Keeping the light burning

In the ‘Shine On’ vocational centre, at the Snehadaan in Bengaluru, young HIV-infected patients make scented candles for a living

Photos: Fr. Biju Joseph. A scented candle. Photos by Pushkar V 

By Shevlin Sebastian

On a recent morning, when Suresh BM awakens, he feels a sense of sadness. He has no memory of his parents. The family had lived in Idukki. But when he was in the kindergarten class, both his parents passed away. His father, a labourer, had AIDS. He infected his wife. Among the three children, all of them boys, only Suresh, the middle child, was infected.

The 21-year-old gets out of bed in his room at the Snehadaan at Bengaluru and looks at his mobile. There is one photo of his parents. His father, dressed in a white shirt and mundu, with black moustache and beard, is sitting on a chair, cradling his chin with his fingers. He looked unsmilingly at the camera. His mother, who had jet-black hair, wore a blue saree and had small earrings. She was also unsmiling. ‘I don’t know them,’ he thinks.

Soon, he looks at his watch. It is time to get ready. At 9 a.m. he walks across to the ‘Shine On’ vocational centre which has a candle-making unit. There are four other boys present, along with Uma, a widowed mother of a five-year-old. All of them are HIV infected patients.

Work begins. They put a container with water on a gas stove. Inside it, they place a saucepan which contains wax. “This is called double boiling,” says Suresh. “If you melt the wax directly a part of it becomes vapour and we lose quite a bit of wax.”

To melt one kilo takes 30 minutes. When it is in liquid form, crayons are put in. This provides the different colours like red, green and blue. Following that a liquid perfume is added. These include fragrances like lavender, peach, strawberry and lemongrass. Thereafter, the wax is poured into different mounds and left to dry.

The candles are used as return gifts at weddings, schools and corporate events. It is also used in churches during festivals like Easter and Christmas. And the demand is high. The designs are eye-catching and pleasing. Many are in the shape of flowers and trees, while others are tubular or circular-shaped.

And founder/director Fr. Biju Joseph, of the Order of St. Camillus, is happy. Many youths from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, started coming to the centre for HIV treatment. “Some of the youngsters, mainly from Kerala, are orphans,” says Fr. Biju. “I felt that I should provide some employment opportunities for them.”

It was while discussing this with colleagues and well-wishers that somebody suggested a candle-making unit because of its low capital investment. And that was how ‘Shine On’ was started in August, 2017.

Even as the youths work, they continue to be on Antiretroviral Therapy. These are the tablets which are taken to fight the AIDS virus. “They have to take it every day,” says the 40-year-old priest. “This will keep the virus dormant. If they maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly, the boys can live for a long time.”

But once every three months, they have to take a blood test to ensure that their CD4 count does not go below 300. (CD4 are white blood cells that fight infection. When the virus attacks the immune system, the number of these cells goes down. When the CD4 count goes below 200, a person is diagnosed with AIDS. The normal range is between 500-1500).

Meanwhile, despite the stress of knowing that he has the virus inside him, Suresh is happy. “I feel a sense of satisfaction with the work that I do,” says Suresh, who provides the designs on many of the candles.

But there is a crisis of confidence every now and then. He admits he is afraid to go out and live on his own. “I am worried about how people will react if they come to know that I am HIV-infected,” he says. Suresh has been living on the campus for the past five years. His colleague Mohan has been there for three years.  

At 4 p.m., work comes to a halt. After a quick tea, they go out to play badminton, soccer or cricket. “I feel relaxed when I play,” says Mohan. At night, Mohan lights a candle and prays to God to protect him. 

(Some names have been changed)