Vichheka Sok

This article was written in 2010 while I was working for World Vision Cambodia.

Title: I have only one mother and I obviously love her

Sokhorn*, a 38-year-old farmer, faced difficulty in her life because she contracted HIV from her philandering husband. She was about to commit suicide to avoid discrimination from all her neighbours. She’s struggled with her two children. Life was not easy for Sokhorn and her children. However, things changed when World Vision’s programme came into her life. Support from the Community Care for Children project and other activities of World Vision really encouraged Sokhorn and her children to live longer with better conditions.

Sarath, 17, is the youngest son of two siblings. He shares, with a sob, his story while his mother sits nearby on the wooden old bed under the wooden house with bamboo lattices and old roof zinc.

“I was called by other children in the village, ‘You are the son of HIV and AIDS! Go away, don’t come and play with us!’ These words really hurt me, and I was so angry and wanted to punch them in their face. But I could only tell my mother what happened to me. My mother advised me to focus on studying, and ignore all kind of discrimination of the neighbours and other children in the village.

“I commit to study hard to become a very good teacher to educate all young children to value one another and live with dignity, and to not discriminate those who live in the bad conditions. I want to see my mother’s smile and have hope that I will not let her down.

“Once I got sick at night, my mother had not a cent in her pocket, so she begged neighbours to borrow a small amount to buy medicine for me. Nobody let my mother borrow any money because my mother lives with HIV and AIDS. I feel so much hate my neighbours, but my mother advised me to not.

“Nobody wants to have HIV, even my mother. Everyone wants to be healthy and live in the cool conditions. I pity and love my mother because I have only one mother. I obviously love her. I keep alerting her to take ARV [anti-retroviral] daily at 7am and 7pm. I hope she’s fine now.

Things changed when World Vision programme support for anti-retroviral treatment, along with other HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns in Sarath’s community. The HIV and AIDS project of Area Development Programme promotes awareness to all villagers within communities to stop discrimination against HIV and AIDS patients.

“World Vision’s Community Care for Children project provided me bicycle, school materials, rice, oil, noodles, salt and soybeans. And World Vision staff kept visiting my family and encouraged us with nice words. I love their behaviour, and attitude. They are so nice to anybody in the village. They really pay attention to all HIV patients in the village. I see there are many people live with HIV like my mother.

“World Vision also conduct many meetings and trainings in the community to educate all villagers to know about  HIV and to stop discriminating against all HIV patients since HIV and AIDS is not a disease that is transmitted to one another in the very simply ways.

“My mother never missed any events or meetings that conducted by World Vision. Everyone in my community seems to understand about HIV and AIDS, and there is no more discrimination to the HIV-positive. All those who used to discriminate my mother, have turned to be good and friendly to us now.

“I was sad before, but now I am so happy by what I see lately.”

Sarath’s mother, with a sob, shares, “I remember everything in the details in terms of discrimination, but I think it is life. Now, I focus on earning income to support my youngest son to get higher education.”

She continues, “When I was very skinny, I forced myself to close a profitable food store selling pork rice soup because all customers stopped buying when they knew I had HIV. They were afraid it would transmit to them. Now, they understand and have changed attitude to me. They are nice to me and my family.”

Sarath adds, “I will not give up studying. I can focus more on studying lately because I see the good things in my family. We live in the better conditions now. My mother looks healthy with not any itchiness on her skin and head. She’s very clean because she has learned how to be clean with World Vision.

“Great thanks to World Vision’s programme for your help. I am so happy that World Vision came into my family’s life. I would like to ask all people who now discriminate against HIV-positive people or children of HIV-positive people, please be more open and understanding of how HIV-positive people hurt when you discriminate. Nobody wants to live with HIV. I would thank to those who understand and stopped discriminating against HIV patients or children who live in HIV families.”

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