Thailand: Aids battlers roll with punches (AEGiS) -
Aids battlers roll with punches
Bangkok Post - January 4, 2010 Achara Ashayagachat
http://www.aegis.org/news/bp/2010/BP100101.html

While scores of middle-class Thais complain about empty pockets and hardship, many underprivileged people are steadfastly setting about their quest to achieve happiness in the Year of the Tiger.
Mia (not her real name) could not afford to embrace the festive mood of the New Year like other people. The 29-year-old HIV-infected mother of two had to help her handicapped husband collect rubbish and recyclable items for sale.
She quit her job at a hotel in Khao Lak, Phangnga, months ago because of low pay and, more importantly, tensions among her colleagues when they realised she was HIV-positive.
"Life was more difficult in the early days when I learned about my condition [of having HIV]," she said. "But why bother moaning and complaining while we can roll on?"
Mia said she used to think about killing herself, but she thinks about it no more.
"I could still be discouraged but [I will] never give up," she said.
Life as an HIV-positive person is not easy, but being HIV-positive and not having an ID card is even harder. People without ID do not qualify to receive state-subsidised Aids drugs.
Born to an uneducated and impoverished family which earned a living by making charcoal in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Mia and her sister did not have identification cards. The sisters struggled through a sea of red tape for many years in their bid to obtain ID.
Mia finally received her card in 2003 - a year before the Dec 26, 2004, tsunami hit Thap Lamu village in Phangnga's Thai Muang district, where she lives with her husband, who is blind in one eye and walks with a limp. Her children are aged 7 and 14. She said, luckily, her family was "only slightly hit by the waves".
In the past five years, she and a dozen women in the same village have helped each other physically and morally. They exchange information about HIV/Aids with the support of the Foundation for Women.
Orn (not her real name) is another HIV-infected woman and one of Mia's friends. The two were among a dozen HIV-positive women who stood up and spoke about their destinies before the Southeast Asia's Court of Women on HIV and Human Trafficking correct held in Bali in August.
Coming from a broken family with an alcoholic father, Orn's life had been in turmoil for many years. She moved from Phuket to Bangkok after being sexually harassed by her employers.
After her husband died of Aids, Orn moved back to her hometown in Thai Muang district and tried to resettle her life back into her own family and community as well as coping with the opportunistic diseases.
"Life has never been easy," Orn said. "Money is scarce, so are caring and understanding people. But we have to make the best of what has been on offer. We have to struggle. We have to try to get what we need for our life."
She begged for more understanding for people living with HIV/Aids as society is now more equipped with HIV/Aids-related information.
"I hope the local administration organisations and state sector will continue to support people living with HIV/Aids, as we are also helping ourselves and try to make a living as well," she said.
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