Holistic Care for 450 HIV Positive Thai Families

According to Andy Williams December is 'the most wonderful time of the year’. He’s probably right. Families come together , people cook delicious food and everyone is happy. Although, everyone? Not if you have no money for a special dinner. Not if you are an orphan and celebrate Christmas without your parents. Especially for those people Siam-Care organized a special Christmas celebration. This is a story about a Christian feast in a Buddhist country.

As a Christian NGO , we support the less fortunate not just financially. Moral and spiritual support are just as important. If you are sick , money is not always the problem. Often the stigma that hangs around HIV is a bigger issue than just a lack of money. People often feel alone and ashamed of their infection. Take Moon for example. Her parents deceased when she was young and Moon herself is also infected with the HIV virus. For her Christmas is not a good time. It is a time of being confronted with the fact that she’s an orphan and suffering from a pretty bad disease.

Providing food and share a message of hope
Along with 40 other children and families we invited Moon for a special Christmas celebration. Thanks to around 1000 euro’s in donations (among this were gifts that came in through globalgiving.com) we were able to throw a special Christmas celebration. We were able to provide Moon and the other attendees with a special box of Christmas presents, plus some food supplies as rice and candies. We shared the Christmas message of hope and love with the people present. The message that there is a loving God who cares about every individual and who sees our problems.

Moon felt very blessed
Moon issued after the Christmas celebration that she felt blessed. Not in financial or physical sense. But blessed because she could celebrate Christmas together with children who are in the same situation. Moon felt blessed because she knew that there is someone who is looking out for her. Someone who loves her and wants to help her. She was also very happy with the relatively 'simple' gifts. Simple for another , but special for her. With only 1000 euro Siam-Care gave hope for the new year to 40 children and families. Because of this celebration Christmas was still a very wonderful time for these people. A huge thanks to you for your contribution. Unfortunately, your help is still needed in order to keep providing hope.