Holistic Care for 450 HIV Positive Thai Families

My name is Mariët and I work as a volunteer for Siam-Care. I would like to share the story of a young woman I met a couple of weeks ago. We visited her in a hospital in Mukdahan, in the poor northeast of Thailand. The woman was in the hospital for a couple of weeks already because she is HIV-infected but she didn't take her HIV-medication so she got ill. She had many problems with her lungs and stomic and had a high fever and diarrhea. Siam-Care's staff told us that she is so weak that she might nog live much longer. It was so sad to hear this. She still was so beautiful and had such a big smile on her face. Yet she was very weak and sick.

When we visited her, we brought her some fruit and other food. The woman had nobody else who was looking after her, not even family members. Siam-Care's staff spoke with her about her situation. Each day the staff prayed for her recovery and when we met again, a couple weeks later the staff was very surprised. The woman told us that she was getting better! No one had expected this, not even the doctors. It was a true miracle! The woman said that she still was afraid. She still didn't have much hope for the future. Our staff then reminded her of her physical improvent and of the prayers we prayed for her. They told her about Jesus who is the Healer and who is always with her. She told us that she was also praying for herself. At the end we prayed with her and then we had to say goodbye. Three days later we were supposed to visit her again, but she wasn't in the hospital anymore! She was healthy enough to go home. I felt so happy for her!

This is a story which tells about the way Siam-Care provides hope in a hopeless situation. Sometimes having hope is more important and more powerful than having the right medication. Without Siam-Care this woman would have had nobody to take care of her. She would have thought that this was her end, there would have been nobody to pray for her and tell her about Jesus. I was really touched by this story and it made me even more enthusiastic about what Siam-Care does. Help them to provide hope to others in need by supporting Siam-Care. Thank you very much!