Hope for elderly victims of HIV

Tag : Vietnamese Tea

(20-07-2008)
Cam Giang spends time with a special club in Vinh Tuy Ward, where old folksinfected with HIV get a new lease on life through vocationaltraining and activities such as baloon folding.
Standing on the path that surrounds Hoan Kiem Lake, 51-year oldNinh Thi Hong feels anxious, dressed in her clown costume, carryinga handful of colourful balloons. Trying to ignore the curiousstares of those around her, Hong smiles at the children that startto gather around. Her warmth is soon repaid, as a few minutes latershe finds herself surrounded by a crowd as she hastily inflates newballoons, having already sold her first bundle.
A rainbow of different colours and shapes, Hongs balloons aredifferent than those usually found in that area, as they had beenbrought over from the US. Along with those extraordinary balloons,Hong herself is not your average balloon seller. She is the vicepresident of a special club that caters to the elderly affected byHIV/AIDS in Vinh Tuy Ward.
Like a "kindergarten"
Its a rainy night as Vinh Tuys Peoples Committee opens its dooras it usually does on the 14th day of every month. Outside, thestreet leading to the committee is crowded with the signs ofconstruction, numerous sand dunes and pot-holes, making the waythat much more treacherous in the rain. Despite these conditions,many elderly people can be seen making their way through theentrance. Today is the monthly meeting for all the elderly inHongs club.
Its 7.30pm, and nearly 50 elderly women gather in the meetingroom. While most of the seats have been taken, the ladies continueto crowd into the room.
The rain falls outside, but its sound is drowned by the chatter,laughter and the "pop" of exploding balloons inside theroom. These signs of joys make it hard to imagine the tragediesthis group of women share.
"Keep it like this, and twist it into a tree trunk," saysHong, as she stands in the centre of the room, raising a long greenballoon above her head.
It has been five months since Hong sold balloons that first day atHoan Kiem Lake. It was an experiment, and it was a success. Moreand more people are now following the path she started paving thatday.
The members of the club are following her balloon lesson,diligently trying to twist the green balloons into tree trunks. Thecrowd bursts into laughter after a balloon accidentally pops.
"We spend around VND500 for five balloons to make a completeanimal, but we can sell it for VND5,000, so we make moneyquickly," says Hong.
"The work is realistic. It takes only half a day for membersto learn how to turn balloons into various animals," says TranBich Thuy, a project officer at Viet Nam Womens Union, whichprovides direct support to the club. "For the elderly whodont have much time left, half a day is ideal to learn a newskill, particularly when this work can help them earn money rathereasily."
The secret, Thuy and Hong reveal, is where the balloons come from.They are purchased abroad and brought to Viet Nam by Quyen Tran, aregional programme manager at HelpAge International. When theyfirst started the program, an expert from Thailand was brought into teach the group how to make balloon animals.
"The balloons can be folded into many things, depending on thecreativeness of the sellers," says Hong.
"You can even spell out Viet Nam to put on the heads ofVietnamese football fans," Thuy adds.
Nguyen Thi Mua, a 64-year-old woman, is folding a balloon with hersix-year-old granddaughter. One of Muas sons is in prison, whileher other son is now at a rehabilitation centre.
"I havent missed a meeting since this club was establishedtwo years ago. We keep coming back not only because of the clubsvocational training lessons, but also its joyful atmosphere.Together, we escape from the sad stories of real life to engage indoing new things. Its like a kindergarten for us," Muasmiles.
Loans for the elderly
The club at Vinh Tuy Ward is just one of 67 groups for elderlypersons affected by HIV/AIDS in Ha Noi, Nam Dinh, Thai Nguyen andQuang Ninh provinces. Over the past two years, all these clubs havejoined a new project named VIE011 (Community Mechanisms forMitigating the Impact of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam), which aims to helpimprove the health and livelihoods of elderly living in challengingcircumstances.
Implemented by HelpAge International and Viet Nam Womens Union,the project covers many activities. What distinguishes it fromsimilar projects are the loans available to older women, many ofwhom wouldnt qualify for loans under the Viet Nam Bank for SocialPolicies, the bank dedicated to helping socially disadvantagedpeople.
"Frankly, a bank is still a business, and this means thatfinances are always the top priority. It is commonly frowned uponto provide loans to an old woman. If a woman is over the workingage and has children addicted to drugs or infected with HIV/AIDS,how can she be trusted to repay her loan?" says Thuy.
Project VIE011 not only provides loans to elderly persons affectedby HIV/AIDS, but also provides them with training so that they canearn money and repay those loans.
Other than encouraging people to run small businesses, like raisingchickens, fish or pigs, or opening small restaurants or tea stalls,the project also teaches people new ways to earn money, such asselling balloons or making fabric dolls.
On top of working as a regional programme manager at HelpAgeInternational, Quyen Tran, a Vietnamese American, is also ateacher, helping these old women start fresh with new skills.Initiated by Quyen, the idea came to him when he realised that manyold people were afraid to take out loans because they didnt knowhow to pay them back. Working in Thailand for the past five years,Quyen saw that the Thai government had a policy of "100 jobsfor people", finding employment for anyone willing to work. Hewanted to copy that model in Viet Nam.
To bring that model over, Quyen filled his suitcase withAmerican-made balloons, catalogues of dolls from Thailand and otherhand-made toys, as well as the necessary materials to make them. Ashe landed in Viet Nam, project VIE011 took flight.
Following the success of the balloon animal business, the nextdoll-making scheme was implemented seven months ago, and has so farproven just as successful. Under Quyens guidance, seven membersfrom another club for the elderly have completed hundreds of dolls.While their needle work may require a little more practice, thedolls are attractive enough to generate orders from some Vietnamesebusinesses, expatriates in Viet Nam and even officers from theItalian Embassy.
Realising the potential of hand-made products, and Thuys continuedsupport, Quyen has now spent some of his own money on yet anotherdo-it-yourself business scheme: teaching the elderly to makeembroidered hats.
Opening a catalogue displaying an endless selection of hand-madeitems, Quyen confides, "I believe that there are a hundredsimple things that we can make by hand, and childrens toys isstill an untapped market. If we can learn these jobs successfully,we have a chance to provide jobs for hundreds of labourers,including the elderly and their HIV/AIDS infected children."
Where is our future?
It is a shared belief that the best place to care for HIV/AIDSvictims is at home with their family. Any programme aiming to helpthese groups, then, must keep this basic principal in mind.
For the elderly who live with, or are HIV/AIDS victims, the burdenon their shoulders is often tripled. Apart from taking care oftheir infected children, they often become the primary caregiver totheir sometimes infected grandchildren. At a time in their liveswhen they should be looked after by society or by their ownchildren, they are still looking after themselves, finding no timeto rest in their old age.
Thuy, the project officer, says that the situation in Viet Nam isbecoming worse as HIV/AIDS is now so often linked to drugaddiction. Many families of HIV/AIDS victims lose everything theyhave to drugs.
The elderly can often be the most affected, scraping by as they tryto feed their HIV/AIDS infected children. Even when their childrenpass away, they are still left to the mercy of society, as theirchildren leave nothing behind but their bodies.
"Although 100 per cent of the elderly questioned ask nothingfor themselves, only their children, it doesnt mean they arent inneed. So far, there is no project except VIE011 providing loans orwork opportunities for these people. In most cases, only theHIV/AIDS victims or their children receive financial support,"Thuy says. The VE011 project has often been the only avenue thesewomen have to turn to, and has so far provided 2,110 loans toelderly women over the past two years.
"Giving loans to the elderly is not as risky as is commonlythought. On the contrary, elderly women have proven to be safeborrowers. Under our project, 100 per cent of people have giventheir loans back before the deadline," Thuy reveals.
According to Quyen, older people are usually responsible in the waythey invest their loans. If they dont know how to invest it, thenthey wont take the loan.
"Its important that we help them find ways to earn money,whether they have the loans or not," Quyen says. As hecontinues to teach people to make and sell crafts, he has many moretricks up his sleeve to help these disadvantaged families.
"After the initial project, it will be difficult to get themembers steady work at doll or embroidery clubs. Well need thehelp of businesses to ensure output," says Thuy. "Wedont need another volunteer, but a real enterprise interested inour product so that we can expand."
As the group looks for an enterprise to bring their small projectto the larger scale, the women will continue to gather at theirscattered club locations. Sharing a laugh while learning a newskill, the women escape their hardships just for a day, on a paththat will hopefully lead them to a brighter place in life.  VNS