UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

June 1, 2008

The story of 13 year-old Saydavong

The rain had just stopped when I received a phone call from our youth volunteer team who planned to visit an HIV-positive child in the outskirt of Vientiane capital. I immediately told them that I would join them for the visit.

Saydavong is a 13 year-old girl who lives with her sisters and other relatives. She is blind and cannot move about easily and do things by herself. Saydavong is studying Braille in a school for the blind. She was referred to the school by a UNICEF-supported project. The school day had just ended when we reached her place so we expected to find Saydavong home. It took us quite some time to get to her house because the road was muddy and slippery.

Upon our arrival, I met Saydavong and her sisters, Kai and Touy as well as Kai’s young daughter. The three sisters have been living together in a small house since their parents died. I am glad to see that Saydavong’s health has improved since she started receiving  antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. However, I was told that sometimes she suffers from a skin disease as a side effect of the virus and she has to go to hospital when the symptoms occur.

I still remember well the first day I met Saydavong and her mother, three years ago. I saw them both at the monthly meeting of a self-help group for people living with HIV in Vientiane. Saydavong was playing games and also took part in a drawing session while her mother was talking with her friends. After Saydavong stopped playing, I had a chance to chat with her. The little girl was shy at first, but soon she was telling me about herself. She said she would like to be a doctor one day so that she can cure herself and her mother. Unfortunately Saydavong’s mother could not wait that long. Even the ARV drugs could not save her life and when she died, she left behind her three daughters and a huge debt. Today, the biggest burden of Saydavong’s family is the debt from a loan her mother took during her illness. Saydavong’s care taker is now her 21 year-old sister Kai who has no job. The family’s income is dependent on Kai’s husband who is a construction worker and earns less than $3 a day.

Due to her health problems, Saydavong had to repeat a grade twice but the project is currently supporting her. The school for the blind is about eight kilometres from Saydavong’s village. It is not an easy task for Kai to take Saydavong to and from school every day. Kai has a young child to look after and when her child is sick it means that Saydavong also misses school that day.

A recent assessment of the needs of children affected by HIV and AIDS conducted with support from UNICEF showed that affected children’s greatest problems were money and reduced school attendance. This is also true for Saydavong and her family. At present, Saydavong’s family does not know how to solve their economic problems. The road ahead for them is still unclear but they know they cannot give up. They have to keep fighting and that, I think, is what we all need to do too.