Here are two safe places. One in Burma / Myanmar and one in military-ruled Thailand.
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A Rangoon Haven for HIV-Infected Children (Article)
April 20, 2007
By Htet Aung
It was a difficult decision for the grandmother of four-year-old Chit Ko Ko. Since the death of the little boy's mother from AIDS, she had attempted to bring him up. He had been infected with the HIV virus at birth, and his grandmother decided his best chance was to hand him over to an orphanage where he might receive proper medical care. So she set out from their home in Mon State for the long journey to Rangoon.
Many orphanages in Burma are reluctant to take HIV-positive children, but little Chit Ko Ko was lucky. His grandmother found sanctuary for him with the Happy Haven Humanitarian Project, which welcomes infected children. Chit Ko Ko is the 13th to be admitted to the orphanage since it opened its doors in the suburban Rangoon township North Dagon.
It was founded by a group of women social activists led by Than Myint Aung, who is also secretary of the Rangoon-based Free Funeral Services Society.
"The idea of establishing a safe home for HIV-infected orphans in need of special care was born in 2004 when a child was turned away by state-run orphanages in Rangoon when it was discovered he was HIV-positive," Than Myint Aung told the Burmese language journal Weekly Eleven.
Founded on very limited funds, the HHHP has won the support of many prominent figures in Burmese life---such as Ju (aka. Dr Tin Tin Win), Su Htar (aka Dr Htar Htar), Dr Khin May Su, medical superintendent of Shwe Baho Medical Center, and Myint Myint Khin Pe, wife of the famous actor Kyaw Thu, the founder of FFSS.
A staff of six cares for the 13 orphans, and those among them of school age attend classes at the orphanage. Writer and journalist Khet Mar, who works for the monthly magazine Dhana, is among the volunteers who teach the children.
"I feel very sympathetic towards the children," she told The Irrawaddy. "They were so vulnerable and born to poor parents infected with the HIV virus and who died early, leaving their children helpless in this world."
In order to be admitted to the HHHP orphanage, an HIV-infected child must be under 12 and be either a full orphan or living with one parent who is unable to provide proper care.
Though HHHP can currently care for only 13 orphans, because of its limited resources, it plans to expand. Three of the orphans are now receiving antiretroviral therapy from Thazin clinic, funded by Dutch-based Artsen Zonder Grenzen, an international non-government organization operating in Burma.
Burma suffers from an acute shortage of antiretroviral drugs---a UNAIDS report in March 2006 said fewer than 3,000 of the 66,000 HIV patients who needed ART treatment were actually receiving it. Very few infected children are being treated.
"These innocent children who are in need of love, care and attention and who lack their rights should not be ignored," said Than Myint Aung.
Irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
At Home in a Safe House
April 26, 2007
By Kyaw Zwa Moe/Sangkhlaburi, Thailand
HIV/AIDS is the only legacy Khun Song received from her parents. But the nine-year-old girl seems to be unaware of the deadly virus. She smiled as her guardians told me she was HIV-positive. Her parents died soon after she was born.
Fortunately, Khun Song, a cute, quiet girl, is doing well enough, although she has no parents or relatives to take care of her. Any sign of trauma doesn't appear in her innocent face. For all that, she can thank a small safe house run by a Karen woman, Paw Lu Lu, who was among one of the 1,000 women nominees for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
The safe house is in a small village in the district of Sangkhlaburi, in Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, which borders Burma southern states.
Khun Song is one of more than 80 residents of the safe house, which provides shelter mostly for Burmese refugees and migrants who fled their country to avoid political and economic crises.
Paw Lu Lu, 58, founded the safe house in 1993 in response to the sufferings of her own people who were fleeing from Burma to Thailand, particularly those in need of medical care.
"When I saw those patients ignored, I couldn't help but take care of them," the 58-year-old nurse softly explained in her safe house. "Then I started it alone."
Paw Lu Lu had once known the difficulties experienced by the people she now admitted to her safe house. She left her home town, Taungoo, in Burma's Pegu Division, in 1976 and joined the Karen National Union rebel group, which has been struggling for political rights for decades. She worked for the KNU for 10 years.
Twenty two of the residents of Paw Lu Lu's safe house are orphans. She and her staff of 18 (including 10 medics) are also caring for 48 patients and 14 elderly people. Half of the patients are women. The safe house receives food and financial support from a few NGOs. But it badly needs more space and staff.
Seven of the patients have HIV/AIDS. They include Khun Song and another child. More than 100 of the 1,500 patients cared for by the safe house in the past 14 years were HIV/AIDS sufferers.
Some of the safe house patients suffer from mental illness while some are disabled. The Christian Hospital near the safe house provides medical care and medicine if the patients need intensive treatment.
Apart from Mon, Karen and other Burmese, the safe house shelters a few Cambodians, Malaysians and Chinese.
Though the safe house receives help from NGOs, it tries to be self-supporting. Training is given in weaving and sewing, and pigs are reared on the safe house's farmland.
The safe house staff give the children instruction in Burmese, English and Mon. "Some of the children can speak three or four languages," smiles Paw Lu Lu.
The children can now study in Thai schools. Khun Song attends an elementary school near the safe house. She has no idea for her future; no one can predict how it will turn out. But she responds with a smile when she's asked what she wants to be. Her smile is sweet, but it's not sure if her future will shine so brightly as that smile.
Irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
