Gongmin Town in Zizhong County, Sichuan Province used to be a
"heavily AIDS stricken area". As a trial community care and support
pattern for AIDS patients, Zizhong County has created a
comprehensive AIDS prevention and treatment model, led by the
government, coordinated between different departments and receiving
participation from all walks of society. Currently Gongmin Town has
been hailed as the "lighthouse for humans fighting against
AIDS".
Gongmin is a desolate small town of Zizhong County in
southeastern Sichuan. When AIDS attacked the town it lost its peace
and quiet. The saga began when many young and middle-aged town
people began to sell their blood in an effort to shake off
poverty.
The town has a population of over 50,000 with the average annual
per capita income less than 3,000 yuan. Nearly 100 local people
sold their blood in Henan and most of them contracted the deadly
HIV doing this.
Since June 1995 Zizhong County has discovered 128 HIV infectors.
Gongmin Town alone has 68 HIV infectors, scattered among 15
villages; 32 of them are now dead.
Li Xiaochun was one of the first who sold blood. Seven of his
family members followed suite; they all were infected with HIV. In
the autumn of 1997 he was only 37 years old. His family subsisted
on several plots of poor farmland. In order to send his children to
school, the idea of selling blood crossed his mind. He went to a
local blood collecting station but there he was identified as a
Hepatitis B Virus carrier and he was disqualified as a blood
donor.
But a local fellow told him that Henan had a blood station where
no health checkup was necessary. Li then traveled to Henan with
only 30 yuan in his pocket.
This post was an illegal blood plasma collecting station. When
Li finally arrived he found many farm workers gathered there and
learned that each blood donator could give two bags of blood, about
800 to 900 milliliters. In order to save costs, the station boss
put many people's blood together and used the same plasma
separator. After the plasma was separated, aides returned the
remaining blood cells back into the blood donators' bodies. Once
the HIV virus mixed in the compiled blood, it spread quickly
between blood donators. But the farmers knew nothing about this.
They only knew that they could get 50 yuan each time they sold
their blood. Many stayed at hotels for a few months in order to
have their blood drawn every two or three days. Some were too weak
to stand up because of giving their blood so frequently. A few even
dropped dead on the spot.
Li Xiaochun stayed in Henan for two months. He sold blood 24
times and earned a total of 1,200 yuan but after deducting his
living and travel expenses, there was hardly any money left. At the
end of that year he returned home. The following July he began to
have fevers and diarrhea and felt very weak. Later, in 1997, a
doctor examined him and found that he contracted HIV: his fate was
sealed.
His family who had once sold blood together with him also
contracted HIV, one after the other.
His brother Li Xiaoqing was sent to the hospital in 2001 due to
his grave ill health. After spending more than 30,000 yuan, he was
sent back home for they could no longer afford the medical
expenses. In his last days, half of his eye rotted away and he
suffered acute physical pain throughout his body. Before he died,
he murmured, "This disease (AIDS) takes a toll on people…"
Qing Zhouwei, an honest farmer, was the first HIV carrier exposed
to his small town. AIDS discrimination had been haunting him like a
nightmare ever since.
In 1995 he came to Henan and donated his blood four times,
ultimately creating a life tragedy. Then, in 1997, he went to work
at a construction site. He wanted to earn more money by selling
blood. But after an examination he was told that he was infected
with HIV.
"At that time, I knew nothing about AIDS," he said.
On the same day the police came to the construction site asking
him where he had sold blood previously. He honestly answered the
police.
A town fellow told him, "Run away. Or the police will catch you
and send you to the remotest mountains or forests and you will
never be able to meet your family."
The man's words made Qing panic. He borrowed 500 yuan and took
the train back home that same night. After getting off the train,
fearing to walk on main roads, he took desolate paths instead.
But before he got home, his bad news had already preceded him.
Locals working with him had all called up their families, saying,
"Qing Zhouwei got AIDS. Stay away from him!" Upon hearing the news
that his son had the "dirty disease", Qing's elderly father was so
enraged that he knocked his head against the wall and tried to kill
himself. After the father was reunited with his son they cried in
each other's arms. "I heard that once one catches this disease, he
would die in a few years. Who shall the young and the old rely
on?"
The villagers' attitudes upset him more deeply. He distributed
candies to neighbors but the children ran away in sight of him.
Villagers would take a roundabout route rather than pass by his
front door. He went to wash clothes in the pond. When others saw
him, they would take their clothes and leave at once. Once he came
to mill grains, he saw that the boss was in shortage of hands, so
he came up to give him a hand. Seeing him standing by the milling
machine, the boss shouted immediately, "Stay away from my machine.
Don't spread your AIDS to my machine." A village doctor was even
more absurd, saying: "The wind can spread AIDS; an AIDS carrier
could spread the disease even if he were buried one meter under the
ground after he dies."
This was the way the local people acted when faced with AIDS. An
intangible terror reigned over the small town.
An infected patient said, "I don't care how I live. I just want
people to regard me as a human being."
Li Xiaochun also remembers that when the news broke that he had
been infected with HIV, people refused to buy his vegetables and
crops. When he went to buy something no one dared to take his
money. Seeing him walking on the street, people turned away from
him quickly. He gave cigarettes to the village cadres. They first
put them in their pockets and threw them away after he left. During
those years he felt that his whole world had collapsed. His beard
and hair were long and untidy because no hairdresser was willing to
cut them. Once he went to sit in a teahouse; other customers
quickly stood up and left. After he left, the teahouse owner threw
away the "AIDS cup" he used and even the bench he sat upon.
In 2001, HIV infectors of Gongmin Town became progressively ill
one after the other. Poverty and disease compounded their
deteriorating living conditions.
According to a survey covering the family income status of 25
infectors, their per capita annual income was only 400-1500 yuan
and each family owed debts of 4,640 yuan on average. Most of them
felt hopeless and pessimistic about their future.
The wife of Lin Tengquan, an AIDS infector, unable to cope with
great social pressure, killed herself by drinking pesticide.
Some HIV infectors completely lost hope and threatened to take
revenge on society. Yin Rongbin, Director of Zizhong Bureau of
Health, told a People's Daily reporter, "One year several AIDS
patients came to my office and claimed that they would blow up
bridges if they couldn't get any money. Some even waved knives and
asserted that they would kill someone."
These seemingly crazy acts are not out of character for AIDS
patients; discrimination against AIDS is the source of their
resentment.
February 2, 2002 became a landmark day. On that day the China-UK
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project was launched in Zizhong
County. As a result Zizhong became a trial community care and
support pattern for AIDS Patients.
An AIDS expert group came to Gongmin Town that March. Initially
villagers just watched them from afar. Soon they found that these
experts shook hands with AIDS patients, patted their shoulders, and
even had dinners and drank tea together.
In order to dispel the farmers' fear of AIDS, these experts went
to give them lessons on AIDS in their homes. "Once they were clear
about AIDS, their attitude soon changed," said Wu Xiaomin with the
Zizhong Disease Prevention and Control Center.
In the training, many details were very impressive. A Chengdu
expert took out a piece of bread and let an AIDS infector divide it
and then each had half of the bread. Another expert drank water
from a cup just used by an infector. These trivial behaviors
influenced the villagers around. They later said, "Experts aren't
afraid of being infected. What are we afraid of?"
Face to face education exerted great influence over the
villagers. Six months later the expert group from the China Center
for Disease Control and Prevention came to conduct an investigation
about the progress of the AIDS learning program. They met an old
man on a village street and asked him "How does AIDS spread?" The
old man raised three fingers, "Three avenues: blood, birth and
sex." Experts smiled joyfully. And almost all Gongmin residents
could correctly answer such questions.
Gongmin County also established a "Gongmin Home" and held two
activities a month. The staff there taught AIDS infectors not only
how to prevent AIDS and how to treat AIDS but also living skills.
Additionally they organized information exchanges and entertainment
activities. Pu Cunxin, an AIDS prevention advocate, praised the
"Gongmin Home" as the "AIDS Infectors' Garden of Eden".
Zizhong County has held 42 training courses and trained more
than 4,000 people in total, including intuitional cadres, primary
and middle school teachers, infectors' families and entertainment
personnel.
Discrimination against AIDS patients has gradually dissolved.
Many HIV infectors working at other places have returned to their
small hometown. This time they met not cautious but friendly
eyes.
Gongmin HIV infectors are now willing to disclose their disease
because they will not be discriminated against and they also can
receive special care and support from all various areas of society.
They are now living in a big warm family.
The local government also put forward a series of policies on
caring and support for HIV infectors in March 2002. The Zizhong
Finance Bureau has increased the special fund used for AIDS
prevention and treatment yearly. The government hands out
consolation funds to HIV infectors on important festivals. Starting
from July 1, 2004, each infector gets a monthly allowance of 130
yuan from the government.
The Zizhong Civil Affairs Bureau allocates 5,000 yuan each year
to relieve the poverty of HIV infectors. In 2005, the county
government began to shoulder the fees for AIDS patients and their
families to join the New Rural Cooperative Medical System.
Agriculture, forestry and husbandry departments have formed the
technical aid team. The Agriculture Bureau provides free high
quality seeds to HIV infectors; the Forestry Bureau launched the
project to return farmland to forests and grassland and provides
favorable services for infectors in applying for a forestry
license; the Husbandry Bureau provides them with young domestic
animals.????
The Zizhong Education Bureau incorporates AIDS prevention and
treatment knowledge into health education courses for primary and
middle schools. And children of HIV infectors receive free primary
and middle school education.?
The Zizhong Taxation Bureau and Administration of Industry and
Commerce exempt agricultural taxes and administration fees for HIV
infectors. Electricity suppliers provide free illumination power
for HIV infectors.
The health department established medical service centers in 15
villages. Village doctors provide medical services for HIV
infectors and AIDS patients in their homes, along with free medical
checkups.?
Support policies play a key role in eliminating discrimination
against AIDS. The government has created a comprehensive prevention
and control mode against AIDS, involving the guidance of local
governments, coordination between departments, participation from
all walks of life and self-support from the infected people.
A honeycomb briquette factory, the first enterprise for HIV
infected people, was established in the town by the China-UK
program office in July 2002; it cost 35,000 yuan (US$4,741). The
factory enjoyed a boom at the beginning, but closed in 2003.
Although it was not a successful undertaking it has motivated the
infected villagers.
A couple named Li Bin and Wei Ting are both AIDS victims. They
were still quite poor in 2002, having only an old house. Then the
animal husbandry bureau of Zizhong County delivered a pair of
piglets to the family in order to help them escape from poverty.
Five months later Li Bin and Wei Ting sold the pigs and earned
1,200 yuan (US$162.61), making the couple extremely happy. They
began buying piglets from outside areas and selling them out after
raising and breeding the animals for a certain period of time. This
allows them to earn 70,000-80,000 yuan (US$9,486-10,841) every
year. Additionally, Li and Wei have also constructed a two-story
building with the help of the local government.
A British program officer once came to Gongmin Town for
supervision and inspection. He questioned whether HIV infected
people could live without discrimination but found it was true
after his personal investigation. He said that this had even not
been achieved in Britain despite of years of efforts.
Zizhong County has set a good example for the world in the fight
against AIDS, a vice-minister of UK Department for International
Development wrote in his report to the British
government.??
The program concluded in November 2006, but officer Zheng Shihua
does not worry that discrimination would reappear. "The brightest
highlights of the Zizhong project against AIDS reflect the full
implementation of policies and sustainability," said Zheng.
Li Bencai, a legendary AIDS victim
In September 2002, Li Bencai opened a teahouse. There were a lot
of AIDS posters on the walls and Li also provided free condoms and
promotional materials in his teahouse. He has a name card, on which
his title was Aids Advocate.
At the beginning, most of the guests came just out of curiosity.
More and more people came to the teahouse as the discrimination
against AIDS gradually ceased and the teahouse became better known
as well.
Li Bencai also met the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
who visited China in 2003. The prime minister was very interested
in Li's teahouse and said that he would like to go there to drink
tea.
Li Bencai ran his teahouse for more than three years and earned
50,000-60,000 yuan (US$6,776-8,131). Then he started a wood
processing business. This September he and his friends contracted
for 200 mu (1,333 ares) of barren hills and planted 10,000
saplings. Li regards this budding forest as "green bank".
Infected victims help others
Huang Changqi, 43, living in Lijiacun Village, got infected with
AIDS by selling blood. He once sank into a depression and wanted to
give up. In 2004, the villagers committee allocated 5 mu (33.33
ares) of fish ponds to Huang Changqi for free; this has brought
more than 2,000 yuan (US$271) to Huang every year.
Sichuan Province was hit by drought this May and the rice in
Lijiacun Village was dying. Huang Changqi decided to pump out his
fishponds in order to save the rice. Although Huang's fish all died
he still felt relieved to know that the villagers' rice crops had
been saved.
Li Bencai always shows his kindness to others as well. He once
heard that a schoolteacher had to support a big poor family all by
himself.? Li then provided financial assistance for the
teacher, who was deeply moved by Li's help and wrote a letter of
acknowledgement. Afterwards they became friends, often exchanging
greetings.
He Yong, an AIDS patient, became very ill and was sent to
hospital in 2002. The local government exempted all his medical
charges and the villagers also donated more than 1,000 yuan
(US$136) to He Yong, who ultimately died of the disease on
September 29. He said before his death that he would like to donate
his organs in order to contribute to developing medicines that cure
AIDS.
The AIDS Troupe is well-known
There is an AIDS Troupe in Gongmin Town; all its members are
AIDS victims. The members write scripts themselves based on real
life and give performances in Sichuan Dialects, in which they tell
how people show their concern for AIDS patients instead of
prejudice, as well as how the patients support themselves instead
of giving up.
The troupe made their debut on November 27, 2003 in Gongmin
Town. There were a lot of people in the audience that day despite a
heavy rain. Then the troupe went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan
Province, to perform. In 2004, the actors gave a public performance
in Beijing. They were also invited by CCTV to do a program
recording.
The farmer performers, who have no real acting experience, won
prolonged applause because of their sincerity rather than their
stagecraft.
"I felt very nervous when I went on the stage for the first
time, and the sweat continuously dripped down from my back," said a
performer named Qing Zhouwei. Qing believed that the discrimination
against AIDS would not be eliminated if people feared making a
public appearance.
A happy ending: two AIDS victims got
married
Both Wang Daiying and Cao Xueliang are infected with AIDS.
Nevertheless, they got married in 2003 and more than 200 villagers
attended their wedding ceremony at the town, including a dozen
infected people.
The discrimination against the disease has now been completely
eliminated in this small western town. The China-UK project
concluded one year ago. A comprehensive prevention and control mode
against AIDS has been established in Zizhong Town. This small town
now represents a bright beacon of hope in the fight against
AIDS.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai and Yang Xi, December 17,
2007)