Earlier this year, Yashoda got sick and asked us for help. We sent her to the doctor and suggested she get an HIV test. The test turned out positive, and we then went with her to the government HIV clinic to register her there. There, they also did a CD4 test to determine the extent of her condition. After a couple of weeks, the test came back indicating a CD4 count of 303, not low enough to get her started on antiretrovirals based on the government's treatment guidelines.

A week later, Yashoda got sick again and we took her to the private HIV clinic, where she could get admitted for a few days. There, they retested her CD4 count, which came back at 44 and not 303. Since the test takes about a week to process, when we got the results, Yashoda had gone home and we didn't know where to find her.

She eventually came back to the street a couple of weeks later, her feet swollen and complaining of a fever, fatigue, and general malaise. We admitted her again to the private clinic, where she stayed for about three weeks, and where she was put on antiretrovirals and other medication.

Yashoda returning beans to the bean seller

After falling ill yet again, we took her once more to be admitted to the hospital. This time, she refused to stay, insisting to be taken home to her village. We took her there, which is where she passed away a week later. She may have known that she was going to die, we don't know, but she talked about wanting to be at home in the end. And, in the end she was where she wanted to be. Yashoda is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, a sister, a brother, and her mother.