Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - December 1, 2002
Anjira Assavanonda
Grandpa Lad Thanuchan, 70, did not know much about HIV/Aids when it struck his family years ago.
His only son and youngest daughter are today being worn down by the virus, which has already killed their spouses. His second daughter also succumbed to the disease a month ago, soon after her husband's death from the same illness.
Life has become a struggle for Grandpa Lad. Besides looking after his ill children, he has to take care of his three grandchildren born to their HIV-positive parents.
The poor family would have been even more desperate were they not living in Ban Mae Jong Tai in Chiang Mai's Doi Saket district, where community people were willingly giving them spiritual and financial support.
His family is often visited by a group of HIV-infected people, who gather to provide psychological support and counselling for those suffering the same fate.
A fund has been set up by the Taladyai tambon administration organisation (TAO) to help children affected by the epidemic, from which each of his three grandchildren are paid 500-800 baht twice a year. The TAO also set up a committee to empower the community to cope with HIV/Aids three years ago.
That, said his HIV-infected daughter, Ms Thanomsri, has helped improve her life.
She said when she first contracted the virus from her husband seven years ago, it came as a shock. She had no idea how to take care of herself and other villagers were afraid of getting infected.
At the time, three schools refused to enrol her three-year-old son because he had not been tested for HIV, she said. "After he was proven negative, he got a place at a community school. Still, he was despised by some school friends who said he had a mother infected with HIV," Ms Thanomsri said, adding it took some time for the teachers to stop students behaving that way.
Now the situation is very different; with help from the TAO and non-governmental organisations, the lives of HIV-infected people and their families have improved.
Nipa Chomphupa, a field officer of CARE-Chiang Mai, said she has been working closely with the local committee on Aids which conducts regular meetings to work out plans to enhance community participation in helping infected people. The committee comprises 25 representatives from the TAO, HIV-infected groups, village headmen, local doctors and people from various professions.
Activities include training for teachers to correct their attitude towards HIV/Aids, an annual campaign to prevent the spread of the virus, a home visit programme to give spiritual support to sufferers, and social events in which HIV-infected and non-infected people can participate.
Suwan Kamrin, ex-chairman of the committee, said however that the work was not completely successful as there were still many sufferers who chose to hide their status. He said that for children whose parents died of HIV/Aids, there was financial aid for them twice a year until they finish compulsory education. Currently, 18 children are in the list, including the three in the Thanuchan family.
Mr Suwan recalled the day when he visited a seven-year-old girl whose mother had recently died, to give her money. "Despite having lost both parents, she smiled so innocently, and we knew in our hearts she was another soul we could not abandon and must take care of," he said.
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