Baan Pak Rak Peun AIDS Home

I remember a decade ago, there was a lot of talk of AIDS in Thailand.  It was Armageddon and Doomsday and visions of an epidemic that would threaten the world.  That was ten years ago.  Today there is very little discussion about AIDS in Thailand.

I am going to visit the Baan Pak Rak Peun AIDS Home and decide to check what happened.  Why did the warnings, the debate on how to raise awareness, the sense of emergency just sort of die out?

What I learn is that Thailand is one of the few developing countries where public policy has been effective in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS.  Various state sponsored programs have helped to reduce the numbers of new HIV infections every year from 140,000 to 12,000 in less than ten years.  Yet, an estimated 610,000 Thai people are living with HIV today, which means almost 1% of the total population.  Every year around 30,000 die of AIDS.  And, unlike in most other countries, the majority of the infected are women, not men (ratio 7:5).

Sometimes statistics help.

Sure, the Thai authorities have done an incredible job – although experts now warn that the lack of discussion that followed might lead to a new wave of the epidemic – but 610,000 individuals, 440,000 women, that is simply an awful lot of people.  Living with HIV and AIDS.

The Baan Pak Rak Peun AIDS Home was set up in 2006 by Khun Meow, who was donated a house from the family of a Christian businessman in Pattaya, where she could help local HIV/AIDS patients with accommodation, nutritious food, health care, rehabilitation and access to ARV (antiretroviral) medicines and transport to hospital.

“Khun Meow herself is sick”, Alana Clarke tells me in the car on the way there.  “She is much better now, though.  She used to be ever so thin.”

Alana is the PILC contact for the home and she has been kind enough to come with me.  Her comment reminds me of another thing I read: The ARV therapy that every infected person is offered free of charge in Thailand (if they have the right identity documents) has prolonged the lives of those living with HIV and delayed the virus from progressing to AIDS.  This has significantly reduced the number of people dying of AIDS.  People get sick, and then they get better again.  Today one can live a long time with HIV and AIDS.  But what happens when you are ill?

“Then you come here”, Khun Meow smiles.  She does smile a lot, this tall, lovely lady with round spectacles, long chestnut hair and colourful loose-fitting dress.

A big personality.  Humour.  Heaps of energy.

We are sitting in one of the two rooms of the house.  This one has three bunk beds and houses six.  All the ladies, except two, are here, listening in on our conversation.

“At the moment we are 7 ladies here, between ages 30 and 44″, continues Khun Meow, “and one man, who works as my assistant.  And one child.”  She points to the 6 year-old girl sitting on the floor.  “Her father passed away from AIDS, her mother is a drunk, so we let her stay here.  We give her food and shelter and support for school.  Her name is Mai.”

Mai looks at us with big serious eyes, she knows we are talking about her, but not why.  Khun Meow makes her come and sit with her.

“We can house up to 12 ladies, though”, she adds, “and neither I, nor our assistant is paid.  We are paid from our hearts and by the love of God.  We are all Christians, you know.”

I ask how long a woman will stay at the home and Khun Meow tells me that 6 months to a year is normal, but that it can be longer, depending on infection.

“They can stay as long as they want, until they get healthier and can look after themselves.  Then we help them to get jobs and go back to society.”

At the moment there are two patients with Tuberculosis (TB).  They live in the second bedroom.  TB has become an increasing problem in Thailand with 60 new cases per 100,000 people every year.  Approximately 7.6% of the TB-patients are co-infected with HIV, which makes treatment more difficult for both diseases.

“Here we provide for their basic needs and help them to get medical treatment.  These women are in too bad shape to manage on their own and they can’t get that anywhere else”, says Khun Meow.

I think I am getting the picture: Every Thai person with HIV and AIDS has access to free medicines and medical care, but who will look after them when they get too sick?

Khun Meow agrees:

“We save lives here.  I only wish we could do more, but how can we, when every month we are ten thousand baht short?”

The home receives regular donations from the Mercy Centre, the Tamar Centre, The Life Centre Foundation, The Senior VP of Detac, the PILC (3,000 baht/month), as well as being part of the PILC funded Food Drops.

“We would like to open an HIV/AIDS Centre where people can come for information and help.  And a second home in the central part of Thailand.  We have so many plans, so many ideas, but right now we can’t even make ends meet here.  Sometimes Christian people will donate a few hundred baht here and there, but we can’t count on it”, she says and bounces to her feet to see us out, a smile on her face again.

It is amazing how she manages to keep her spirit so high.  But then, as she says:

“We are all part of the creation of God and we are happy, so happy in our hearts to be living with that love.”

The Baan Pak Rak Peun AIDS Home is looking for steady sponsors.  If you are interested call [PILC member] Alana Clarke.

Elisabeth Gilek