|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
CAMILLIAN
SOCIAL CENTER, RAYONG
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
Background and Objectives of the Evaluation
1.1
Background and Objectives of the
Evaluation
1.2
Objectives
1.3
Approach and Methodologies
1.4
Participants
1.5
Time-frame
1.6
Expectations
2.
Situation on AIDS and Responses
2.1
Situation on AIDS in Thailand
2.2
Situation on AIDS in Rayong
2.3 Attitudes
and Reaction from the Public and Communities
2.4 Response from Public Sector
2.5 Response from Private Sector
2.5.1
Non-governmental Organizations
2.5.2
Religious Organizations
3.
Background of Camillian Social Centre of Rayong (CSC)
3.1
Founder
3.2
Soon Bantaojai (Relief Centre)
3.3
Camillian Social Centre in Rayong
3.4
Objectives
3.5
Target Groups
3.6
Activities
3.6.1 Caring
3.6.2
Prevention
3.6.3
Nutrition
3.6.4
Child Centre
3.6.5
Network of People Living with HIV
1)
Bantaojai Forum
2) The Eastern Network of the People Living with HIV
3.6.6
Target Groups
3.6.7
Resources
4.
Analysis
4.1
Integrated Approach
of CSC
4.2
Training Approach and Process
4.3
Caring
4.4
Handicrafts
4.5
Personnel
4.5.1
Prevention Team
4.5.2
Chief Executive Officer
4.6
Co-ordination
5
Conclusion and Recommendations
5.1 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations
1.1
Background
Camillian
Social Centre (CSC) is located in Rayong, a province in the eastern part of
Thailand, the hub of the gigantic state-sponsored eastern seaboard development
project. CSC is committed to the
work on AIDS, both in caring of AIDS patients and prevention.
It has officially been opened on January 29, 1997, and implementing
various activities for some years. It
is now in the last phase of its three-year plan of action, which is due to
complete in June 2000. It has got
some financial contribution from Caritas Switzerland.
In
preparing a new project to carry on the work, CSC discussed with Caritas
Switzerland to find out a possibility to seek a financial support from the
latter. Both parties came to a
common agreement that an evaluation be conducted and its recommendations be
taken into account when designing a new project proposal, which should be
completed by June 2000.
In
the face of a need mentioned above, an evaluation process has been prepared and
schedule worked out. The evaluation
exercise has been started in December 1999 with the following details. Back
To The Top
1.2 Objectives
1.2.1
To
assess situation on AIDS in Rayong and CSC’s response.
This
objective is an attempt to assess the situation on AIDS in Thailand and Rayong
and to locate CSC’s response in this situation, particularly in Rayong where
it is located.
1.2.2
To
evaluate how CSC’s operation accomplishes its set objectives.
This
objective will try to assess how the overall operation of CSC accomplishes its
set objectives by looking at various services it provides both at the centre and
elsewhere.
1.2.3
To
draw lessons from CSC’s work and come up with recommendations for planning of
the new phase of the project.
This
objective will try to draw lessons from the work of CSC, its strengths and
weaknesses, as well as proposing recommendations for its operation in the
future. Back
To The Top
1.3 Approach and Methodologies
This
evaluation fundamentally employs a participatory and interactive approach
involving all parties concerned. These
people were involved in individual and collective interview, sharing of ideas,
small group discussion and planning of action.
The
evaluation methodologies include the following.
1.
Individual and collective interview
2.
Documentary research
3.
Small group discussion
4.
Observation in activities
Back
To The Top
1.4 Participants
Participants
who took part in this evaluation are patients, people living with HIV,
volunteers and staff members of CSC, personnel of network organizations, both
public and private, local hospitals, schools, and target groups of CSC
(students, police, factory workers, community leaders), and so on.
Back
To The Top
1.5 Time-frame
December
1999 – April 2000
1.6 Expectations
1)
CSC is able to draw lessons from its past operation, which can be shared
to other organizations engaged in similar work on AIDS.
2)
CSC can formulate its new plan of activities for the next phase, which is
more effective in rendering its services to its beneficiaries and target groups
and relevant to current situation.
2.
Situation on AIDS and Responses
2.1 Situation on AIDS in Thailand
AIDS
in Thailand has spread through different risk groups in an initial period,
started with homosexual men to intravenous drug users, prostitute girls, sex
workers and clients, to housewives, fertile women in general and infants.
The
plan on prevention and control of AIDS was successful to some extent.
It could slow down the rate of infection in risk groups.
However, the rate of infection in women in general is still rising and
the infection area is not limited only in the North as in the first decade when
we first found people with HIV in Thailand.
The rate is also high in several provinces in the Central region. The fast spread of this virus is contributed mainly by a favorable
factor of the modern way of life, especially a switch of economic and
social structure in the country from agricultural sector to industry and
service, which are concentrated in urban centres. This change accelerates a massive migration of rural labor into urban areas, leaving their families behind.
This situation leads to ‘disintegration of family and community’.
People become more individualistic and materialistic. All these are favorable
factors for a fast spread of AIDS.
Thai men are in the risk group to infect the virus and spread it further.
This sexual behavior makes women in fertility age to be a risk group to
infect the virus from their husbands.
From
1984 to November 30, 1999, the number of AIDS patients is 131,396 and 36,312
people died of AIDS. In 1999, there
is a report of 12,927 AIDS patients and 2,781 people died of AIDS[1].
The number of men patients from 1984 to November 1999 is 103,128 and
28,268
are women. The ratio of men to women is 3.6:1.[2]
Concerning age of people having HIV, the largest group is those who are
25-29 years, representing 28.4%, while people at the age of 20-29 are the
largest group of all, representing 66.8%.[3]
It is found that from 1984 to November 1999, the largest group by
profession infected the virus is employees (44.0%) followed by farmers (21.0%),
traders (4.3%), home work (3.0%) and civil servants (2.7%).[4]
Risk factors for the same period include sexual relationship, intravenous
drug using, infection from mothers and blood reception (82.8, 5.1, 4.8 and 0.04%
respectively).[5]
From
January to November 30, 1999, the region with highest rate of infection is the
North followed by the Central, the South and the Northeast[6].
The ratio of the patients per hundred thousands people is 36.3, 28.7,
12.4 and 8.4 respectively. The top
ten provinces with
the highest number of AIDS patients are Payao,
Chiengrai, Rayong, Phuket, Trad, Lampang, Chiengmai, Chantaburi, Lampoon,
Petchaburi and Nakhonpathom. The
ratio of AIDS patients per a population of one hundred thousands is 109.1, 80.3,
70.7, 65.7, 65.3, 63.4, 57.4, 52.4, 51.8 and 40.5 respectively.[7]
Payao
Province has the highest rate in the North (the ratio is 109.1 per hundred
thousands people). Rayong is the
top of the Central region with a ratio of 70.7 patients per hundred thousands. Phuket
is the top of the South with 65.7 patients per hundred thousands and
Ubolratchathani of the Northeast has 14.6 patients.[8]
The
top five diseases that are the causes of death of AIDS patients are
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pulmonary or extra pulmonary (35,390 cases at 26.9%),
Pneumocystis carinii (24,954 or 19.0%), Cryptococcosis (22,1111 cases at 16.8%),
Candidacies (7,094 cases or 5.4%) and Pneumonia recurrent (bacteria) in one year
(4,821 cases or 3.7%)[9]
The
number of people with symptomatic HIV from 1984 to November 30, 1999, is 51,801.
Of this number, 5,424 people died. In
1998, it is recorded that 9,681 people had symptomatic HIV and 853 died (in year
of sickness). In 1999, there is a
report of 4,960 symptomatic HIV people with a fatality of 354 cases.[10]
It is estimated that the number of orphans
under five years old at 7,071 in 1999.
She estimated that there were 51 orphans in 1990 whose parents died of
AIDS and the number continued to rise year after year.
The accumulated number of orphans as of 1999 is 21,321.
For orphans below 12, the accumulated number in 1999 is 59,045.
There are over 300,000 children under 12 whose mothers have HIV while
both the children and their mothers are still alive.
Most children between 5-12 years whose mothers have HIV and are still
alive in the year 2000 will be orphans by the next two years.[11]
Back
To The Top
2.2 Situation on AIDS in Rayong
As
mentioned earlier, Rayong is a province in the eastern region of the country
having the highest number of AIDS patients and people having HIV and it ranks
the third of the country, after Payao and Chiengrai, both of them are in the
North. Rayong recorded a dead toll
of 1,047 and 3,997 AIDS patients from September 1984 to November 1999.[12] The ratio
of AIDS patients per a hundred thousand people in Rayong ranges from 70.68 to
155.67. It records the ratio of
70.68 in 1999, while the highest is in 1996 at 155.67.
The year 1999 marks the lowest, while in the previous years the figures
are over 139.36[13].
Rayong is located in
the heart of the eastern seaboard development project.
This is a mega project on national industrial development producing
mainly for export. The government
initiated this project to attract foreign investments by erecting industrial
estates fully equipped with infrastructures with a good network of roads for
transportation and a deep seaport linking Southeast Asia and the world.
It also provides tax holidays and many other privileges to foreign
investors and local manufacturers producing for export.
This industrial development policy yields at least two outputs.
The first is that local farmers who owned large track of land sold out
their farmland to earn a lump sum of money and became employees in these
industrial estates. The second is
that factories erected in these industrial estates attract massive rural labour,
whose farming activities failed due to the government’s priority on industrial
over agricultural development. Most
of the workers in this region came from other provinces, especially from the
Northeast. The first group of local people who were farmers and sold out
their land to big companies had a lot of money to spend.
Factories workers also had money to spend, especially when they were away
from home alone. In the evening, they liked to go out to pubs and food shops
for a drink. Of course, these pubs
and food shops are like mushrooms in rainy season and offer girls.
Many old men in local communities also went to leisure places for sexual
service, because they had much money from selling out their land, and infected
AIDS. Local informants said most
people in this generation died of AIDS.
The HIV sentinel sero-surveillance
in prostitutes, direct and indirect, young military recruits, blood donors,
intravenous drug users, pregnant women and men having VD check-up in Rayong from
1989-1997, shows that the highest infection rates are found in intravenous drug
users and direct prostitutes respectively.
Over half of the former have been found HIV positive since December 1991
and was as high as 65.63% in December 1995.
One third of direct sex workers were found HIV positive in June 1997.
The highest rate of this group was found in June 1994 when 54.05% were
found HIV positive. Indirect
prostitutes were also in the risk group when HIV positive rate is about 10%
since June 1994.[14]
It is a pity we do not have figures on other groups.
However, social workers at Rayong Provincial Hospital told us that the
risk groups also include fisheries workers.
These people work in the sea for months and occasionally land for a rest.
These workers travel around to different fishing ports.
When they are ashore, they go to sex workers.
In this case, they could infect as well as spreading the virus.
The situation on AIDS
in Rayong is so alarming. An
officer of AIDS desk in the provincial public health office of Rayong said a
whole village of Ta Guan infected the virus.
All the original villagers died of AIDS.
Later, construction workers came to build their camp here.
Again, all the construction workers infected the virus. Another officer of the labour social security desk of the
provincial labour office told us that all members of a village in Mabtapud
infected AIDS. Many of the
informants, especially housewives in two local communities, said local Buddhist
temples had cremation ceremonies of those who died of AIDS almost everyday.
Most of them were young people in the twenties and early thirties.
Back
To The Top
2.3 Attitudes and Reaction from the Public and Communities
The
public and many communities do not accept people living with HIV/AIDS.
They blame AIDS patients that it is them who infect and spread the virus.
It is their mistake and sin and their suffering is sound.
People do not like to mingle with AIDS patients and people with HIV for
fear of infecting the virus, though they do not really understand the disease
and how virus can be infected.
AIDS caring or relief centre or hospices are rejected and driven from
their neighbourhood.
This situation puts pressure on people living with HIV and AIDS patients.
They are severely under stress that they are not acceptable to society at
large, especially in those who are facing economic problem.
Furthermore, the number of service centre for this specific purpose is
not enough to address the problem.
In this situation, some people with HIV and AIDS patients always resorted
to the last choice of committing suicide.
Else, they created problems on society in different patterns.
In
solving problems and impacts of AIDS, a management mechanism is the core of this
operation. In the past, this
mechanism has gradually evolved, especially organizational establishment,
co-ordination and approaches and budget. However,
the solution of AIDS problem is depending on joint efforts that requires
co-operation and collaboration from various parties, therefore, management needs
to be adjusted to cope up with local situation at any given time for effective
operation and outputs.
Many
people, especially target groups in Rayong, do not have a clear and proper
understanding on HIV and AIDS. The
interview shows that many of them hear about HIV and AIDS from television and
newspaper and other campaign materials. Yet,
they did not really know what it was and how it could be infected, and what AIDS
patients look like. They saw AIDS
patients in full-blown symptoms and they were reluctant to see or contact people
with HIV. The also mentioned that
they knew that one way of effective prevention against AIDS was to use condom.
However, they did not realize that they did not know the proper method of
using condom. They only learned
this from the training provided by CSC.
Back
To The Top
2.4 Response from Public Sector
Due
to a worsening situation on AIDS infection, it poses an alarming problem to
Thailand regarding economic and social development. The number of people living with HIV is as high as
700,000-800,000 and these people will develop to their last stage of AIDS in the
near future. Prevention and control
of AIDS is an urgent task and needs to be successfully carried out soonest to
slow down the rate of its spread as well as caring for AIDS patients to live a
normal life in society. It is
obvious that at present, AIDS prevention by giving knowledge to the people alone
is not enough. Therefore, Thai
government is developing tactics and strategies to provide knowledge on behavioral
change and promotion of positive attitudes towards, acceptance of
and sympathy to AIDS patients and people living with HIV.[15]
In addition, there is development of knowledge by promoting research,
especially on AIDS vaccines in Thailand.
The
Cabinet has set up a national committee on prevention and solution of AIDS on
February 16, 1998. This committee
comprises high-ranking officers from different ministries with the Prime
Minister himself as its chairperson. In
addition, a secretariat has also been set up under the Communicable Disease
Department of the Ministry of Public Health.
Its responsibilities are coordinating public and private sectors to set
up a network of social services and counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS
and their families. It will also
co-ordinate with organizations at regional and local levels to design plan of
action at local level. It will
co-ordinate public and private sectors to set up a network to receive complaints
on violation of rights of the people affected by AIDS.
It will co-ordinate with educational and cultural institutions to develop
plan of action to prevent AIDS with social and cultural tactics.
It will co-ordinate with educational institutions to develop mechanism in
research to foster wisdom in local community.
It will co-ordinate with foreign organizations in conducting study and
research with local scholars to give assistance to society.
A focus in the present policy of the
Ministry of Public Health is “human person” as both beneficiary and
self-care agent. In this regard, it
will support family and community as the basic unit for this health care.
It will decentralize its power by coordinating public and private
sector, supporting people and community’s organizations at all levels to take
part in decision-making, choosing a direction and managing local public health.
Its main prevention policy is to change behaviors in risk groups.
The goal of the government in public
health regarding AIDS question is to reduce the rate of new cases of AIDS
infection down 40% by reducing infection rate of 1.5% in military recruits and
1.5% in women who are below 25 with the first pregnancy.[16]
The Ministry of Public Health develops
five programs of action. They are health promotion to prevent and control AIDS, caring
service, support to caring, counseling and buildings for AIDS patients.[17]
The government also sanctioned 8,282.23 million Baht for the years
1997-2001 for this purpose.[18]
In Rayong, the state does not have
clear policy in caring for AIDS patients. It
prefers the patients to stay home and come to hospital for medical treatment of
their complications. Local health
stations, district hospitals and provincial hospitals providing medical care for
AIDS patients who have complications and people living with HIV.
There are also other state agencies concentrating on prevention, like the
provincial office on public health working with local health volunteers and
personnel, the provincial office on labour security and welfare working with
factories to give knowledge to factory workers, and local municipalities that
work with local communities.
The
social workers of Rayong Hospital said with government support it gave 500 Baht
per head per month to AIDS patients provided they had a domicile in Rayong and
they were prepared to be known as AIDS patients to give education to others.
However, due to limited budget it can only support 30 patients. It also has a fund to give support on cost of living of 50
cases.
The
provincial office for labour protection and security has a training program on
AIDS prevention. It also provides
financial support in the form of scholarship for children affected by AIDS and
occupational investment for patients who cannot work in factory anymore and
vocational training. The assistance will be provided to workers both in formal and
informal sectors, provided they could identify their employers who are small
entrepreneurs or factories. In
1999, it has given assistance to 54 children and 20 in 1998. In the previous year, it got a budget of 600,00 Baht from the
Ministry of Labour, but this year, it gets only 150,000.
Back
To The Top
2.5.1
Non-governmental Organizations
In
fighting against AIDS, it is not only Thai government and its health ministry
that are taking care of this work.
There are also other organizations in private sector involved in this
work.
They are non-governmental organizations that are charitable organizations,
foundations, associations, human rights organizations, children organizations,
and so on.
All of them in one way or another tackle the issue of AIDS in different
aspects.
Some of them work exclusively on AIDS, some integrate this work as part
of their whole operation.
According
to a directory of 1999 on NGOs involved in the work on AIDS[19],
there are 91 organizations working in prevention, counseling, caring,
assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS and networking of NGOs and people
living with HIV.
We
do not exactly know how many of them are involved in AIDS work in an integrated
way.
What we do know is that at least seven of them are seven networks of
people living with HIV and at least 12 are umbrella NGOs involved in networking
NGOs working on AIDS.
Among them, there are also international organizations like UNAIDS, which
does not implement activities by itself.
From
my own experience and interview with many people, most NGOs prefer to build up
networks with organizations with concrete activities.
In so doing, they spend most of their time in meeting rooms.
It is especially true with AIDS work that requires personal commitment
and sacrifice.
Many informants told me that there are only four hospices in Thailand.
I personally think there are more, but all of them are small with
capacity to accommodate a small number of patients.
Most NGOs are involved in prevention, which is also an important aspect
of AIDS work.
Since it is not an intention of this evaluation and due to time limit, I
did not try to get much information in this regard.
In
Rayong, there are some non-governmental organizations working on AIDS.
Most of them are involved in prevention with a few also involved in
social welfare of AIDS orphans and families affected by AIDS, like providing
scholarship to the children, loan for occupational development, and so on.
However, there are less than 10 of them.
This number is very small comparing to the alarming situation of AIDS
epidemic in Rayong.
In addition, there is no one doing the work like CSC, especially with an
integrated approach combining caring, prevention and counseling in one place.
They are, for example, Médecin sans Frontière (MSF) giving assistance
and counseling, Ban Samaritan
gives assistance to orphans and those affected by AIDS, an AIDS assistance
centre in Pae giving assistance to community organization, and so on.
Back
To The Top
2.5.2
Religious Organizations
As
of 1999, there are 29 Catholic organisations[20]
involved in the work on AIDS in Thailand. Five
of them are caring for the patients at different stages of AIDS.
They are Shanti Dharma Clara House in Pathumthani, Human Development
Centre in Bangkok, and Camillian social Centre in Rayong, St. Louie and
Camillian Hospital. Thirteen Catholic organizations provide temporary shelter
while the rest are working with risk groups and provide preventive training to
their target groups.
Over
half of these 29 Catholic organizations are concentrated in Bangkok Archdiocese.
Only four are working in Chantaburi Diocese.
The first one is the Rebirth Centre in Bangkla, Chachoengsao Province,
which is working on rehabilitation of drug users.
The second is the Fountain of Life Centre in Pattaya, Cholburi Province,
which is working with sex workers. The
third is Lorenso House in Cholburi, which runs an orphanage and the last one is
Camillian Social Centre in Rayong.
These
organizations are non-profit organization, dedicating to this work with their
religious vocation to help relieve their pain of fellow human beings.
Many of them adopt an integrated approach by rendering counseling service, providing shelter, training and caring of children, as well as caring
for terminal AIDS patients in the same centre.
These organizations have to work hard also to raise fund from Christians
and other people of good will both in the country and abroad to support their
work. All of them are small organizations
with limited budget, except hospitals that are also providing
other health care in general. Their
number is still very small compared to the problem.
These
Catholic organizations are co-coordinating with one another to share experience
and lessons from their work and take common action. This co-ordination and co-operation is done through an
umbrella of Catholic Committee on AIDS, which is an arm of the Catholic
Commission for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers under the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of Thailand.
We
do know that there are also activities on AIDS, especially caring of AIDS
patients, by Buddhists and Muslims. We
know that some Buddhist monks are also giving assistance and care to AIDS
patients. However, we do not know
their number and detail of their activities due to limitation of time for this
evaluation exercise.
Back
To The Top
3. Background of Camillian Social Centre of Rayong (CSC)
3.1 Founder
Saint
Camillus Foundation of Thailand is a legal entity of a Catholic religious
congregation dedicated to the care of the sick. Earlier, most of its members were European missionaries.
Now, it also has some local priests and religious brothers.
Its operates a hospital in Bangkok, homes for lepers and homes for the
elders in the province.
In
running the hospital, under the name of Camillian Hospital, members of this
congregation had to attend to the sick in the hospital, giving them spiritual
services as well as counseling. When
AIDS infection was reported in Thailand, this congregation was also alarmed and
started to discuss how the congregation could address this tragic problem.
The congregation agreed to put its hands on the issue.
However, there was a question who would do the job and how to do it. This question remained unanswered until an Italian patient
came to Camillian Hospital and died of AIDS.
He was the first AIDS patient in this hospital and he was abandoned.
At that moment, Fr. Giovanni Contarin was a resident at Camillian
Hospital. He had to arranged a
cremation of this Italian patient and Wat Sapan, a Buddhist temple in
Phrakhanong, was contacted and accepted to render the cremation service.
This is the beginning of a story that makes Wat Sapan as the only
Buddhist temple in Bangkok that accepts to render a cremation service to the
dead of AIDS patients. All other
temples are reluctant and refuse to do so, for mythical fear of infection and
hesitation of their believers.
After
this, Fr. Contarin contacted Archdiocese of Bangkok to start a relief centre for
AIDS patients. He started a project
in 1992 in Bangkok to cater to the needs of HIV/AIDS patients.
He has been working with HIV/AIDS victims ever since.
He asked for a plot of land in a suburban parish.
Instead of getting the land, he got a suggestion to rent a place as a
trial phase. He then rented a
housing unit in Soi Rawadee, Nondaburi Province.
This place was selected because it was near Bamras Naradoon Hospital, a
public hospital under the Ministry of Public Health.
This hospital cares for AIDS patients in their last stage of life.
As
earlier mentioned, a housing unit in Soi Rawadee was rented to give a temporary
shelter to AIDS patients and to give counselling service to AIDS patients,
people living with HIV and their families.
This place was called in Thai “Soon Bantaojai” or Relief Centre.
Soon Bantaojai literally means a centre of consolation.
It was established in November 1993 with Fr. Giovanni Contarin as its
director and Mr. Wiboonchai Yureun-ngam as its manager.
Mr. Wiboonchai himself had HIV. This
centre worked closely with Bamras Naradoon Hospital, as it always referred AIDS
patients to this hospital for medical treatment.
The
purpose of this centre was concentrated on counseling service for people having
HIV and AIDS patients in their first stage.
The centre wanted to help them have a proper understanding of their
physical conditions and the process of transmitting the diseases as well as to
facilitate them to live confidently and happily in society.
The
need to establishing Soon Bantaojai was to help society get least impacts from
HIV infection problem. The centre
advised them how to take care of themselves and avoid infecting other people.
It also participated in protecting human rights of people having HIV and
AIDS patients resulted from misunderstanding of AIDS problem
that
would lead to discrimination and inappropriate action/behavior towards the
infected.
Regarding
activities, Soon Bantaojai offered counseling service to the infected in order
to enable them to accept and adjust themselves towards the virus they have.
It encouraged them to be able to live with human values and dignity.
It provided information service on HIV/AIDS.
If offered counseling service to family members of people living with
HIV to help them have a proper understanding on HIV/AIDS and be able to live
with the infected comfortably. It
facilitated people having HIV to be able to help themselves and stand on their
own feet. It offered pre-test counseling
and advised anonymous blood testing clinic on request.
If also offered post-test counseling to every case.
It offered temporary residence for the infected people to help them
relieve their anxiety and adjust themselves.
It also provided information service on call for people who are not ready
for personal counseling.
Soon
Bantaojai was located right in the midst of urban communities.
Due to misunderstanding and antagonistic attitudes towards AIDS patients,
the centre met with series of protest. It
was also the target of violent attacks and threat by local community.
The conflict had appeared in newspapers since 1995 when there were
demonstrations, protests and accusations. This
conflict ended up in 1996 when the centre was attacked by explosives and shots
that damaged its building. Through
this confrontation, Soon Bantaojai was thus closed down and moved to a new
location on April 25, 1996. The
work was transferred to a new place in Rayong Province in the eastern part of
the country where Camillian Foundation owns a plot of land donated by a
benefactress some time ago.
Back
To The Top
When
Soon Bantaojai was closed down, a new centre was erected in Ban Huaypong, Tambol
Mabtapud, Amphoe[21]
Muang, Rayong Province. The land
where this new centre is located belongs to Saint Camillus Foundation.
It has got this land as a donation from a Catholic benefactress about 27
years ago. The new centre has got a
name of Camillian Social Centre (CSC) and was officially opened January 29,
1996. The present location has been
chosen because the land is the property of the Foundation.
It has been chosen also because Rayong is the province with the highest
rate of infection in the eastern region and the third in the country as earlier
mentioned. In the province, there
are several industrial estates and a large army of workers, mainly young people
coming from other provinces including foreign workers.
CSC
in Rayong is a relief centre caring for AIDS patients in their terminal stage,
people and orphans living with HIV. It
also runs training sessions for students and factory workers, community members
and civil servants on AIDS and its infection and how to prevent themselves from
this fatal disease. It operates an
intensive care unit for AIDS patients who are helpless and in their terminal
stage of life, wards for AIDS patients, both men and women, who can still help
themselves. It also provides a
dormitory and classes for orphans whose parents died of AIDS and children of
AIDS patients. It provides training
on the knowledge on AIDS, its infection and how to avoid infecting this virus.
CSC
provides basic social services by giving temporary shelter for people with
HIV/AIDS patients who are poor and abandoned by their families and society.
It organises a communitarian setting so that AIDS patients would be in a
familial atmosphere. It gives
medical care of AIDS patients and people with HIV and refers AIDS patients with
complication to local state hospitals.
Back To The Top
3.4 Objectives
CSC
has adopted the following objectives.
1.
To help reduce the pain and impacts of AIDS patients by providing medical
treatment and care to the selected needy people of region 3 (eastern provinces).
2.
To help a group of orphans with AIDS to get medical treatment and
education.
3.
To carry out public education and training programs to introduce
prevention knowledge and skills, and to develop attitude of care and support
towards AIDS patients.
4.
To do outreach and counseling work to safeguard the human rights of
HIV/AIDS patients, to provide community support, and to (build) network with
other HIV/AIDS NGOs in the region and in Thailand.[22]
Back
To The Top
3.5 Target Groups
1.
Adults with AIDS who are poor, homeless and rejected and need care.
2.
Orphans with AIDS.
3.
HIV positive, the effected families and other AIDS patients that stay in
their own houses.
4.
Students and factory workers who receive training and who come from the
provinces of Rayong, Chonburi, Sattahip and Sriracha.
5.
AIDS patients in general, who are discriminated against, and whose legal
or human rights are violated. They
can join the association of HIV+ “The Way, The Truth and The Life”.[23]
3.6 Activities
CSC
has three buildings serving as living quarters for AIDS patients.
The first building accommodates male patients with an intensive care
unit.
The ICU has a capacity of eight beds.
The second building accommodates female patients while the last one
accommodates orphans with HIV.
CSC
has facilities to accommodate 40 patients.
However, at present it accommodates 72 patients.
They are 58 adults and 14 children.
Not all of them live in CSC but some, especially those with families,
live outside in houses rented by CSC.
This group comes to CSC in the morning to work and return in the evening.
The
number of patients changes often because of death.
However, its accommodation facilities are always fully occupied.
When a bed is vacant because a patient died, it will be allocated to a
new comer within a few days, or even on the same day.
As
of September 30, 1999, the total number of people admitted with an average stay
of 20 days is 347.
They are 109 female and 238 male.
The largest group of patients was at the age of 21-30 followed by the age
of 31-40, with a number of 139 and 119 respectively.
They were born in different provinces, the biggest in Bangkok, Rayong,
Chantaburi and Chonburi respectively.
There were also 26 born in foreign countries.
The total number of death is 169 with 118 returning to live in their
families and communities.[24]
In
the caring section, a volunteer female doctor occasionally visiting CSC to give
a care on skin disease to the patients with a volunteer nurse from Médecin sans
Frontière (MSF) and 5 people with HIV help in this section, especially in ICU.
These
five HIV infected people have not got any training in this field, but learned
from their actual practice.
This
section has the following job description.
1. It co-ordinates with state agencies in referring patient