As I have mentioned previously, the women’s club I belong to, WOW supports the Wuhan Aids Charity in various ways throughout the year. In May, they will be hosting a May Fair. We’ll be selling handmade crafts, amoung other things. I am also making a quilt that will be auctioned off, proceeds of which will go to the Aids Charity that WOW helps to support.
Over the weekend, I had the privilege to meet with some of the students, and their families, who have benefited from the donations of the charity. I also got to meet Dr. GUI and talk with him about his work. We met at the AIDS Center he started at the Zhongnan Hospital at Wuhan University where he is Chief Physican in the Department of Infectious Diseasesa and a professor.
Back in the 80s, the Chinese government launched a drive to replenish dwindling blood-bank supplies and paid donors. For impoverished farmers, it was an easy way to supplement their income. Many farmers donated their blood 30, 40, sometimes 100 to 200 times. Tragically, the needles used were not always sterile. Today, whole families and entire villages have been wiped out by the epidemic.
It wasn’t until 2004, that the government publicly admitted to having cases of the epidemic present in the country. And even today, we can’t really be sure about what is known and what is hidden.
After we each introduced ourselves, we played ice-breaker games and shared lunch with the students and some parents. Afterwards, in his office, Dr. Gui spoke with us about his story, his work, his frustrations and showed us pictures of his patients, their ailements, the ones who have made it, and the ones who have not.
Dr. GUI Xi’en is known in China and abroad as the “whistle-blower”. Back in 1999 he discovered cases of AIDS in rural villages. He tried to alert authorities, but it vain. He had to sneak in to the villages secretly. He paid to have patients tested with his own money and even had 5 patients live with him in his home so he could care for them when hospitals and clinics would not.
Brussels’ AIDS Charity is run by David Wilmots (left in the photo above), a former AIDS-prevention worker, and owner of Belgian restaurant “Cafe Brussels”, and his project partner is Dr. Gui Xi’en (right, in the photo above).
David first came over to Wuhan as a nurse with the Belgian government in the early 2000′s. At that time, the Chinese government was saying that there were No cases of AIDS or HIV in China. However, that really wasn’t true. David worked with Dr. GUI to help locate patients, get them tested and get them the help and medication they needed. Dr. Gui also educates the people on the risks of infection. Today, the Wuhan AIDS Charity helps orphans who either have AIDS or HIV or have lost their families to AIds/ HIV, in giving them opportunities to continue and graduate from their schools by providing them with tuition fees.
A year of school for these students costs 7000 RMB (roughly about 700€), without counting books, food, clothes or school supplies. Most of these students are either infected with AIDS/HIV or their parents are infected, or they have lost their parents to the disease. All the students want an education to make an impact on the world. Meeting them, spending the day with them, they made an impact on me.
It was very touching to get to meet face to face the very people we help, to put a name to a person and a face to a name. A special moment to share stories and laugh together at funny jokes. We played games, ate lunch together and admired the newly budded cherry blossoms in the gardens.
To read more about Dr. GUI :
TIME Magazine
China Daily Newspaper
