Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - December 1, 2006
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
Every day after class, a group of these boarding school students in Lop Buri's Nong Muang district gather in the school yard for a four-hour-long training session.
The team's goal is to win the final round of the annual national school league.
"I hope that one day I will become a national football player. That would allow me to make enough money to take care of my parents," said Saranyu Guirum, a 15-year-old MS 3 student.
Sudjai Hassanam, 13, said she wants to be as good as Steven Gerrard - her favourite English football player. Saranyu and Sudjai are among three dozen boys and girls who belong to the Ratprachanukroh 33 football club, set up mainly to help sports-minded and talented students whose parents contracted HIV/Aids and cannot afford to support their children, said Pra Khru Alongkot Dikkapanyo, the abbot of Wat Phra Baht Nam Phu, a famous hospice for severely-ill Aids patients.
"Our club, however, is also serious about training these youngsters to become professional football players," said Pra Khru Alongkot, founder of the five-year-old junior football club.
In Thailand, most HIV-positive people still face discrimination in the workplace although the country has been campaigning for more than two decades to end the social stigma. Discrimination in the workplace has caused financial problems for the families of HIV/Aids patients.
This holds their children back from reaching their academic and sporting potential.
However, the football team was not only about sport, said the abbot. The team comprised both students whose parents are HIV-positive, and those who are not. The fact they trained and played together helped promote mutual understanding and awareness between children from normal families and those from families with HIV/Aids patients.
"The younger generation should know that people living with HIV/Aids can live a normal life. They can work and carry out any activity, just like us. We are starting to eradicate the Aids stigma from society," he said.
Headmaster Prawase Tangchandaeng, deputy school director, said educating children about Aids was an important part of the teaching at his school.
The school has also been holding study trips to Wat Phra Baht Nam Phu, about one hour's drive away by car, to give students a first-hand look at how the temple deals with Aids victims.
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