The best $100 ever spent

The four-year-old was discovered wandering around a hospital in northern Thailand, abandoned by her relatives. It was later discovered that she was HIV positive. For the past 5 years, Gim has lived at the Care Corner Orphanage where I teach three days a week, and where she receives loving care along with a number of other young orphan children, all with AIDS.

Sad to say, Gim is now in the last stages of life on this earth. In order to make her remaining weeks comfortable she is in need of oxygen. Like so many other AIDS orphans in this country, nobody knows where Gim's from, as no relatives have ever been traced. She’s without proper paperwork & so is therefore not covered under any Government medical scheme. So any medical help, like the oxygen, has to be supplied by independent sources.

On this particular day, an American friend, Allen, had accompanied me to help out & observe our work. Allen was touched by Gim's plight and made a donation of $100 that enabled us to rent an oxygen tank for Gim.

Gim now spends 6 hours a day on oxygen but always wants to stop and play on my shift. She struggles to breath properly and has a severe tuberculosis cough but somehow she stays cheerful through it all. Gim knows she will be going to heaven soon but says she’s just thankful that she can remain at the orphanage, the only home she's known, and not at a hospital.

This is possible largely thanks to the oxygen tank that Allen provided for her. Allen considers this the best $100 he’s ever spent.

Sally Golding is a Project Manager of the Chiang Mai Family Services, a FCF project in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Journal

Hi my name is Cinnamon I am a Chihuahua the thing I like to do the most is play with my family, and bit them. I like it when there home, and not at work because I don't get to see them for along time, but when they do come back I start jumping everywhere, and going crazy. Then when all of my energy is gone I just sit beside them, or lay in there laps. Most of the time when we're just sitting there we are usually watching t.v., but the other thing I like to do other than being with my family is going outside. When I go outside it's fun because I just run out the door, and start rolling in the grass, and making myself dirty. After that there is this other animal it's a cat one day I just seen it coming up to my house then I stared it down, and started growling at it. It stopped right in it's tracks then we were just looking at eachother then finally I went full steam ahead growling it started running fast I mean I am very fast, but the cat was much faster. Then I had to catch a breath so I stopped then I seen the cat laying on the car so I started barking at it, and it just looked at me. But it's been at my house for a while so I just leave it alone, and sometimes we play in the grass, but when I get her mad sometimes she starts clawing me with her paws but not hard. Then when I hear my name being called I run as fast as I can to the door, and go inside. So then I go to the room where my food, and water are at, and I take a drink, and eat a little bit then its time for a little nap. So then I lay in my little bed, and shut my eyes then I start the day all over again.