Gone before their time

I was at the CAM office last week doing my usual thing. Working on the computer, sending emails and organizing photos for our new youth peer photo project. I went to go get a cup of coffee and I saw my office director Jaruwan going through old photos of kids that CAM took care of back 10 years ago. I stopped to look at photos with her while she described the kids lives. All the kids looked so happy and Jaruwan had a big smile on her face as she was telling stories of these kids. Like the kids in the swimming pool. That was the first time any of them had ever been in a swimming pool. After she tells me the story, she has kind of a sad expression when she points to the young boy on the left of the swimming picture because he passed away shortly after that due to HIV/AIDS.


She said the boy was around 8 or 9 at the time of his death. All I could think about was that my oldest daughter was almost 8. I couldn't fathom losing her at such a young age.
She went on to describe the other kids in the pictures. Each one had her smiling as she reminisced about the laughs they shared and how they touched her life. During all of this she kept pointing at kid after kid and said he's passed away and she's passed away. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. I felt so helpless. These kids didn't do anything wrong, yet they are the ones paying the price with their lives. In America these kids could have been saved with Anti-Retro-Viral medications. Over here it was a different story back then. Fortunately, the situation is better in Thailand now although we still have a long way to go. There are many kids that fall through the cracks and don't receive any treatment. CAM tries desperately to reach all the kids affected and infected by HIV. Please pray for all the forgotten children that are suffering with HIV/AIDS.