Thai Volunteers in Fighting AIDS

When Namani Nangpon became a teacher 13 years ago in Nongboudang School, located in the suburb of Chiang Rai, Thailand, she never heard of AIDS. Certainly she never imagined that her students would die from the terrible disease. Since then the northern area of Thailand, including Chiang Rai, has been hit hardest by AIDS. Here prostitution, drugs and a mobile population have produced a crisis. Health officials estimate that around 10 percent of Chiang Rai's 1.2 million people are infected -- more than five times the national figure.

"I felt the children whose parents were infected seemed to be shied away [from] by other children and I started visiting two nearby villages to inform people there about the knowledge of AIDS. Afterwards, other teachers also followed my steps," she said. Thanks to the efforts of the teachers, all the students in the school now study and play together. "They know some of them have been infected, but they will not detest them," Namani said. When Namani started teaching children and their parents about HIV/AIDS, she said that she never regarded herself as a volunteer, but rather that she was fulfilling her responsibility as a teacher. "Before you tell them how to live with AIDS patients and their children, you must teach them what AIDS is and how the epidemic infects people. Changing behaviors of villagers is an important method to prevent the AIDS, but it is not easy; only knowledge can give them strength," she said. "Children with AIDS-infected parents must be able to go to school [like] other children. We cannot cure their parents, but we can prevent them from [becoming infected]," said Namani.

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