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"Hope for the HIV-affected"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(21/07/06)
THE Bukit Kiara Sunrise Rotary Club has signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) pledging to provide financial support
for children who are affected by HIV.
HIV-affected children, meaning their parents died after being infected with
HIV, suffer the same stigma as infected children and are often neglected by
society.
Bukit Kiara Sunrise Rotary Club past president Paul Lam said the pledge to
help the children was not new, as the programme has been successfully
conducted by the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“One of the members there was looking after orphans of HIV sufferers in 1992
and approached the club for help. In 2003, we (Bukit Kiara Sunrise Rotary
Club) started a partnership with the Chiang Mai club and raised money for
the children there,” said Lam.
With the signing of the MoU, Lam said the Rotary Club would “come up with a
business plan to take on a bigger role in providing for these children.”
Programme committee member Kong Voon Sin said the Rotary Club decided to
start the programme here after reading about the “Chow Kit Kids” story (The
Star, July 9).
“We hope to be able to support as many children as we can,” said Kong. “The
sponsorship will be RM1,200 per year for each child.”
MAC vice-president Datuk A. Vaithilingam welcomed the gesture by the Rotary
Club and said the demand for help by infected children is taking up all the
resources of MAC.
“We spend about RM5mil each year with RM1.5mil going to the children and
that is still not enough,” said Vaithilingam.
“HIV-affected children are an invisible population because of the stigma,
but the United Nations has quoted that there are 14,000 AIDS orphans in
Malaysia.”
The signing ceremony was held shortly after the installation of the new club
president C.Y. Fong and the board of directors. Witnessing the MoU signing
was Rotary Club District Governor Datuk Jimmy Lim.
For more information on the Malaysian AIDS Council, call 03-4045 1033 or
visit www.mac.org.my.
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