this country of a billion people.
India may be the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, the classic 6th-century sex
treatise, but it is also a deeply conservative society, and discussing
sexual matters is usually taboo. That makes India's chatty, itinerant
barbers a valuable means of spreading the AIDS message.
A unique prevention programme has trained Ram and more than 10,000 barbers
in such basics as sterilising their razors and scissors, and has also
tutored them to promote condom use, recognise the symptoms of AIDS and
answer commonly asked questions about the illness.
“Sometimes men find it awkward to discuss their sexual habits. Then I wait
till their faces are covered with shaving foam, or I've started cutting
their hair, before broaching the topic,'' says Ram with a wry laugh.
Indian barbers have a history of offering more than just a short back and
sides. Traditionally they would travel from village to far-flung village,
giving haircuts to regular customers. As they became familiar figures, they
often would serve as matchmakers for customers' families, and spread news of
births or deaths, and gossip.
Today, all over India, the local barbershop – often little more than a
chair, a mirror and a pair of scissors – is where men gather each day,
reading the newspaper and chatting as they await their turn.
This is where Swiss-based Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, a
health-centred aid agency, saw an opportunity to get the men's attention.
Take the case of Sumeru Mahto. An itinerant construction worker, he moves
around New Delhi a lot but always returns to the same barber for his
twice-weekly shave, and stays to chat.
“This city is crowded with strangers who come in search of work. They have
no families, few friends,'' said Mahto. “You could say the barber is the
closest I have to family in this city,'' Mahto said.
It's this traditional barber's role that the intervention programme has put
to use.
“Often it's not easy. Men are still shy about discussing their sexual
encounters, but I find they tell me things they wouldn't even tell their
wives,'' said Ram. — AP
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