Public Service Announcement: Today is World AIDS Day (1998-2008)
People
I have been at the edge of AIDS in China since 2003, I know the figures of projected spread and the main sources of infection etc, I can do the “NGO thing” when it comes to AIDS Awareness, but by and large, I rarely meet people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs)in person. The organizations I work with have focused on the plight of those who have been infected through blood selling or transfusions (mainly rural farmers at the bottom of China’s economic heap. For the nuns who deliver these services, who are often from farming backgrounds themselves, this work is a “shoe in” and while it has many challenges, fits easily into a traditional approach to “Charitable Works”. It has the added advantage of having no moral issues; these PLWHAs were infected by poverty and are innocent victims in any ordinary meaning of those words. In these days I have been introduced me to another group who are now living with, rather than dying of, HIV AIDS- namely urban gay men.
The situation of these PLWHAs is rather different from those of the poor farming families I have been more aware of up to now. These men are often educated and articulate, needing much less material support or encouragement than their country cousins. But urban sophistication does not go as deep as a superficial encounter might suggest and one finds that their circumstances have their own poignancies.
Many gay men in China are married (since not to marry is virtually impossible) so few are “out of the closet”. Many of those who live a gay lifestyle do so clandestinely, though that is changing for the young. The extra stigma of HIV+ status imposes a second hidden life on top of the first. The pathetic nature of the situation was brought home to me when, visiting a clinic, I watched obviously otherwise assured, self confident men, strip the labels from their tablet boxes, least anyone at home realize that it contained AIDS medication. Rejection by family is not uncommon, freedom to openly acknowledge ones condition in the workplace rare and support groups few. Although superficially urban gay PLWHAs have a better life, emotionally they are as much in need of support as anyone else.
Today I watched two Sisters deliver such support, not in some dramatic ‘do gooder’ kind of way, but just by being there. They had acted as midwives for a support organization and the occasion was to allow the 30 members to express their gratitude. The Sisters were probably, in a country where such things usually matter, the least educated of the group, but it was very obvious that these men appreciated the unconditional acceptance offered them more than any professional support.
Watching the unaffected approach of the Sisters made me aware that these men were not a collection of politically correct acronyms but People made in the image and likeness of God. Rather cold political correctness was not what was asked of me a priest and a baptized Christian, but rather unconditional love for each of them. These Chinese Sisters use a terribly non PC description common in Chinese “infected people” to describe those whose gratitude they were accepting, but despite that, their Faith filled view meant they saw only human beings to be loved. My being with them allowed me to see as they saw and that has made, this week has made all the difference. Thanks be to God.
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Bricks visits Zhen Guan Ai, meets HIV patients
Bricks recently visited Jilin Province and caught up with Dr. Zang of Zhen Guan Ai AIDS Center. Right now, the project is already closed still the good doctor and his patients would like to extend their gratitude to the generous donors of Brick 3. This time we were able to video tape our conversation with Dr. Zang. See the video for more details.
Tianjin Hai He opens its new office
The members of Tianjin Hai He had 3 good reasons to celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival - their T-cells are good, their group is going strong and growing and they have a new office. The new office will allow the members of the support group them to meet regularly.
Tianjin Hai He extends its feepest gratitude to its generous donors.
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Brick 3 thanks its donors!
Last month, Bricks closed its Brick 3 project for which Bricks and the good Dr. Zang were very happy about. Just yesterday, we received an email from Dr. Zang again thanking the donors of Brick 3 for the help they have extended to the Zhen Guan Ai AIDS Center for purchasing the AIDS scanner. He also sent some pictures of the scanner being used in the clinic.
Again, on behalf of Dr. Zang and his clinic, we thank the people who donated for Brick 3.
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Facing AIDS & Living for Tomorrow, a Tianjin Experience. (Pt. 2)
Bricks contributor Vivencio Mercado writes this second part of his feature article for Bricks about living with AIDS in China. Recently, Bricks visited an AIDS support group in Tianjin that sought funding for expansion. Mr. Mercado came to Tianjin with Fr. Loftus for the meeting. He writes about his experience on meeting the people of Tianjin Hai He and the people who support them and reflects on the situation of PLAs (persons living with AIDS/HIV) in China. Some of the pictures that you are about to see are obscured to protect their identity.
You can read Part One HERE
Sr. Claire
Bricks came to know about Tianjin Hai He through Sr. Claire Zhai who used to be a volunteer worker for The Red Ribbon Foundation in Ditan Hospital in Beijing. I asked Sr. Claire what she thought about working with persons with HIV/AIDS. Simply put, her answer, which she gave in Chinese, was that it was not a job. Watching her, I noticed that’s how she behaved. She had this easy going and relaxed manner with the group. She didn’t impose either nor does she treats herself like some “visitor” or “guest”. She’s just there. Sr. Claire is a Catholic nun who has been involved with AIDS work for more than three years, first with Ditan as a volunteer worker and now through Jinde doing consultancy work with AIDS support groups like Tianjin Hai He. Not only did she introduce the group to Bricks but she also introduced the group to the local church where they regularly meet. Sr. Mary Yang, one of the sisters in the Tianjin Cathedral, know Sr. Claire and her work with PLAs. She got in touch with Sr. Claire and offered the group a meeting room in the cathedral which they could use for their regular meetings.
Mr. Liu
Not all the members of Tianjin Hai He are like Xiao Xuen, Da Hua and Li Hu. There are also the quiet ones, the ones who are still coming to terms with them being HIV+, like Mr. Liu. He only found out two months ago and I could still see that from his interaction with the group, he was a bit reserved and quiet and perhaps even a bit afraid. It was his first time to go to a public meeting with the other members through Da Hua and Li Hu’s persuasion. During the interview, he says that he was thankful for having found a support group that could actually understand his situation. He is somehow fortunate to have found Tianjin Hai He.
700,000 faceless men, women & children
Not everyone living with HIV/AIDS is fortunate enough to find a support group like Tianjin Hai He. A joint study by the WHO, UNAIDS and the Chinese Health Ministry estimates that are 700,000 Chinese living with HIV/AIDS, which accounts to .05% of the population. Although education and awareness has fast been improving in the past decade especially with the top leaders in the government putting priority on the issue, this does not translate to the change in perception of HIV/AIDS among many Chinese. The stigma that comes with the disease is the more debilitating factor than the disease itself. One becomes faceless with HIV/AIDS. And “face” is important in Chinese culture. “Losing face” means to temporarily lose a certain sense of propriety and pride which the Chinese hold so dear. With HIV/AIDS, the “lost of face” goes to a whole new level, it becomes permanent. PLAs are “removed of the face”. They become faceless. They don’t exist. In many cases, coming out in the open is a social death sentence. Not all families are as accepting. Not all employers are as understanding. Not all hospitals are as accommodating. With HIV/AIDS, one becomes the unwanted guest in the family, a liability in the workplace and a mere statistic in the medical profession. .05% of the population does not exist because of AIDS and support groups like Tianjin Hai He become the sanctuary for men and women living with HIV/AIDS as many of them become all of the above.
The past does not matter
With a regular venue, the sisters’ support and backing from the local CDC, Tianjin Hai He has evolved into a more organized, established and secure group. They have a hotline where members who are not yet ready to face other members can call for counseling and advice. They have a website/blog (managed by Xiao Xuen), an email address and a QQ messenger account for Internet and web gatherings. Recently, Li Hu attended a major training conference about cultivating AIDS support groups like Tianjin Hai He. I was impressed. What Fr. Loftus noticed was the business card that Li Hu handed out to everybody. It was nothing fancy, but it was a Tianjin Hai He business card. It meant that they were serious. It’s a good omen. The group plans to network with other AIDS support groups and they are being encouraged by the sisters and the local CDC to do so. It is very evident that knowledge about treatment and ways to prevent infection are not the only things that matter when someone has HIV/AIDS, it’s also connecting with other PLAs. From what I saw that day, the latter is more important than the former.
The disease and the social and emotional complications that comes along with it seem to have made a unique bond between these men. I looked at them during the meeting and I saw fear, yes, but not as much fear as I thought one would possess when one is faced with HIV and AIDS. As I looked at them I saw other emotions too. Like joy when Da Hua told the group that he has finally told his family that he is HIV+ and the family is dealing with it and slowly learning to understand it. I saw concern on their faces when one member, Yun Ming was telling the side effects of his new cocktail drugs. Each was willing to share their experience that might help him deal with it better. I also saw hope in their eyes. I also saw hope in their eyes when they were talking with us, especially with Sr. Claire. I saw the same hope when they thanked Sr. Mary who had offered them the room to use on a regular basis. It was the same hope that I saw when they were talking to CDC representative who regurarly come to their meetings. People like them give them hope that Chinese people can actually accept them without any sort of judgment and that they actually understand. Hope that translates to many things like living this reality they call AIDS and that happiness is possible. As Da Hua pointed out to us “The past doesn’t matter anymore. We must think of tomorrow.” Living with AIDS doesn’t have to mean the end. Life after AIDS is possible. I see it in the faces of these men.
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Facing AIDS & Living for Tomorrow, a Tianjin Experience. (Pt. 1)
Bricks contributor Vivencio Mercado writes this two part feature article for Bricks about living with AIDS in China. Recently, Bricks visited an AIDS support group in Tianjin that sought funding for expansion. Mr. Mercado came to Tianjin with Fr. Loftus for the meeting. He writes about his experience on meeting the people of Tianjin Hai He and the people who support them and reflects on the situation of PLAs (persons living with AIDS/HIV) in China. Some of the pictures that you are about to see are obscured to protect their identity.
Xiao Xuen
At first glance, Xiao Xuen, a twenty one year-old Tianjin native (China’s third largest city) is what you would call the quintessential modern urban Chinese youth. He is into the latest European male fashion, head to foot. His hairstyle is very Japanese. He is web savvy and maintains a blog of his own. And like the rest of China’s growing urbanized youth, Xiao Xuen is very sure of himself. You can tell this from his demeanor and even with the way he held his pen while I was interviewing him. However, there are two distinct qualities that make Xiao Xuen different from the rest from his peers – one is that he’s gay and the other is that he recently found out that he is HIV+. He is not alone in this. That day in Tianjin, where I was asked by Fr. Loftus, to come along to meet with an AIDS support group that will soon become a brick project for the Great Wall Appeal, I met 5 HIV+ gay men who were under 30. I must say that the experience upon these men and the people who support them was quite different from what I expected.
Xiao Xuen found out that he was HIV+ on the same day as the Wenchuan Earthquake. He went to a hospital in Tianjin complaining about a rash on his left leg, but didn’t expect that he was going to be diagnosed with HIV that day. True to his form, he did what any young Chinese urbanite would do in a time of personal crisis, he went online to look for any sort of solace in the thousands upon thousands of online forums that exist in the Chinese cyberspace. That’s how he found about Tianjin Hai He, an HIV/AIDS support group of gay PLAs in Tianjin that helps persons with HIV/AIDS like Xiao Xuen on how to deal and live with the disease.
Tianjin Hai He, Da Hua & Li Hu
Sitting around the conference the table with these 12 men and watching how they interact with each other, I began to realize that Tianjin Hai He is more of a community than a group. It is rather unique in a sense from other AIDS support groups because it was organized and founded by two of its members, Da Hua and Li Hu, who are both HIV+. It is a very young community itself, just 6 months old. Before 2008, Da Hua and Li Hu had sporadic one to one meetings in public parks with other gay men who were struggling to come to terms with being HIV+. Their discussions not only focused on education about the disease but also on support and counseling which many Chinese PLAs badly need. With more people asking for help, the need for a better and more secluded place for regular meetings became obvious. They looked for sponsorship from various NGOs. Bricks was one of the very few that responded.
Tianjin Hai He had very humble but inspiring beginnings. Da Hua and Li Hu were both products of Ditan Hospital’s Red Ribbon Foundation in Beijing. The Red Ribbon Foundation provides counseling and support to persons living with AIDS/HIV. Many of the people who seek solace from The Red Ribbon come from many parts of China. Da Hua, who is pushing 60, was inspired by the work of the sisters and health workers in The Red Ribbon Foundation. He is a frequent visitor of The Red Ribbon. He makes it a point to go to Beijing from Tianjin to get his medication at Ditan Hospital. Although he tells us that there are hospitals in Tianjin that actually cater to “people with his disease” (his words), he prefers going to Ditan Hospital where the Red Ribbon Foundation is located because there he doesn’t get the “looks”. “Ditan’s Red Ribbon Foundation has a more personal feel to it”, Da Hua says. “If I could only bring this kind of support that the Red Ribbon Foundation gives to us to Tianjin then it would not only be helping me but also a lot of people infected with AIDS in Tianjin.” That’s how Tianjin Hai He began. With Li Hu’s sense of management and leadership and Da Hua’s charismatic personality the two were able to persuade other PLAs in Tianjin to actually face and deal with the reality of the disease, not alone, but with a community.
To date, Tianjin Hai He has 22 members and is still growing. They have different age, social and economic backgrounds. In an ordinary situation, you would not find these men in one room discussing anything. In Tianjin Hai He, the overall feel of the group is quite relaxed, familiar and friendly. It seems to me that the disease is not the the only important topic in their gatherings. I even dare to think that it comes second or third. They talk about the education and ways of preventing infection, and the problems that they face in their families and workplace, yes. But I think the more vital thing that occurs in these meetings is that each of the members experience a sense of the mundane. They talk about the latest gossip and the television shows that they have been glued to lately. They make fun of each other’s mannerisms, clothing and speaking. They don’t come to these meetings to lament at the fact that they have HIV/AIDS. They come to these meetings to experience the mundane aspects of life together. They cherish the ordinary things, mundane things that many people, people like me, have taken for granted.
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Finally. Some Good News
The Bricks Great Wall Appeal team went to Changchun last Sunday to meet up with Dr. Zang to purchase the ultrasound scanner for his AIDS clinic. If you would remember, Dr. Zang heads the Zhen Guan Ai AIDS clinic in a rural town not far from Jilin City. He and his clinic is working with 300 farmers infected with HIV/AIDS through blood sales and we set up an appeal for their clinic 6 months ago for an ultrasound scanner that would help him and his clinic provide better diagnosis for his patients who are all people living with HIV/AIDS (PLA’s). Bricks, through the generosity of our donors, was able to provide the good doctor and his clinic with a brand new portable ultrasound scanner. An ultrasound scanner ensures that PLA’s receive the swift diagnosis which this technology makes possible, portability means that the Zhen Guan Ai clinic will be able to use the scanner without requiring patients to make the sometimes long journey to his clinic.
Dr. Zang, together with two of his superiors, was very happy to see us. We went to the Changchun Office of Mindray, to purchase the DP3300 ultrasound scanner. Mindray is a Shenzhen company well known for manufacturing quality health care devices. Dr. Zang and his superiors thank all the people who have donated for Brick 3. They have assured us that the scanner would be used wisely and solely for Zhen Guan Ai AIDS clinic and have invited us to visit the clinic in September to see it being used first hand. Some good news, finally.
On that note, Zhen Guan Ai has told Bricks that they have not found any new cases of HIV/AIDS in the area that they administer this year. Dr. Zang’s director as well as Dr. Zang mentioned to us that their efforts not only in the treatment but also on informing the patients about the disease has slowly been paying off. Bricks, in behalf of Dr. Zang and Zhen Guan Ai thanks all the people who have donated for this project. We hope to do further projects with them, but interestingly, the experience is already opening them up to develop their own fundraising plan, which is exactly what Bricks hopes to achieve.
