Careless

Careless: By Vichheka Sok, June 2010

Cambodia

Sokha is ten-years-old and is a single daughter from a poor family. Her father died from AIDS when she was three years old. Her father passed HIV to her mother, Bopha, a thirty-five-year-old farmer. Sokha suffered disdain for years from other children in the village, her schoolmates as well as her neighbors. “My mother lives with HIV and everyone hates me, and I didn’t have any friends to play with because they were scared of HIV and AIDS,” cried Sokha. “My mother lives with HIV, I love her so much.”

Sokha could not stop her tears while telling her story. She continued with loud sobs, “I remember that my mother was really skinny with itchiness covering all of her body as well as her head. She looked dirty. I really pitied her and I love her so much. I always pray for her to get better soon. She couldn’t move her body, and she seemed to have no energy. She couldn’t go to the toilet herself, my grandmother and I always had to help her to move to anywhere. And every day, I cleaned her body with a wet towel because she couldn’t take a bath by herself.”

Sokha always walked to school and her school is far from home. She walked alone without any friend to walk with and or talk to. “I was really depressed and angry with other children who said to me, ‘Your mother lives with HIV and AIDS,’” said Sokha. “I didn’t want to go to school, and I really wanted to fight those who used those words of contempt to call to me. Yet, I could only cry and deeply pity my mother.”

In 2008, Sokha went to get a blood test to make sure that her mother didn’t transmit HIV to her. Luckily, Sokha tested negative for HIV. She is safe, which makes her mother happy. Her mother has hopes for Sokha’s long future.

REFLECTION:
Life is very lonely for Sokha, who faces ridicule and isolation due to the stigma of AIDS. Sokha lost her father due to the disease and must care for her own mother in her illness; who is there to care for Sokha? Through no fault of her own, Sokha faces much of the hardships of her life alone.

It might seem hard to imagine if you’ve grown up with one or two (or more) caring family members, but many children in today’s world lack that guidance and care. This week, we will be taking time to experience and understand that reality.