We’ve been busy all of this year with the construction of our new center/home which will accommodate some of the HIV/AIDS patients.  They have gone through our hospice care program at Mother of Perpetual Help Center over a period of many months and will live and work in this new home.  Their health has improved greatly, but they have no home or place to return to because of rejection by family and friends.  This new home will also accommodate HIV/AIDS teenagers who have outgrown other orphanages.  It will serve as a stepping stone to a future life on their own in the outside world.

Here at the new home, both adults and teenagers will be offered an opportunity to study a trade of their interest at a government skills training center just a few minutes walk away.   Whatever trade or skill these individuals choose, there is the possibility for work in the nearby area.  The new home is expected to be complete and ready for occupancy by the end of 2009.

Almost four years have passed since our hospice care facility opened at Mother of Perpetual Help AIDS Center in Nong Bua Lamphu Province in northeast Thailand.  Nong Bua Lamphu is a small province with six districts.  It has very little industry and most people are rice and subsistence farmers.  Consequently, young people leave the province to find work in large cities and neighboring countries.  They are often exploited and return to Thailand and their home areas without jobs.  Many have contracted HIV/AIDS.

Mother of Perpetual Help Center has been operating since 1997 and, over the years, many programs have been developed to help HIV families and their children.  Persons afflicted with AIDS can come to the Center for counseling, training in health care and to participate in self-help occupations.  There is also a home for children with HIV and a hospice to care for adults.

Since the hospice opened almost four years ago, ninety persons have come for care.  Of the ninety persons, forty have died.  With antiviral drugs available through government help, many people have become well enough to return home.  Others do not have a home to return to because of rejection by family and friends, so they remain with us.  We try to find accommodations and a means of livelihood for them.

Currently, a new place is under construction which will be a home for adults who have no place to go and for teenagers as they grow out of care in orphanages.  This is to be a “New Life Center.”  The adults who need a home and remain with us will be able to look after themselves with help.  They will be able to garden and raise animals in order to support themselves.  For the teens, it will be a stepping stone to a life on their own in the real world.