July 21, 2008
Trip to AIDS temple
A couple of weekends ago, I went to a Buddhist temple turned HIV/AIDS hospice and orphanage in a town called Lop Buri that was one of the most unsettling and depressing places that I have ever been. To explain a little about its history, it was started by a monk several years ago to house and care for AIDS patients that had been abandoned by their families because of fear of infection, or because their families could no longer afford to care for them.
Over the years, as the epidemic progressed, more and more AIDS patients came to live there and they also started a big orphanage to school these people's children, as they had problems attending regular schools because of the discrimination and stigma associated with the disease. Also, over the years, the temple has garnered a lot of media attention. So now, big vans of school kids and tourists are traipsing through the collection of buildings that make up the compound. Visitors are allowed, even encouraged, to walk through the makeshift hospital where all of the terminally-ill, bed-ridden patients are lying there in 100 degree weather, wearing diapers and with talcum powder all over their bodies to cover up the skin lesions associated with the late stages of HIV/AIDS.
In one of the buildings, there is a "bone museum" of the preserved bodies of people who died of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this display is still unclear to me, as the preserved bones of people who died of AIDS are not clearly distinguishable from the dead bodies of anyone else who died of any number of other diseases… It seems that they were there for their shock value – to scare the tourists into using condoms, or else they might end up like those bodies… Instead, the display served to increase fear and confusion surrounding HIV for visitors, which will lead to increased stigma and discrimination for people living with the disease. The bone museum was a perfect example of the wrong way to educate people about HIV. To make everything even more dehumanizing, there was also a "donations" center across the way from the hospital area, where pop music was blasting and one of the residents was using a loudspeaker to urge people to give money.
Anyway, in summary, I was not a fan of this place. Of course they need donations to stay afloat, and of course it's probably better that these patients live here than alone or on the streets, but it was set up like a freak show – a form of charity which bordered on human rights violation.
The good thing about this visit was that I went with a group of really sweet students who are all also doing research here in Bangkok, and we made visits to little towns on the way back from the AIDS temple, including one town that was famous for its monkies... When I first heard this, I pictured a monkey statue in the town square, but I was wrong. The town was crawling with monkies – on the streets, on telephone poles, in the parks, everywhere. And if you're carrying any bit of food on you, they will literally jump on you to take it. I have to admit, I was kind of rooting the monkies on sometimes... like when a little kid walked by with a candy bar and this baby monkey pummeled him – pretty entertaining… but then, in true public health fashion, I remembered all of the infectious diseases carried by wild monkies and proceeded to empty my bag of every item that might be misconstrued as food…
The trip was a mixed bag, but overall great to spend time talking with other students from all different walks of life, exchanging stories and sharing insights and opinions about our experiences here...
Until next time…
Sarah
Posted by Sarah Lane Schoenbrun at July 21, 2008 12:42 AM
