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INTERVIEW - Thomas, Guang
Dong, China |
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| "Being united
in adversities helped us to overcome all hurdles" |
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| How and why did you start
the care home? |
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Since early 2002, I have visited people living with HIV/AIDS
(PLWHA) in hospitals twice a week. I met many PLWHA
and found out that some of them were homeless and in need for
care and support. |
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| How do you see the future
of India in the context of an expanding epidemic? |
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| People donate money to support the Home through my website. |
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| What are the activities and services of
the Home? |
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The Care Home helps intravenous drug users to
detoxify and provide food and necessary medication; create a
supportive environment for PLWHA; provide relevant knowledge
to help them build confidence; provide manual
support to AIDS orphan care projects in Henan province; hold
gettogethers for PLWHA and their family members;
empower PLWHA to take part in the campaign against HIV/AIDS;
organise awareness programmes and training sessions on HIV/AIDS
in universities, prisons, and hospitals; and increase public
awareness on HIV/AIDS to reduce stigma and discrimination. |
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| What is the strength of the health care
providers (doctors, nurses, counsellors, dieticians etc)? |
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Doctors in the local hospital support to the
Home. They visit the inmates twice a month and provide free
medical service.
Q. Does it also have an outpatient unit? Care Home isn't a clinic,
it's a half way house for homeless PLWHA. Recently
with support from UNDP, the care home has become AIDS Care project. |
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| Does it also have an outpatient
unit? |
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Care Home isn't a clinic, it's a half way house for homeless
PLWHA. Recently with support from UNDP, the care
home has become AIDS Care project. |
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| What is the AIDS orphan project? |
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In Henan province, due to the illegal blood collection in
1990s, HIV infection spread in many villages. Many people
died of AIDS-related diseases and their children were orphaned.
The project provides adequate living standards and
education to these orphans. By now, two care homes for AIDS
orphans have been set up and more than 60 children have been
provided support. |
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| About Care Home |
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Established in July 2002, Care Home provides care and support
to homeless people living with HIV/AIDS. Besides
food and accommodation and medical care, the Care Home also
provides basic education on HIV/AIDS to all
members.
In the beginning, the Home faced a lot of obstacles because
of stigma and discrimination. During the first three months,
it was forced to move three times. But the members remained
united in adversity and overcame all hurdles and kept the
home running. In fact, after three months of living in the Care
Home, some of the PLWHA felt truly empowered and
became a part of the GIPA movement.
At the same time, the Care Home also held get-togethers for
all the members and their families. As a result, the family
members began to accept the idea of letting HIV-positive persons
return to their respective homes. By the end of August 2003,
the Care Home had over 20 homeless PLWHA and 10 of them had
been accepted back by their families. |
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| (Thomas is heading a PLWHA self-support group
"AIDS Care" in Guang Dong, China) |
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