Compendium of Christian Projects Addressing the Diseases of Poverty
Project/Program name:
Country: Thailand
Church or denomination: ACET (AIDS Care Education and Training)
Thailand is affiliated with the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand
Project summary: The project involves a network of Christian
volunteers in Bangkok and Central Thailand reaching out with compassion to
families affected by AIDS and assisting them in caring for their sick relatives
at home, supported by a small ACET full time team.
Background/ History: In December 1990, when the population
of Thailand was only 56 million, Alan Ellard, a missionary in Thailand for
24 years, was so greatly challenged by an article in the “Bangkok Post” that
he found it hard to sleep at night. It was the words, “300,000 Thais estimated
HIV positive” that disturbed him so much. He kept asking himself “What will
happen to these people when they become sick? Who will be there to care
for them and to bring them God’s message of love, forgiveness and hope?”
As he wrestled with these questions he found himself asking God the same
questions and it was not long before he felt God say to him “What about my
church?”
Some time later he had a vision of countless numbers of people,
sick with AIDS, leaving the cities and returning home to their villages to
die. He felt that if only the local Thai church, even though very small,
could be motivated to reach out with God’s love and compassion to these people
then they could make an immense impact on the predominately Buddhist nation
of Thailand.
At that time the church and community were afraid of AIDS and
were prejudiced. However little by little the barriers have been broken down.
In 1992 ACET started to produce a quarterly “Love Your Neighbour” journal.
This was mailed regularly to over 3,000 church leaders throughout the nation
for 6 years. ACET also held conferences and seminars in churches and Bible
Colleges to help prepare Christians to show God’s love to people in need
in their communities. Basic AIDS education, Christian Response to AIDS and
Counselling people with AIDS were some of the subjects covered.
By 1998 the time had come to commence a Home-Care visitation programme
in Bangkok where at least 100,000 of the 8 million population were then infected.
By this time ACET was known to most of the 180 churches in Bangkok and many
Christians had attended ACET seminars. The plan was that Christian volunteers
from local churches would visit people with AIDS each week in their homes
with the support of the small ACET team. There were so many obstacles in
those early days. Some said it would be impossible to find volunteers. Many
were afraid to have people visit them in case someone discovered they had
AIDS. When we did get referrals most of them lived too far from the volunteers
who had been trained; travel in Bangkok is a nightmare. These early obstacles
have now been overcome.
In April 1999 ACET began a similar home-care program in rural
Central Thailand visiting AIDS patients from a Christian hospital there.
Before long some volunteers began discovering other people with AIDS in their
communities and started visiting them too. This was very thrilling, as right
from the commencement of ACET’s ministry in Thailand, the goal has been to
motivate, support and facilitate the local church in their response to people
with AIDS. For this reason ACET’s Thai name means “The Organization supporting
the churches’ response to AIDS” and church leaders often contact ACET for
advice when they discover someone who has AIDS.
Goals and objectives:
§ To motivate, support, and facilitate the local church
to respond to the needs of people with AIDS in the community
§ To create acceptance and support for people with AIDS by
the community and in particular the local church
§ To train Christian volunteers in Bangkok and Central Thailand
to support people with AIDS living at home and to advise and help their families
provide care for them
Who does the work? ACET only has a small full-time staff of six
located in Bangkok who support a network of church volunteers visiting people
with AIDS throughout the city. In Central Thailand there is the additional
support of the AIDS coordinator at the Manorom Christian Hospital who maintains
regular contact with local volunteers and the Bangkok ACET office by phone.
Main activities:
1. Select, train and supervise suitable volunteers from
Bangkok and Central Thailand churches to visit people with AIDS at home each
week
2. Screen referrals from Bangkok hospitals, health centres
and churches and link them with a church in the locality who will provide
a volunteer
3. Work closely with Manorom Christian Hospital AIDS coordinator
and arrange follow-up of AIDS patients by church workers living near the
home of the patient
4. Provide volunteers with regular support and encouragement
and also ongoing regular training
5. Telephone counseling Helpline for people with AIDS in Bangkok
6. Provide financial assistance where appropriate for needy
families and also for orphans to enable them to attend school
Expected outcomes:
The program expects to see:
§ An increasing concern by the church for the social needs
of people in the community
§ Pastors and volunteers better able to provide support, comfort
and hope to people who are terminally ill and their families
§ A greater acceptance of people with AIDS by their families
and a willingness to care for them at home
§ A positive response from families affected by AIDS to the
love shown to them by ACET staff and volunteers, with many receiving eternal
life and hope through faith in Christ
Results:
By December 2001 ACET had established a network of over 60 volunteers from
34 churches in Bangkok and 24 volunteers from 20 churches in 11 Central Thailand
provinces. Not all of these volunteers are presently active as many people
with AIDS have died. Since the project started over 260 families have been
visited regularly and over 25% of the people with AIDS have come to faith
in Christ along with some of their family members.
The goal for the next two years is to double the number of volunteers
both in Bangkok and Central Thailand. In Central Thailand ACET plans to
extend the network of volunteers to cover all of the 17 Central Thailand
provinces.
Lessons learned:
§ God blesses His church with a spiritual response when
they bring compassion and hope to people with AIDS and their families
§ Don’t get sidetracked from the vision God gives you
§ God may lead other groups to respond differently
§ Encouragement and spiritual support for staff and volunteers
is so important
§ Network with other agencies where possible
§ Keep up-to-date with news about AIDS
§ Encourage people with AIDS and their families to accept responsibility
as much as possible - sometimes financial help may be necessary
§ Families will cooperate in caring as we show them how to
Funding and other resources: During the financial year 2000/2001
sources of funding for the project were as follows: Local Thai churches,
individual Christians (31.64%), Thailand Ministry of Public Health (AIDS
division) (37.80%), and Overseas (UK) donors (30.56%).
Further readings or documents: N/A
Contact information:
Alan Ellard, Director (and founder)
ACET Thailand
PO Box 67, Huamak Post Office
Bangkok 10243
Thailand
Telephone: +66 (2) 718 7231-2
Fax: +66 (2) 718 7233
E-mail: ThaiACET@yahoo.co.uk