HIV Awareness raising in prisons and communities

HIV in prison: an open secret

She cried: “Can you please call my old mom and tell her I miss her?” Over 2000 women are being kept in the Correctional Institution in Patum Thani Thailand, mainly because of drugs. A lot of them feel ashamed of being in prison and never told their families where they are. They just ‘disappeared’, leaving their families without a clue. This week we paid our first visit to this prison, where we will support HIV-infected woman.

“We started to work in the Correctional Institution this week”, tells Siam-Care’s staff members Ongard. “The prison staff had heard of Siam-Care from other prisons that we work in and wanted us to help them out. All inmates had to do a blood test for HIV/AIDS before we came, even if they did not want to. Some of the women just found out that they are infected a couple minuts before we visited them. The impact on their lives is huge and thankfully we could help them immediately. The women were scared and had a lot of questions: “Will I die? Can I still eat beef?” We gave information about health and living with their infection. Most of the women feel lonely in prison and felt cheered up after we visited them. Especially because we brought them donuts; they are not used to specials treats like that anymore. When you’re in a difficult position small things can give you hope, like aomeone who simply listens to your story or even a donut.

Fighting for the future
Coming months we’ll keep visiting the inmates. We usually start with some recreational games, to break the ice. In the meanwhile we will tell them how to use their medicines. The first time the infected women had to come to the hospital, other prisoners looked at them through the bars. Hence everyone in prison knows about their health status. That is why the women feel very exposed and vulnerable. They see themselves as sick and infectious and have a negative self image and low self esteem.. Due to your donations we are able to help them. You enable us to change the attitude of these women towards HIV/AIDS. We want the women to feel confident and show them that they still have a future. Because hope for the future, gives new energy to fight for it. And that can make a big difference in their lives.