PAKKRET, Thailand : Keeping people with HIV/AIDS in their families' care is the mission of Father Adriano Pelosin.

The 61-year-old Italian missioner recently received an award from a provincial government for his work over the last 10 years supporting people with HIV/AIDS. He works to have their families accept them and take on a bigger role by caring for them at home, rather than sending them to a hospital or other facility.

"In the past, they were not accepted by society or their families. Many families would leave them in hospitals. Children who had parents with HIV couldn't go to school because teachers and other children were afraid of being infected. They became pariahs," the priest explained.

Based at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Pakkret, Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) priest now helps support about 70 people with HIV/AIDS in low-income communities around Bangkok and Nonthaburi.

He visits people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and teaches their families how to care for and encourage them to keep fighting, which can hold off the development of AIDS.

For very poor families, the priest provides medicine and nutritional supplements. He also provides seed funds to start small businesses so people living with HIV can maintain their sense of self-worth and help support their family. Meanwhile, he provides scholarships for children of parents with HIV/AIDS.

"The important thing for infected people is having love and understanding from the family. They should live with dignity like other people. Don't separate them from society. Taking them to an HIV/AIDS center should be the last option," Father Pelosin advised.

The priest only sends them to the hospital if they are in the final stages of AIDS.

One of the people Father Pelosin has helped is Add, 33, who says he was close to death when Father Pelosin found him and took him for hospital treatment. "When I got better, he taught me to make bracelets and sell them, and now I have a regular income."

About 11 years ago, Father Pelosin opened House of Hope, near his church, for orphans and children whose parents have HIV/AIDS.

Nattaporn Eamklan, who has worked with the priest for seven years, spoke about the home: "We have about 100 children here from the various communities in which he works. We will support them until they graduate from school." She received baptism about six years ago.

In recognition of Father Pelosin's work, the Nonthaburi governor recently presented him an award for "excellence in service to society." The priest, who has been in Thailand around 30 years, was one of three people given the annual provincial award this year.

Bennaporn Ittisoponpisarn of the Nonthaburi provincial office pointed out that Father Pelosin's work not only benefits people with HIV/AIDS, but also their children and families. "If he does not include the children in his work, they may be left out of the education system and later cause social problems," she added.

Between 1984 and 2008, close to 1.1 million people in Thailand were infected with HIV, according to the Ministry of Public Health. About 580,000 of them have died.

Courtesy : UCAN