Thanks to the dedicated Women's Union in Thanh Hoa Province, families,
particularly those affected by HIV, are being given opportunities to turn their
lives around and develop a lasting legacy.
When Le Thi Luan found out she
had HIV, she felt her future had shattered into tiny pieces.
Thinking only of death, she
confined herself to her house. Every time the television or radio featured a
programme related to HIV, she clamped her hands over her ears.
But with the encouragement and
assistance of the Women's Union of Quan Hoa District, Luan and many others in
the central province of Thanh Hoa have gradually overcome their difficulties
and committed themselves to improving society.
We visited Luan and her family in
Xuan Phu Commune. In the house, which the couple recently finished building, a
child of about seven years old was studying hard.
When she saw us, she invited us
to wait, then ran up the hill to call her mother.
A moment later, Luan came down
from the hill carrying a big bamboo on her shoulder. Pointing at the child, she
said: "That's my daughter. Fortunately she is not infected with HIV!"
Although she is only 30 years
old, her face is austere, making her look older than her age.
She is thin, with sun-tanned
skin, but her dark eyes are always lit up with her belief in life.
She's also very open. As we
spoke, she did not avoid questions about her illness, which many people still
discriminate against.
Indeed, it took a long time to
overcome the harsh opinions of the community, she said. But now, she dares to
confess the truth. She tells people that although she suffers from the disease,
she still strives to be a useful member of society.
Born into a peasant family, Luan
was 24 when she got married. Little did she know that her husband was an
intravenous drug user - or that he was infected with HIV. When a test revealed
that he had passed the disease onto her, the news was such a shock that she
fainted.
But when the commune Women's
Union found out that Luan and her husband suffered from HIV, they pledged to
help the couple overcome their difficulties.
As the couple had no farming
land, the Union asked local authorities to allow the couple to rent one hectare
of hilly land to plant bamboos.
The couple had no capital either,
so the Union collaborated with the Social Policy Bank to provide them with
loans and helped Luan participate in training courses.
In addition, the Union asked
local enterprises manufacturing bamboo chopsticks to employ Luan for VND100,000
per day.
Grateful for the organisation's
help, Luan and her husband worked very hard.
After three years, they began to
harvest the bamboos. Some of the revenue was re-invested in production, while
the rest went into the couple's savings. In early 2012, she and her husband
were able to build their spacious house, complete with a squash garden.
Luan next devoted herself to
thinking of ways to help others in similar circumstances.
At first, many people told their
children to avoid Luan, fearing that her disease was contagious.
Undeterred, every day she and her
group of friends approached local residents with HIV to provide them with
access to health services.
She even walked around the
village to deliver condoms and clean needles.
Although she had once not dared
to talk about herself to the community, she was now ready to address the public
about HIV and even persuaded her husband to participate in educational
activities.
With help from his wife, the
former addict has quit his drug habit.
"Without the Women's Union's
help, I do not know how we would make a living," she said.
Like Luan, dozens of women
infected with HIV have found a second lease of life thanks to the Women's Union's
assistance.
Nguyen Thi Cuc, also infected by
her husband, was struggling before the organisation came to her aid.
Her family was very poor, with
two unruly children and parents-in-law who also needed to be looked after.
The Union provided the family
with nearly 2ha of hill to plant bamboo, 0.5ha of land to grow rice and
generous loans for production. Today, the family leads stable lives and the two
children are well-educated.
According to the district Women's
Union, the district had 101 women infected with HIV, of which 14 have died.
Most of these women were infected by their husbands.
They also live in difficult
conditions, with scant amounts of farming land - if any. Their children rarely
go to school.
To help these families, the Union
regularly sends staff to provide encouragement and concrete assistance. They
ask communal authorities to allocate the families arable land for production
and ask the Social Policy Bank to provide them with preferential loans.
As a result, many families of
HIV-positive individuals have overcome their difficulties and gradually settled
into a comfortable life.
"We try to help HIV-infected
people realise the value of life and find ways to help society," said Pham
Thi Lich, chairwoman of the district Women's Union.
VNS
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