Her Grandchildren Call her "Mother"

By Somluck Khamsaen, WVFT Communications

June 28, 2010

Thailand

Grandmother Kaew lost hope and felt exhausted looking after her AIDS-infected daughter in her last stage of illness while her two grandchildren were still very small. The grandmother comforted and gave strength to her daughter right to the end. And today her grandchildren call her “mother”.

Det and Kla’s parents died of AIDS 11 years ago. The two boys have only the grandparents to care for them. Det, the older brother also knows that he will soon lose his younger brother as well. The HIV virus passed on to the younger brother in his mother’s womb and his condition is deteriorating steadily. 

The number of orphans affected by AIDS like Det and Kla is staggering and increasing more and more every day. The story of young men and women who succumb to AIDS, and leave behind both HIV-infected and non-infected orphans as a burden for the elderly grandparents to look after, is told too often. 

With anxiety written all over her face, the grandmother stares into the distance. Her voice filled with pity and concern as she talked about her two school-age grandchildren. “I want someone to support my grandchildren, but our relatives are poor like us. I wanted them to receive an education.” 

The burden of caring for Kla in sickness has lain heavily on his 60-year-old grandmother. The grandmother did varied jobs in spite of the hardships, yet their living conditions grew worse when the grandparents had no income.

In grade six, Kla stopped going to school because of his illness. And when he needed anti-retroviral drugs, the grandmother had no money to pay for them. Thankfully a nearby hospital was able to provide the medications, and today at age 13 Kla still lives and dreams of becoming a great foot ball player.

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