A Shanghai charity foundation is recruiting volunteers to become pen pals with children in Henan Province whose family members have contracted HIV or AIDS.

The Huaqiao Foundation plans to select 50 high school students from AIDS-infected families in Shangcai County of Henan Province and set them up with pen pals from Shanghai.

It is currently recruiting volunteer pen pals through Donatehour, a Website that allows people to donate their time to help others.

Information about 23 children has already been published on the Website, and 21 locals have signed up to become pen pals, according to the foundation.

It is estimated there are about 200 high school students in the county from families with AIDS sufferers. Discrimination from society has left many of them feeling isolated, the foundation said.

Having a pen pal would create equal and frequent communication opportunities for these children, officials said.

"We hope the pen pals can bring new hope to the children and make them confident in their lives again," said Ji Hui of the Huaqiao Foundation.

Ji said many of the high school students are under a great deal of stress as they deal with their studies, a sick relative, and discrimination from classmates.

"We don't want the pen pals to provide education, but communication," said Ji, adding that a kindly friend is much more valuable to these children than money.

"The response from the Internet was so good that we had to close the applications temporarily," said Liu Run, who runs Donatehour.

"There are two kinds of help available to the poor: substantial and spiritual, which are equally important," said Yu Hai, a sociology professor at Fudan University.

"The volunteers can also gain happiness through helping such people."

(Shanghai Daily February 24, 2006)