A letter from Brett and Shelly Faucett in Thailand
December 1, 2008
World AIDS Day
The estimated population of Thailand is 65,493,000 people, of which approximately 614,000 are living with HIV/AIDS. Adults 15 years and older comprise 600,000 cases. Women aged 15 years and older make up 250,000 of the total adults. Children from birth to 15 years old account for 14,000 cases of HIV/AIDS. The estimated adult HIV prevalence rate in Thailand is 1.4%. Total number of AIDS-related deaths in 2007 is 31,000 (UNAIDS).
December 1 commemorates World AIDS Day, but due to Thailand’s unstable political circumstances the World AIDS Day celebration was quite subdued, unfortunately. The original plan was to have a march of WAD participants from each corner of the moat to the center of town. (The central part of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a moat.) Speeches were to be given and lots of networking between HIV/AIDS organizations was expected. This was curtailed by the government’s fear of large numbers of people gathering due to the recent protest activity.
World AIDS Day celebration at Saraphi. Students were encouraged to write messages on the heart cut-outs and place them on the tree.
The Church of Christ in Thailand AIDS Ministry and six or seven other NGOs and Faith Based Organizations organized a World AIDS Day celebration in the sub-district of Saraphi in the southern part of Chiang Mai. About 150 to 200 people gathered. There was a stage and several HIV/AIDS information booths on the perimeter of the facility. CAM staffed an information booth and also constructed a “tree of love” made from branches of a real tree. CAM provided heart-shaped paper cut-outs, and people were encouraged to write a note of love and compassion for people suffering from HIV/AIDS on these. The notes were hung on the tree branches like leaves on the tree. That was meant to symbolize that we are all connected, even though we may feel like we are way out on a limb, the path still leads back to the center of the tree. We are all part of one big tree, and we are all affected by each other.
The Reverend Ajan Sanan Wutti, the director of CAM, preached a sermon devoted to HIV/AIDS in Phrao and in Saraphi. We were surprised during his sermon to the Phrao congregation by the directness of his speech regarding the church’s responsibility for acknowledging and addressing HIV/AIDS in their community. This is not the typical Thai way of sending a message. The Thais tend to be indirect, and issues as sensitive as HIV/AIDS are often talked about obliquely. The response from the congregation was positive, and we will watch to see if it has a lasting effect.
The Reverend Sanan Wutti, director of the Church of Christ in Thailand's AIDS Ministry.
This morning I attended a prayer service at one of the Church of Christ in Thailand conference rooms. The service was attended by church members of the CCT and also several community members outside of the CCT. The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS (AINA) were among the groups represented at the service. There was an Advent service with the lighting of three candles. One young HIV positive girl was brought up to light a candle and was prayed for by an elder in the community. The young girl and her younger sister acquired HIV after being raped, and both are now living in a place called “House of Love,” which takes in children that have been abandoned, orphaned, and/or are HIV positive. The children are primarily from hill tribes and are more at risk, since non-Thais have difficulty accessing health care and services. At the end of the service we all wrote a note of love and compassion on our heart cut-outs and tied them to the tree branch.
Please pray for the people of Thailand and their continued efforts to care for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Blessings,
Brett Faucett
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 92
