The leader of the orphanage, Mrs.
Phuong, has told us a story of a HIV-infected girl. This girl was the first
HIV-infected child in northern Vietnam. She was brought to the hope-orphanage,
because her mother left her alone in the hospital after giving birth. The girl
could not speak until the age of three years, because nobody wanted to have
contact with her, due to fear of getting infected.
But when the girl was brought to
the hope-orphanage, she had a good development and also learned to speak, as a
result of the attention and love she received in the orphanage.
Until the year 2005 the hope-orphanage
did not have any medicine to treat children with HIV-infection. So all of the
HIV-infected children died at that time, except for the girl about which we
report here.
Currently there are 63 children living in the hope-orphanage. 34 of these children visit the 1st to the 5th class. 13 children are
under the age of 1 year. The youngest child is only 1 month old.
Unfortunately the children are not allowed to visit a public school. The orphanage can only
offer lessons for the basic grade. For the higher grades there are no teachers.
The leaders of the orphanage feel very sorry and worried about this situation.
Even
though the children who live in the hope-orphanage have no parents, they still
receive a lot of love and support from their living-group. The nurses and
caretakers are like parents or relatives fort the children. The other children
are like sisters and brothers. We hope that this love will give the children
enough strength to be prepared for the future.
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