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ADOPT-A-VILLAGE
PROGRAMS:
VIET NAM | BURMA/MYANMAR | CAMBODIA | THAILAND
THAILAND
Although Thailand is one of the economic tigers of Southeast
Asia, there are nevertheless pockets of poverty and overwhelming
needs relative to the HIV/AIDS situation in the country.
Chai Prakan District
In Chai Prakan, a community in northern Thailand, an HIV/AIDS group
raised enough money to partially complete a community
center called Yim Sou (Yim, in Thai means smile,
and Sou means fighting) on grounds donated by
the local hospital. The HIV/AIDS infected people go there
for support and companionship, and to generate income
for medical needs through various income generation projects,
such as mushroom growing and crafts.
GCSF donated the funds to complete the center including
toilets and a mushroom-growing facility, and is providing
seed funds to expand the income projects in order to assist
the community in becoming self-sufficient.
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HIV/AIDS community center & income generation
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Yim
Sou, the
completed community center in Chai Prakan
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Since
the center has been completed, the number of people
coming here to make crafts for local sale and to
assist in the work of the center has increased dramatically.
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Workers
display their crafts
which they will sell at local markets.
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HIV/AIDS information, education and counseling
(IEC)
In the Chai Prakan village HIV/AIDS community
center, GCSF will implement its information, education
and counseling (IEC) program. This program includes:
A nurse who assists the HIV/AIDS
patients in Chai Prakan |
- Train-the-trainer programs that would multiply the
educational activities in the area;
- Provision of educational and outreach materials
such as posters, visual aids, videotapes, etc;
- Social services and awareness counseling: For at-risk
groups, information and help on how to deal with HIV/AIDS,
including individual counseling services. For the
general community, basic information and education
on living daily with the HIV/AIDS situation, for example:
"Can I get HIV from shaking someone's hand?" "Is my
child at risk if there is an infected schoolmate?"
"Can someone get HIV from kissing?"
- Working towards behavioral changes: how to convince
people who engage in high-risk behavior to change
their practices in order to prevent further transmission
of HIV.
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Housing for Mahouts in the Elephant Sanctuary
The elephant sanctuary in Northern Thailand was
created as a safe haven for aged, disabled, and disfigured
animals, some of which have lost feet because of landmines
or otherwise abused. The mahouts, who are elephant trainers
and caretakers, stay with their charges all of the time in
the Sanctuary, caring for their daily needs, bringing them
to the hospital so that their wounds can be treated by a veterinarian,
and ensuring that they are clean and well-fed. These dedicated
men serve a critical function, since with the decline of forestry
in Thailand, elephants have been known to roam into towns
and harm people. These mahouts, however, live in squalid shacks.
They need decent housing, homes which would allow their families
to live or visit more frequently. GCSF proposes to build 15
individual stilt houses located in the forest on Sanctuary
grounds, at $500 per house.
A mahout leads a malformed elephant
into the forest
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