Essays: Hope for the Hopeless: A Story of AIDS in Thailand

Thailand's AIDS prevention has been revered as one of the most efficient models in Southeast Asia. By using public-education and safe-sex promotion in the red-light districts, Thailand drastically reduced the number of people being infected with AIDS in the last ten years. Today, however, the epidemic has shifted from sex workers into the everyday society: teens, mothers, fathers, and children. In addition to these trends, the HIV infection rate has increased dramatically within intravenous drug users, the youth, and the homosexual populations throughout Thailand. "I see AIDS as being a continuous problem. I don't see how AIDS is really going to stop, because there are still people who are HIV positive and don't know that they are HIV positive, and have lots of partners without knowing they are spreading the infection", stated Usanee Janngeon, Health Coordinator for Mercy Centre in Bangkok.

Forty children run through the hallways of the Mercy Centre as they return from school on a sunny afternoon in March. They put their backpacks away, take showers, and end the day by lazily watching television, playing in the courtyard, or creating pieces of artwork with a collection of colored pencils and crayons. Located in Klong Toey Slum, in Bangkok, Thailand, the Mercy Centre is a safe haven for these orphans, who were rescued from life on the street in the slums. Their lives seem like those of any others at first glance, but most of these bright-eyed children have been orphaned by AIDS. They have to deal with the stigmas, health problems, and emotional struggles that accompany being a child with AIDS in Thailand. At 5:30 every evening, the children line up at the nurse's station to take their daily dose of antiviral medication. Donated by the Thai government, the medication gives these children a chance at the future, which the Mercy Centre is taking an active role in planning for. According to Usanee Janngeon. "They will have a bright future, there will be medications for them, they are a very strong set of children, they are very determined, they are healthy, and we are planning now with our work for their future. We are planning what they are going to do when they finish the sixth grade. We are planning which university they are going to go to. Really, the children who are living at the Mercy Centre are our family. Many people have asked me how long do you think they will live, and I really hate that question. For me I think What are we going to do with their future, how are we going to help them?, instead of when they are going to die. Boys and girls living at the Mercy Centre, whether they are HIV positive or not, are treated as any other children - the same."

Three hours north of Bangkok in the quiet town of Lopburi is the Buddhist temple, Wat Prabat Nampu, that is dedicated to helping adults who are HIV positive. The temple, run by monks who are also all HIV positive, was founded in 1992. Like the Mercy Centre, Wat Prabat Nampu is dedicated to helping HIV positive people and getting them back out into society. The hospice has grown tremendously in the past 13 years, but it still has a very rudimentary feel to it. The houses surrounding the hospice are full of HIV positive patients who spend their days doing chores around the temple grounds and living their lives to the fullest. Most of the patients who arrive at the temple are merely left at the front gate by family or friends, sometimes not ever being visited again. Although the Thai people are becoming more educated about living among HIV positive people, there remains a lot of fear among the Thai population. Organizations such as Wat Prabat Nampu encourage tourists to visit their museums and walk through the hospice to promote more understanding and awareness among the general population to combat the stigma surrounding AIDS. Each day between 50 and 100 visitors can be seen walking through the temple grounds.

Despite the grim circumstances that the patients and orphans at Wat Prabat Nampu and the Mercy Center are faced with, there is hope for the future. The patients are lucky to have medication available to them, medical care, and a professional staff dedicated to their futures. Thailand is slowly becoming more educated and understanding to the dangers and risks of living with family members and friends who have AIDS. With better medical care and the availability of anti-viral medication, children and adults alike are planning their futures and even re-entering society when they are well.

View the story at zReportage.com

An AIDS orphan takes a shower at the Mercy Center on Wednesday, January 24, 2006, in Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok, Thailand. The orphans at the Mercy Centre are taught discipline and are expected to perform daily chores on their own. “If we don’t start teaching them disciplines, then what are they going to do when they grow up. You have to make your own beds, brush your own teeth, you have to do certain things yourself,” stated Usanee Janngeon, the Health Coordinator at the centre.
  
A transgender walks past potential customers on Patpong Avenue, in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, December 29, 2005.
  
Manikins dressed in condoms is one of many ways local NGO’s are promoting safe sex and AIDS education. In the past ten years Thailand has launched a massive safe sex campaign, which concentrated primarily on sex workers and IV drug users. Although the situation is much better today, AIDS is still largely misunderstood by many Thais and there is a concern that many young adults are continuing to practice unsafe sexual promiscuity. Restaurants such as Cabbages and Condoms donate all of their profits to community development projects.
     
  
Thailand’s AIDS prevention has been revered as one of the most efficient models in Southeast Asia. By using public-education and safe-sex promotion in the red-light districts, Thailand drastically reduced the number of people being infected with AIDS in the last ten years. Today, however, the epidemic has shifted from sex workers into the everyday society: teens, mothers, fathers, and children. Nok, an AIDS orphan at the Mercy Centre, has the lesions on his legs and back cleaned at the Mercy Centre in Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok, Thailand.
   
Both the young and the old are cared for at the Mercy Centre. The AIDS orphans contemplate how to escape the basketball court behind the Mercy Centre on Sunday, January 29, 2006, in Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok, Thailand.
  
an AIDS orphan at the Mercy Center takes her daily anti-viral medication on Sunday, January 15, 2006, in Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok, Thailand. The Thai government donates the anti-viral “cocktails” for all of the patients at the Mercy Centre.
     
  
Girls dance in a Go-Go bar on Patpong Avenue, in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, December 29, 2005.
   
Every week, hundreds of tourists and local visitors stream through the AIDS temple Wat Prabat Nampu outside of Lopburi, Thailand. Although the stigma around AIDS has been improved in recent years, it is still largely misunderstood throughout the country, resulting in the shunning of HIV positive people from families and communities.
   
Monasawee screams in pain as her diapers are changed at Wat Prabat Nampu. She has an infection in her mouth, which makes it hard for her to eat or drink any food. Like many of the patients at the hospice, it is extremely painful to move her legs, and she has little to no control of her bodily functions. Although the situation is grim for many of the patients, the volunteers and workers concentrate on getting the patients healthy and hopefully, someday back into society.
     
  
Two or three patients are bathed at a time on a daily basis by the nurses and volunteers at Wat Prabat Nampu. The temple hospice has limited resources, but the staff, volunteers, and patients do the best with what they have.
   
Two or three patients are bathed at a time on a daily basis by the nurses and volunteers at Wat Prabat Nampu. The temple hospice has limited resources, but the staff, volunteers, and patients do the best with what they have.
   
An HIV positive man displays his tattoos at the Mercy Center in Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, January 5, 2006.
     
  
Approximately ten patients die every month at Wat Prabat Nampu. When the patients die, there is a cremation ceremony held by the Monks at the temple. If the family comes, then the ceremony is held right away. Otherwise, the cremation is postponed until three patients have died.
   
Mike Bassano, a volunteer at Wat Prabat Nampu AIDS hospice, helps Sommchai out of the truck at the Lopburi Hospital on Friday, March 10, 2006. The AIDS hospice does not have an ambulance, but instead uses an old pickup truck to transport patients to the emergency room when their conditions worsen. In addition to having AIDS, Sommchai has a bad case of tuberculosis and hasn't been able to keep any food or water down for the past three days. Despite the grim circumstances many patients face, Bassano has hope for the future and looks at places like Wat Prabat Nampu as places of life instead of places of death.