CteiiI lost my parents at an early age and was looked after by my paternal uncle. I felt abandoned and rejected. I was left with no say, no control over my life. I had a very lonely childhood. I managed to study upto class X but failed in my final exams. I took to playing football in school and also represented Mizoram in the Inter State Football Championship tournament. I dropped out of school and found belonging in a fraternity of friends and freedom in the unfettered joy of drugs at the age of 16 years. I was into hard drugs – injecting heroin for eight years and tasted more and more of shared syringes and despair. I saw several of my dear friends lose their lives to overdose. But even though I was increasingly sickened with the murky existence, I could still find no way out.
The day of reckoning came, when I visited an NGO (VOLCOMH) and agreed to get myself tested for HIV. The result was HIV POSITIVE. I found it very difficult to accept my status and went into a state of depression. My peers from the Positive Network of Mizoram helped me to realize that “I can and have to be a light for all my other friends who are still in the dark”. I became a member of the Positive Network of Mizoram and started working as Peer Educator under the UNODC CHARCA project offering support to people who run the risk of addiction and could fall prey to HIV/AIDS.
CteiiI have made peace with my past, which I have put behind. “I am satisfied this way, I live for today”.
