Holistic Care for 450 HIV Positive Thai Families

Siam-Care works with hundreds of families, whom are all in need of support, counseling and love. The Naree Family is one of them. This is their story.

Anwiraseenee (2010), who goes by the nickname ‘friendly’, is a 20-months-old girl who is physically disabled. She lives with her mother (1987) and grandmother (1967) in Mukdahan, in the poor and dry northeast of Thailand. Friendly’s father left the family as soon he discovered that his daughter was disabled.

Mother does not have a job, as she needs to take fulltime care of her handicapped daughter. She previously had a good job at the hospital, but had to resign to due to her daughter’s state of being. Friendly’s father has completely abandoned the family and doesn’t support his daughter and ex-wife financially. Hence grandmother is the only one who makes an income. She sells Thai desserts, which are made by mother when Friendly sleeps, but her income is not steady. During the rainy season, she hardly has any customers. The family struggles hard to make ends meet.

Simple but steady house
Friendly and her mother and grandmother live in a house made out of cement and wood. Upstairs is the main living area, but mother and Friendly stay downstairs, as it would be difficult and perhaps dangerous to carry Friendly up and down the whole time. Friendly has been disabled since her birth. She isn’t able to sit, walk, let alone take care of herself. She will grow and develop herself much slower than other children. 

Waya (not her real name) is a 14-year-old girl, who was born in Bangkok. She was raised by her grandparents, because her parents did not want her. When she was very young, they literally dumped her and moved somewhere else. Since a couple weeks ago, Waya lives at our office. This is her story.

Before Waya moved into our office, she lived with her grandparents and an uncle in a small city near Bangkok. Her uncle was a violent man, who often beat up Waya. Her grandparents didn’t do much to protect Waya and neither did neighbors. The situation got so out of hand, that Waya did not feel safe at home and approached our staff. 

New house, new school
One of our main goals is to keep families together. We do not want to take children out of their houses. But in some cases, we have no choice. We decided to let Waya stay at our office, so that she has a safe place to stay. We have 2 staff who live at our office and after working hours, they looks after her. We also found a school for Waya where she can finish her studies. Last week, she started in the fourth year of high school and is very motivated to finish her studies. 

Love and protection
We are sad for Waya that her parents did not love her enough to raise her themselves. We feel sorry that Waya’s uncle regularly acted violently towards Waya. We wish she had a loving family, but she doesn’t. The most important thing we can do, is show her love and protect her. Letting her live at our office, is not an ideal situation. It is the best we have though. We have a bedroom and bathroom which she can use. We buy her food and look after her as best as we can. 

Better development
Did you know that over 80 percent of children in Thai orphanages, are not actually Orphans? Most of them still have parents, but they either cannot of do not want to raise their own children. We believe that having a safe place to stay, is one of the most important things for a child. We believe that staying with your family, is much better for a child’s development, than living in an orphanage. Study has shown that children in orphanages develop slower than children who live with their family. 

Thank you for making this possible
In Waya’s case, we are happy that we can be a family to her. We realize that we are not her real family, but since her real family is absent or not capable to look after her, we are happy that we can show her love and protect her. Thank you for your support and making it possible for us to look after children like Waya.