Many non-governmental organizations and social celebrities vowed to help the orphans of AIDS victims at a press conference held in the State Council Information Office Friday.
Hong Kong movie stars Jackie Chan and Andy Lau expressed their willingness to invite AIDS orphans to live in their homes for a few days in an effort to allay public discrimination against these disadvantaged children.
"Hearing about the second summer camp for the orphans to be held in Beijing and Hong Kong in August, Jackie quickly respond to the organizers," said Li Guoqiang, a camp organizer with the China Youth Concern Committee (CYCC).
"These orphans will be thrown into the dark and cold in the rest of their lives if no people really care for them," said Zhang Chaoyang, chairman of board of directors of Sohu.com, one of China's biggest web portals, "It is actually a question of life and death."
"We have collected donations or efforts from society and made joint efforts to promote their welfare more effectively," said Wang Bing, head of the Beijing Huaxia Charity Foundation.
The current number of children whose parents died from AIDS is close to 80,000 in China, and it is predicted that the number will soar to 200,000 in 2010, according to an CYCC official Li Qimin.
"Bias, poverty and depression are the biggest problems haunting these children during their lifetime," Li said.
In the summer camp last year, the organizing committee spent two months finding a place for the orphans to stay. They were refused by nearly 40 hotels and institutions in Beijing, whose owners feared that receiving them would negatively affect their businesses.
But Chinese bias against people with HIV/AIDS is changing.
Not only have Chinese leaders and high-ranking officials' shaken hands with HIV/AIDS patients and eaten meals with them in front of news cameras, many folk activities have also revealed burgeoning efforts to transform the disease's public image.
China's second summer camp for the orphans is sponsored by the CYCC and Beijing Huaxia Charity Foundation. About 60 to 70 orphans, none of whom are HIV carriers themselves, from various provinces will attend the camp from August 12 to 17 in Beijing, and they later may visit Hong Kong.
During the camp, 60 to 70 families will be selected to adopt these kids, to eat and live with them together.
Just one day before, a publicity campaign was also launched at the same place, also aimed at stamping out discrimination against these orphans.
(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2005)
