The target group for this project is for 30 orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS and/or children whose mothers are living with HIV/AIDS. Twenty-six of the children are HIV positive while four are children affected by AIDS.

The Ministry of Public Health estimates that 1,200,000 people all across Thailand have been infected with HIV since the first AIDS patient was reported in 1984. Among them, 320,000 have died and 880,000 are currently living with HIV and AIDS. Among those infected, 55,000 will develop serious AIDS related complications requiring medical care this year. Approximately the same number will die of AIDS. It is also estimated that 29,000 new infections will occur this year. Half of these are women who will get the virus from their husbands or sex partners. Twenty-five percent will be infected through drug use, 20 percent of the infected will be sex workers and their clients, and five percent will be children.

From 1984 to the end of 1999, HIV/AIDS in Thailand spread through people with different high-risk behaviours. During this initial period, the accrued number of patients with AIDS was 131,396 of which 36,312 people died of AIDS. The greatest rate of HIV/AIDS infection occurred in people between 25 and 29 years of age. Young employees and factory workers were the most vulnerable to be infected by the virus. The main method of transmission during this period was sexual relationships.

The present Thai society has seen an ever-increasing number of people infected with AIDS. The highest infection rate is found in intravenous drug users and sex workers. Over half of the former and one third of direct sex workers were found HIV positive in June 1997. In some villages, all members of the village are infected with the virus. Most of them are young people. This infection has now completed an entire cycle and has entered into the family environment. The infection rate among teenagers has increased to seventeen percent.

Thailand is facing a huge increase in the number of orphans. A UNAIDS report said that in 1995 there were 63,000 children that had lost their parents to AIDS. In 2001 the number of AIDS orphans increased to 289,00 and it has predicted that there will be 380,000 AIDS orphans by 2005. This figure may be much higher as some people in Thailand are not included in the census but still form part of the HIV/AIDS affected communities.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand needs to be fought on three fronts: prevention of infection, reduction of HIV transmission from mother to child, and care of AIDS patients. The government is not in a position to initiate programs in all the above important areas due to the financial and economic crisis that has crippled the country since 1997. Part of the solution is cooperation and assistance from the private sector.

The children who are the victims of this AIDS epidemic pose serious problems to the Thai society. Some children infected with HIV became orphans when their fathers and mothers died of AIDS. Some are orphans because their relatives could not take care of the additional burden. Others are orphans because their relatives were reluctant or refused to take care of them. Consequently, they have no one to take care of them. They lack the love and warmth they would have received from their natural families. They do not have an opportunity to get an education. If these children grow up, they will certainly become a burden and may even become a critical problem to the society.

If they have nowhere to go, what will they do? The Thai government does not have a clear policy or action on this issue. The children cannot just walk into an orphanage because they will certainly be rejected especially since if they are found to be HIV positive. NGOs taking care of orphans do not accept children with HIV/AIDS because they do not know how to take care of children with this specific condition. The government and the NGOs prefer to rely on a policy of letting the children with HIV/AIDS live with their relatives or parents.

The Camillian Social Centre in Rayong (CSC) was founded to tackle some of the problems related to HIV/AIDS. CSC provides a home, gives assistance and care to orphans and other children affected by HIV/AIDS. The staff at CSC considers the children who are infected by HIV/AIDS to be valuable human resources of the country. CSC provides accommodation, meals and the basic medicines necessary for the continued existence of orphans living with HIV/AIDS and of the children that have been adversely affected by HIV/AIDS.

A childcare centre is set up to accommodate and care for children whose parents died of AIDS or are living with HIV/AIDS at CSC. Due to the serious problem of HIV infection, orphans who have lost their parents because of AIDS and who are also infected with the virus are referred to CSC because they are abandoned. The children with HIV/Aids parents are accepted so that they will be able to live with their parents until their last day. This is one way to promote family atmosphere, which is helpful for psychological well being of the children. The front building of the Centre serves as an accommodation and classrooms for AIDS orphans. Working with children living with HIV, whose parents have died of AIDS or are staying at CSC, began in May 1998. The childcare centre was officially opened with a religious ceremony in November 1999.

The staff get to know the children intimately and attempt to provide what the children need for their psychological well being. Special tutors and babysitters provide literacy classes appropriate to the children’s ages and conditions. These classes help the children to read and write, develop self-discipline and prepare them to attend regular schools. This will enable the orphans who are HIV positive and children affected by HIV/AIDS to live as other healthy children. They will grow up to be capable adults able to live with other people and become an asset to the society.

CSC childcare centre now cares for 30 children. They are all from very poor families; some were rejected and/or abandoned when they were in the final stages of AIDS and eight of these children have died. The children are now all given medicine, especially anti-retroviral medicines to prolong their life. The anti-retroviral medicine is a gift of life. The children are quite weak and it is difficult for them to go to regular schools. They are provided with literacy classes so that when they grow up they will be able to read and write. These classes will also enable them to get a formal educational qualification that can be used to find jobs in the future.

Our objectives are:

1. To provide and promote a good family atmosphere for orphans with HIV and children affected by AIDS
2. To develop the children’s psychological and social well being.
2. To provide children who are powerless and unprotected with security in their lives.
3. To enable orphans with HIV and children affected by AIDS to live a normal life.
3. To provide an education to the children so that they will obtain the necessary knowledge to lead productive lives as adults
4. To develop the children as good human resources for society and assets to the country.
5. To motivate families and society to be aware of the significance of the adverse effects on families, children and youth from risk behaviours that lead to HIV infections.

The following is a list of activities in the CSC childcare centre: childcare, literacy classes, tutoring, outings and excursions, medical treatment.

CSC takes care of 30 children. Twenty-six are HIV positive while four are children affected by AIDS.

1. To extend love and warmth to the children.
2. To provide the proper food necessary for their ages.
3. To enable the children to take care of themselves and help others.
4. To guide the children to adulthood, and
5. To enable the children to live their lives as a member of the society.

CSC provides the children with shelter and meals. Two baby sitters are assigned to take care of these children as nannies. The two are also HIV positive and so understand the pain that the children must endure. At the child care centre, the boys and girls have seperate bedrooms and each is equipped with six beds. In the morning, the nannies wake the children up, ensure that they bathe and dress, and cook breakfast for them. To promote a family atmosphere, the children have their lunch and dinner in the CSC common dining room together with the adults who are living with HIV/AIDS. The nannies take care of the children again in the late afternoon from the time the children finish their classes until they go to bed. At night, they take care of any sick children; as many of them are weak because of the virus. They also take care of giving medicine that is prescribed by a part-time nurse and medical doctors to the children. Once a week, the nannies will conduct a check-up to monitor health conditions of each child.

The children are assigned domestic chores as part of their disciplinary formation. This is necessary to help the children feel at home, become self-sufficient, and develop a sense of responsibility, which will be beneficial to them when they grow up. Domestic chores are also necessary for the children to have physical exercise to keep them physically strong to counter their sickness.

Education is very essential in life. To lead a good life and survive in society one needs to get an appropriate education. Children affected with HIV have great difficulties getting an education. The parents of HIV positive children dare not take them to school. There may not even be a school that will enrol them. Some children began their studies but had to leave their schools because they developed AIDS symptoms. Although the children living here are HIV positive, they are still members of the society. Therefore, education is essential for their future life in society. Realising this need, CSC provides literacy classes for orphans with HIV. CSC provides the teachers and organises classes relevant to their health conditions and ages. We have adopted a child-centred approach so that the children will develop physically, mentally, intellectually and psychologically, and be ready to join formal education system as they grow up.

The objectives of the literacy classes are:

CSC has four children living at the childcare centre who are quite strong. They live with their HIV positive mothers, and though infected by HIV, they attend classes in local schools. As persons living with HIV/AIDS, they are more susceptible to infection than other children so a tutor is made available for the to help with their homework assignments. Tuition is offered on an individual basis during the afternoon or in the evening.

As most of the children living here are children living with HIV, many of them are physically weak and get sick very often. They need medicines to help them recover as soon as possible; otherwise their lives are gravely at risk. This is why the teachers and nannies have to be aware of the health of these children and closely monitor them. A part-time nurse also helps take care of their health. If necessary, they are taken to a local hospital for check-ups by medical doctors. CSC has a good relationship with the local public hospitals.

Being HIV positive, the children need regular blood tests for CD⁴ levels and viral load; the results of these tests dictate their anti-retroviral drug doses. These drugs are essential for the children to prolong their lives. Without the regular medicinal doses, it is most probable that they would develop AIDS symptoms much faster and have a shorter life span.

CSC has adopted an integrated approach to the AIDS question that requires a spirit of teamwork. CSC personnel have regular opportunities for personal development in which they share their experiences, evaluate the overall work and monitor their performances. The kind of work that we do requires understanding, motivation, commitment and dedication. In addition, the work with the children who are orphans living with HIV and children affected by AIDS requires specific skills and experience. Most of the personnel in CSC are persons living with HIV or AIDS. Two teachers are HIV positive and two teachers are persons without HIV. A nanny is also HIV positive while another has not checked her CD⁴ or viral load.

CSC regularly organises sessions for the teachers and nannies to help them reflect on their life and their work. This reflection aims to reinforce their motivation, commitment and dedication. Sessions are regularly held to evaluate the work with the children, their development and condition of their health. The sessions also provide important updated information on AIDS.

Volunteers regularly offer their time to CSC. Volunteers may be local people who will come to the child care centre of CSC regularly, one or two, or more days a week, but stay only for a few hours on each visit; or foreigners who come for a short stay of a few months and help teach the children every day. The volunteers help to ensure that the children have their meals and take their medicine. They may teach some subjects and/or accompany the children in the activities held at the centre or in the neighbourhood. They also help take the children to local hospitals if they are sick, need medical attention or when they have their viral load checks.