Charity, teachers help pupils to be optimistic about future

Liu Liping was busy trying to coax her student, “Little Monkey”, to take his cold medicine.

The 9-year-old had a fever from sleeping under an air conditioner and almost burst into tears when he was told he might have to sit out a class trip to a theme park.

Liu has good reason to be cautious about the boy’s health. Just like his 25 other classmates, “Little Monkey” is HIV-positive.

The students from Red Ribbon School in Linfen, Shanxi province, were among 103 youngsters from around China who recently enjoyed a sixday tour of Beijing’s historic sites, parks and museums.

China Red Ribbon Foundation, a charity that helps people with HIV/AIDS, organized the event to raise awareness against discrimination.

Zhang Ying, chairman of the Fuyang AIDS Orphan Salvation Association, led more than 70 children from Anhui province, and about half were HIV-positive.

Twelve-year-old Gao Jun, who appeared in the Oscarwinning documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District, was one of them.

Life has improved since 2004 when the association began to help the boy, who lost his parents to AIDS, Zhang said. He is also in a video released by the national health authorities on Dec 1 that calls for elimination of discrimination against HIV carriers.

“It’s hard to tell how many people the public service advocacy and the documentary he took part in have influenced, but becoming famous hasn’t changed his life much,” said Zhang, adding that now the boy lives in a place provided by the association together with four other HIV-positive orphans.

The association hired nurses to take care of them.

“They cook for them, do their laundry, help with homework and take them to a hospital, as they can easily fall ill,” Zhang said.

“It’s not easy to find someone who wants to do the job. Of course, they know they won’t get HIV by having meals or sharing a toilet with HIV carriers, but they still discriminate and fear them.”

Liu from Shanxi, who is also HIV- positive, said she encourages her students to be strong, as they will face many challenges after they leave her school.

“A 16-year-old boy wanted to transfer to another school because he wanted to see how he is doing competing with other children out there. He called several schools, which all turned him down,” she said.

To help avoid discrimination, Liu advises students not to take medicine in front of other people.

She said her friends and family have not changed their attitudes after she disclosed her health condition, but admitted discrimination against HIV carriers is obvious.

“I often advise my students to try seeing things through other people’s perspective,” she said. “Sometimes people do certain things not necessarily because they discriminate against us, but simply out of self-protection.

“I have experienced many more such scenarios than these kids. It will be better if you let it go.”

A rosy- cheeked 16- yearold from Anhui, who did not want to be identified, said she will start high school in September.

She said her classmates in middle school, who did not know about her condition, were all nice to her, but she was concerned about how people around her would be if they discovered she was HIVpositive.

Ye Dawei, deputy secretary-general of the China Red Ribbon Foundation, said he would like this tour to help more accept HIV carriers.

“These children are just as lovely and naughty as other kids,” he added.