Hello All!
What a…real…day we had today. Confronting, refreshing, upsetting and inspiring. Today we visited Sarnelli House in Nong Khai, which is an orphanage for HIV positive children, up to teenage girls who had been either abandoned or rescued from the sex trade or other abusive situations.
A visit to the ‘big kids’ house, had my kids on the run, with these kids bursting with energy, chasing them all over. I have never seen kids with so much energy. The tiny graveyard was a confronting reminder of the reality of AIDS, with four tiny graves. With the current medication however, the kids are by and large well, and there have been no deaths for several years now. Sarnelli House is a not for profit (obviously) and non government funded program, which is the only AIDS orphanage in the North of Thailand. They also run an outreach program for adults to come for health care. Currently, they are seeing around one new case of AIDS related illness a week.
All of the kids here are HIV positive. Some are AIDS orphans, many have been abandoned by mothers who either simply don’t want them, or have remarried and the new partner doesn’t want them. Several of the teenage girls here have been raped and became HIV positive. Some of these girls are very young. All have nowhere else to go.
At Sarnelli House, they receive health care and schooling. They are happy and loved. I strongly encourage you to visit the website http://www.sarnelliorphanage.org/ and sponsor a child if you are able.
Lastly, we were very privileged to meet a fellow Aussie, Kate Introna, who has lived at Sarnelli House now for two years, and will for several more, caring for these kids. Kate is a nurse, who came to volunteer here for a short time and fell in love with the babies – who are now her big kids. 
Occupational hazard!
Please support this project in any way you can – even just through prayer. They have a policy of NEVER turning away someone in need. So with zero funding, I’m sure you can imagine the need for it.
Lia
by Lia Hayes
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