Latest News From BaanGerda
Profile of Kaew
Posted by Karl Morsbach on 4th January 2008Kaew has been part of the BaanGerda team since 2002 and is responsible for functions, activities and general P.R. She is well-known in Thailand due to her online diaries that chronicle her experiences of living with HIV. She has also published a series of five ‘AIDS-Diaries’ that have become best sellers.
Six years ago, after graduating with a masters degree in psychology, Kaew secured a good job with a large Thai company. It is normal practice in Thailand for new employees to undergo a short medical and HIV test before they can start work. The result was to change her life. The blood test showed that she was HIV positive.
“I didn’t think that I’m in a risk group about HIV because I have only one boyfriend and we have a plan to marry in the next year. My first reaction was to be very sad, afraid and I cried a lot. I didn’t know about HIV/AIDS. I know like many Thai people that AIDS is no way to be cured and it’s a disease that only bad person will get. And everybody is afraid of people who are infected. So I called to the company and lied to them that I got another job, and I lied to my family that I found a company which will send me to work in inland province.”
Within three months her boyfriend was dead. She was afraid to talk about her problems with family and friends because of the stigma and prejudice associated with the disease. Instead, she began writing about her fears and experiences on the internet and soon developed a large readership that sent messages and offered their moral support. Today, her website is a well established institution especially for younger people. For a little annual fee they can register as a member of the website. As a matter of fact, they are regular visitors to BaanGerda and assist with the organisation and sponsorship of many of the activities that you read about on our website.
How did you become involved with BaanGerda?
“At first I start like someone who goes to visit the kids, give some useful things and go home. But then I go every month and invite my friends in my website to come together. We made many activities for the kids, then I became one of staff at BaanGerda.”
How has your life been affected in terms of the stigma of being HIV positive?
“It has affected my life in many ways because in Thailand we still have a bad attitude with people who are HIV infected and there is still a wrong understanding for HIV/AIDS infected people. I have a graduate master degree but I can’t find a good job because in big company they force you to test HIV before you can start work there. And many people are still afraid to stay near those who are infected. Many people still think that somebody HIV-infected must be a bad person.”
Have you noticed any change in people’s attitude here in Thailand?
“I think there is a change in attitude about HIV in Thailand, but it’s a little change and maybe it’s not a real change. You often are told that ‘you can stay together with HIV people’ but in the real life there are still blood tests to isolate people who are infected. But now it is better than in the past because the government provides ARV medicine. It improves the quality of life and helps people to take care of themselves.”
Children Perform at FANC Charity Ball
Posted by Mike Thomas on 26th December 2007The Foreign Anti-Narcotic Community of Thailand (FANC) held their annual ball at the beginning of December, with proceeds going to BaanGerda. The event, held at the Westin Hotel in Bangkok, was an opportunity for some of the children to demonstrate their new musical skills they have learnt this year.
FANC has existed for over 25 years and is made up of police attaches from 20 countries, who work with the local police to fight drug trafficking and other crimes in Thailand. Some years ago, they looked at ways that their membership could make a difference to those individuals whose lives were directly (or indirectly) affected by these crimes. As a result, for the last 4 years FANC has chosen to sponsor the children of Baan Gerda.
Mike Hiller, FANC Chairman, “Many of the FANC members have visited with the children at BaanGerda and were deeply moved by the children themselves and the work being done there. It was the experience of having met the children that led us to inviting them to perform at the 2007 FANC Charity Ball. Not surprisingly, their performance was the highlight of the event…those that attended the ball were as deeply moved as those of us who visited BaanGerda and will likely not forget the amazing children of Baan Gerda.”
New Research Study into Children’s Nutrition
Posted by Mike Thomas on 17th December 2007
A new study is being carried out to asses the nutritional status of HIV-infected children. It is known as the TACHIN Project and is a collaboration between the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre, the institute of Nutrition at Mahidol University (Bangkok), and the Albion Street Centre in Australia.
Children living with HIV are at a higher risk of malnutrition because of the effects of the virus on their immune system and the side-effects of the ARV treatment. The research team have spent four days at BaanGerda collecting data on the children and their diet. The initial results show that 50% are underdeveloped through stunted growth or underweight.
The first phase of the study will include the team returning to BaanGerda in a few weeks to offer advice and suggestions on improving the diet. Assessments will then be carried out after three and six months.
BaanGerda is one of the few places that have a large number of HIV-infected children with comprehensive medical and growth records. Very little research has been done in this area so far and it is hoped that, apart from improving the health of the children, it will also be of benefit to other organisations and medical professionals around the world.
Nutritionist Supabhorn Pengnonyang from the TACHIN project “To achieve the goal of promoting growth in children, every stakeholder especially those closely related to them must be responsible. Community can learn and find out the right and practical way for themselves. We do hope the outcomes will be sustainable and, importantly, will be applicable to other communities.”
How a Dying Mother Helped Define Our Community
Posted by Karl Morsbach on 10th December 2007Suphranee Lekgratok was a 39 year old woman from Pitsanalok who came to BaanGerda looking for a job as housemother. Her husband had died and she was HIV-infected. Unfortunately, she became very sick shortly after she arrived and was diagnosed with tuberculosis and meningitis. By this time she had no parental role yet.
Under guidance from the doctor, we isolated her in our clinic and then attempted to give her the necessary treatment. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and her prognosis was very poor. We had no past experience with dying adults in BaanGerda, and my wife and I assumed that our staff and house parents would expect us to send her to the close-by AIDS hospice.
Since this woman had opted to choose BaanGerda as her new home we thought it appropriate to let her stay with us for whatever time she had left. How could we persuade our families and staff to allow this woman to remain in their village? We were worried that they would not agree so we called for a meeting to deal with this urgent matter. What happened in this meeting convinced us that the special spirit of the village was understood and shared. Before we could voice our concern, the staff and parents pleaded with us “please do not send her away. We want to take care of her”
Isn’t it beautiful when you feel understood in this way? Suphranee finally found a family that she could be part of. When she died a few days later, she was not alone.
Fong Naam and “The Life of Pi”
Posted by Bruce Gaston on 3rd December 2007
Preparing our opera always involves smiles. Not that happiness is the goal of our work, but it is the modus operandi. Too often, music is thought of as a leisure activity and that only leads to re-creative results.
“No proper music education?” I hear you ask. Well, I admit that I do require the children to memorize aspects of musical theory which is so basic to Thai classical music. However, it is only one part of the overall approach which is centered on creative music making, and placing the children in situations where they learn for themselves.
By the way Fong Naam, my Contemporary Thai Music Ensemble, is celebrating our twenty fifth anniversary this year, and the production of this opera with the children is part of our celebrations. They have been enjoying working with the children over the last months. They were rather surprised the other day when I had our first rehearsal alone without the children. Up until now they have only been playing along with the kids to encourage their rhythmic skills. But during the rehearsal I gave them some fairly difficult tasks which were quite independent from what the children were doing. They suddenly realized that this children’s opera was going to require more of them than they had first thought. They did not complain because they know that you cannot ask your students to strive to go beyond themselves if the teacher is not also ready to do the same.
HIV Advisors Attend Seminar at BaanGerda
Posted by Ginge on 30th November 2007
It was with an air of apprehension that I prepared a slide show last week describing some of our experiences setting up Baan Gerda. Our paediatrician Dr Jintanat had suggested that BaanGerda might be an interesting case-study for visitors from all over Asia working with an organisation called PLAN Asia. PLAN is reviewing its strategy with regards HIV and in so doing set up a 5 day workshop. The goal was to strengthen the HIV response in the region, especially among children and young people; ultimately they wanted to set up a regional strategy.
BaanGerda was the first port of call in their workshop. I was worried, partly because I have never had to do a talk to 25 strangers before and couldn’t believe that I knew anything that they would be interested in. I was also concerned because the last seminar at BaanGerda – at which I was not present – ended in such a strong conflict of opinions, that it was important this one succeeded and so it did. Even Karl agrees.
The participants came from a range of backgrounds: economists, programme managers, doctors, other health personnel and so on from all over South and South East Asia. Their range of knowledge was broad, but what united them was their interest in our experiences with treating HIV children here in Thailand.
I gave a half hour talk, with slides, talking about the challenges we have faced, the solutions we have sought and the lessons we have learned at Baan Gerda from a social and medical viewpoint. Dr Jintanat followed with an excellent presentation of the clinical issues of paediatric HIV treatment, which I hope she will share here too. Much to our relief, no one fell asleep and instead, we had a long and animated discussion period. We realised that not only have we knowledge to share, but that there are people in a position of creating change who want to hear it. We look forward to seeing the final results of PLAN’s workshop soon.
View the slideshow presentation
View the participant’s feedback
Starting In The Middle…
Posted by Bruce Gaston on 27th November 2007
‘First’ doesn’t always mean the beginning of something. The music project with the children of BaanGerda has been going on since April. In subsequent weeks I will be telling some of the stories about the children’s musical adventures in that early period.
But for now, let’s begin in the present. Since the children are on a vacation from school for about a month or so, we have brought fourteen of them down to Bangkok for intensive study in music, singing, dancing and acting. As you may already know, we are going to perform a children’s opera. The plan is to stage it during the first part of next year, and perhaps even take it to Germany.
The Opera emerges from various methods that I have developed over the years (this is my third children’s opera), whereby the children’s creative input is an important part of the finished product. The work is centered around the Orff Schulwerk method, although I modify the approach considerably so that the music relates more to the Siamese musical heritage. For singing we use Kodaly Method; for dancing and acting I rely on names like Dalcroze, Laban, Slade, Spolin, Littlewood, Heathcote, Johnstone and in the area of theatre education, I am perhaps most indebted to Augusto Boal. Forgive all these names, but it just a habit among Thai artists to remember their teachers at the beginning of every new endeavor.
The story is based on Yann Martel’s wonderful novel, “The Life of Pi”. It’s not an easy story and certainly not a children’s book. I shall have more details in future postings.
Ginge And The Early Days of BaanGerda
Posted by Mike Thomas on 15th November 2007
When Ginge arrived in Thailand in 2000, she had to idea what lay in front of her. A visit to Wat Pra Baat Nam Phu Hospice prompted her to stay as a resident and volunteer for a short time. It was here that she first met Karl when they argued over the fate of a very sick HIV+ baby of 18 months. After a period back in England, Ginge returned to volunteer at BaanGerda where she stayed for 18 months.
At that time, BaanGerda was little more than a muddy field and a couple of houses. The life-saving ARV medicine was not initially available and it was a testing and emotional time for everyone involved. Ginge worked closely with Dr Jintanat Ananworanich to provide essential medical support to the children. The end of 2001 marked a turning point for BaanGerda when the children started to receive the ARV medicine. The community became a place to live, not to die.
Ginge is back in Thailand for her annual visit to BaanGerda, and she will be speaking at a seminar for 20 doctors on November 19th.
What made you volunteer?
There was no one there! Because someone had to!
The child that Karl and I had originally argued about when we first met at the hospice died a few weeks before I returned to Thailand. I knew that this child required medical attention that was not available to her through the normal channels. No one wanted to help AIDS babies at that time. It upset me terribly that we lost her, but it helped put things into perspective: there were lots and lots more who would suffer the same fate if we didn’t do something.
What were some of the biggest challenges?
It was 2001, there was no telephone line, there was no internet, there was a very intermittent mobile phone signal, there was no-one who spoke English. It was a very isolated existence. Sometimes the isolation was hard and lonely, but mostly it was great to be doing something that I knew was worthwhile. I also had many spare hours to read up about HIV treatment, paediatrics etc., and I suppose it was the start of the rest of my life (I’m now doing a PhD about paediatric HIV health policy in Thailand). We had some very tricky times, I was suddenly the manager of a project in a field of which I had no prior experience. There was plenty of scope for challenges. HIV was far more stigmatized then and we would get weekly visits of people coming to stare at the ‘poor AIDS children’ asking questions like ‘can you catch AIDS by touching them?’
Finding suitable parents was much more difficult than expected, sometimes even agonizing. We’ve had to deal with hot-tempered mothers throwing soup at each other, and at one time an alcoholic father. We learnt much from these experiences and acted accordingly. We had no fixed rules at the beginning and the time I spent there can be considered as a learning and preparation for an ongoing project.
Why We Had To Turn Away a Young Orphan
Posted by Tassanee on 9th November 2007BaanGerda has existed for seven years and we continue to collect new experiences. Occasionally, problems arise that we have not encountered before and some of these can be difficult to deal with. They require us to examine our approaches and methods to ensure that we make the correct decisions and are fair to everyone in the village.
A week ago, a new boy who was 14 years old was brought to us. He had lived in a close-by orphanage for the last five years, before he was sent away due to bad behavior. The orphanage simply could not control him any more and asked us to take him. As he is HIV-infected we agreed. We never refused a HIV-infected child.
Only one week later we had to send him back. During this time at BaanGerda, he did not accept any of our rules and he left the village and returned as he liked. He refused to communicate and would not answer questions from his house parents. When he started to bring his friends from his old place, who were also very misbehaved, the house parents asked us to intervene. We sent him back to the orphanage, fearing for BaanGerda’s day to day life and the bad example for the rest of the village.
Could we have done better for this boy? We know he will not stand a chance in life when he continues on his present path, but isn’t it more important to protect the standard and discipline of our community?
The Amari BMW Midnight Run, Bangkok 2007
Posted by Mike Thomas on 5th November 2007
The annual Amari Midnight Run is now in its 10th year, and continues to grow in popularity. More than 3,000 people took to the streets of Bangkok in a party-like atmosphere, and competitors had the choice of running either a 6km or 12km course. The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Dr. Suwit Yodmanee, and the General Manager of Amari Watergate (and race competitor!) Pierre Pelletier. Proceeds from the event go to the Chalerm Prakiat School in Lampoon province, and BaanGerda.
A midnight run through the streets of London or Berlin may offer you cool temperatures and little traffic; not so in Bangkok! The notorious traffic jams and relentless heat don’t subside at the midnight hour. Still, they’re a hardy lot here and most people are skilled at dodging the buses while crossing the busy junctions.
Several of the children from BaanGerda attended the event for the first time. They were a little overwhelmed by the camera crews and photographers when they joined the sports minister at the opening ceremony. However, they showed-off their dancing skills during the pre-race aerobics and even managed their own 10 metre run through the starting line! Check out the video….
The Children’s Rights Foundation: What is it?
Posted by Karl Morsbach on 4th November 2007We are often asked questions about The Children’s Rights Foundation and how it relates to BaanGerda. We set up the foundation in 1992 to administer the project of building schools along the Thai boarders with Laos and Burma. Later we focused our activities on a new project taking care of HIV infected orphans. We call this project BaanGerda and work for it since 2000. The foundation is registered both in Thailand and Germany.
It’s very important that we comply with the strict rules that govern charities, and our board of Trustees helps to ensure accountability and provide guidance. We are fortunate to have distinguished trustees who have invaluable experience and work hard for us ‘behind the scenes’ This has helped us to find sponsors and raise finance.
The name of The Foundation reflects my wife’s and my own views surrounding children’s rights and our duties, as adults, to protect them. This is a basic right that all children should have, especially when they have been deprived of their biological parents and are desperately sick.
Weekly Music Lessons Using Orff Method
Posted by Mike Thomas on 1st July 2007
The children of BaanGerda are currently learning to play instruments using an innovative approach to music education known as Orff Schulwerk or Music for Children. It was developed in the 1920s by the German composer Carl Orff and follows the principle that learning music should be fun and natural.
Improvisation is encouraged and children benefit from the co-ordination and cohesion of playing in a group. It is based on things children like to do such as sing, chant rhymes, clap and dance. The forceful variations on rhythmic patterns makes for very simple and beautiful musical forms, which are easily learned by young children. This all happens in a non-competitive atmosphere and helps to develop confidence while enjoying the pleasure of making good music with others.
The program uses a special group of instruments including glockenspiels, xylophones, metallophones and percussion instruments. Lessons have been taking place every Sunday afternoon under the expert guidance of American composer and music director, Bruce Gaston, who is recognized as an authority on Thai music.
Amazingly, the children took part in a small concert at Tawandang Brew House in Bangkok on June 10th, just 2 months after they started learning. A concert is being organized at the Stock Exchange, when guests from Thailand’s largest companies will be in attendance. This will be followed by a performance in an opera at the Thailand Cultural Center. Dates will be released shortly.
Photos from the practice session
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