This boy has HIV/AIDS. A few years ago he would have been facing certain death, but now there is medicine keeping him alive. He takes one pill twice a day. He’s healthy, and if you see him smiling you might think he’s “every child” — perfect!
His future is uncertain, because nobody really knows the future for a child growing up with HIV/AIDS today. It’s never happened before. They can’t even say for certain the medications will hold, or that new treatments will become available. (As it is, a child like this only has two or three kinds of treatment available at affordable prices, compared with many varieties of medications available in developed nations.)
I want to see this boy grow up. He reminds me that that truth, life, and love are not abstract ideas to play around in deep conversations. And I’m reminded not to become cynical or despairing either.
Beautifully written and summed up for me all the questions I have since I stumbled upon an old copy of Reader’s Digest with an article on the “Partners in Compassion Cambodia”, which led me to the “SOHAM” website. I have been so very ignorant, living a life that is “empty”. I have once been so proud of my achivements…..everything material….now I am ashamed of it all. I long and yearn to hold and cuddle these children, give them kisses and hugs. They have known little but suffering yet they have such a passion for life, they have so much love in them and good cheer (smiling faces in pictures). I could learn so much from them. Like you, I hope we can make a difference. I hope for an opportunity to travel there one day, to be able to finally cuddle and kiss them, every one of them. Fighting old habits…..I need a lot of reminders and strength to help me fight mine. Even as I give to them now, it is me who receives because through knowing their story and their plight, I am the one who received a second chance at living life right, to have a life worth living for.
Thank you again for sharing!
Thanks for the comment, and I wish you the best as you sort out what’s really important and worth choosing in life.
[...] A photo and some background about the kids at Wat Opot [...]