AIDS is the leading cause of death in Thailand, leaving approximately 300,000 orphaned children in its wake.  Beginning in 2002, Orphans Against AIDS has provided 250 academic scholarships to Thai children from the Chiang Mai province whose parents died or are ill because of HIV/AIDS.  By supplying AIDS orphans with the necessary resources to become educated—the scholarships cover school fees, school uniforms, school supplies, books, school lunches, transportation to and from school (as needed), and basic health care—Orphans Against AIDS works to improve the children’s self-image and future employment opportunities.  The scholarships keep orphans in their indigenous communities where they can receive emotional support from extended family, neighbors, and friends.  It is the intention of Orphans Against AIDS to continue sponsoring these 250 young people for as long as they remain in school and achieve good academic standing.

In addition to providing educational funding, in 2004 OAA Thailand partnered with Paul Newman’s Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps (AHWGC) to launch a fun, recreational summer experience for 200 AIDS orphans in northern Thailand.  While the Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps was originally founded in 1988 to provide terminally ill American children with a sense of opportunity and an enjoyable summer, Orphans Against AIDS worked with AHWGC in demonstrating that children orphaned by AIDS would also benefit from the renewed sense of hope and possibility that these camps provide.  The four one-week long, 50-child camps were AHWGC’s first venture in Asia.

OAA Thailand has also successfully partnered with the non-profit organization Unite for Sight (www.uniteforsight.org) to provide Chiang Mai children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS with free vision screenings and glasses.  American college student volunteers skilled in conducting vision screenings and outfitting corrective glasses travel for two-week trips to northern Thailand to help these youths.  As one of the volunteers stated after returning from Chiang Mai, “I can’t even begin to express what in incredible experience Thailand was for me.  I am working on a power point presentation that will include many of the pictures I took with my digital camera. Hopefully this presentation will give people a more realistic image of the group’s Thailand experience helping children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.”

Youths orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS--with their new glasses in hand--pictured above with Chiang Mai community leaders and doctors and OAA/Unite for Sight volunteers.

A Thai child who has been orphaned by HIV/AIDS gets his eyes checked by an OAA/Unite for Sight volunteer (left); enjoying the benefits of improved vision brings a smile to the face of this young Thai girl (right)

   

Thai children orphaned by AIDS having fun at the 2004 OAA/Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Chiang Mai.



OAA Thailand scholarship recipients receive their educational awards in an annual ceremony hosted by the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Sarapee.