Today, August 6, marks the day when the Canadian
Jackalope Open culminates their fund-raising at Burapa Golf Club for yet
another group of special children. For this is the day the Camillian kids
living with HIV and disabilities get a boost.
Fey can now stand on her own.
The Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive’s involvement
with the Camillian Social Center began in earnest 3 years ago when the
organizers of the Canadian Jackalope Open joined forces with us. The proviso
from the latter was that all funds raised from their annual charity golf
tournament would go to the kids at the Child Care Center, which is one of
the 10 projects under the Camillian umbrella in Rayong.
The strategy behind this arrangement is that the
Jackalope and Jesters working together would have a bigger impact on the
kids there. Moreover, over the last two years, we have combined to donate
1,428,052 baht to the Camillians.
In 2008, when we asked Father Giovanni where our donation
would be best utilized, he suggested we cover the 24/7 care-giving, medicine
(ARV’s) and food for two children living with HIV and disabilities. On a
monthly basis, this worked out to be 27,525 baht per child.
The two children in focus were a girl, Fey, and a boy,
Tewid, and the following are their respective stories.
Tewid with one of his famous goofy grins.
Fey was 4 years old when she came to the Center. She was
born HIV-positive and abandoned by her parents after birth in a Nong Kai
hospital. She is blind and mentally impaired most likely from the HIV
infection.
When she first came to the Center in 2006, she could not
stand or crawl and would get upset frequently slapping herself in the head.
With the continued administration of ARV, physical therapy and care-giving,
her tantrums subsided, and she was able to stand and walk with assistance.
By the time we saw her she was 6 years old and her life and demeanor had
improved substantially.
Tewid, who is 13 years old, was also born HIV-positive
and due to the late administration of ARV’s has become partially paralyzed
from the infection. He is thought to be autistic too. Tewid enjoyed
listening to music, watching TV and spending time with another autistic girl
at the center.
His mother, who is deaf from her own HIV infection, also
comes to visit him regularly at the Center.
In late 2008, both of these children were transferred to
a new Camillian Center opened in 2008 located in Lat Krabang just before
Suwannabumi Airport, which is where disabled children who have their HIV
status stabilized are now taking up residence. Here there are professionally
trained specialists who better help the kids learn to live with there
disabilities.
Faisal Malik, who is the coordinator there, gave
us the latest update on these two children last week:
“Tewid and Fey are both doing very well. It has been
really amazing to see how these two children have grown and developed over
the years. I remember Fey when she first arrived as a baby and Tewid when he
was practically comatose for the beginning years. Today when I went to take
pictures of Tewid, he started laughing and sat up by himself. He would
follow the camera and give his goofy grin. I told him he was handsome in
Thai and he started laughing. His mother continues to take fantastic care of
him and the other children including Fey.
Fey loves physical interaction. She likes to be held,
squeezed, hugged, thrown up into the air and swung around. She goes crazy
with laughter and won’t let you go. In the beginning, she used to hit her
head and bite herself on a regular basis but now it’s quite rare. She is
very active and can walk around everywhere by herself, though you always
have to keep a careful eye on her.”
If you would like to learn more about these kids, please
visit their website at www. camillianhomelatkrabang.org. If you would like
to help special kids, like Fey and Tewid, you can also visit our website at
www.care4kids.info.
After all for these kids, it is all about well-beingness!
