Jeremy Berkoff visits Rejoice

Jeremy Berkoff is a long term donor to Rejoice. Although he had never previously visited Rejoice, he did have a connection in that several years ago a dear friend of his died as a result of HIV. That friend was taken care of during his final years at Chai Prakan Hospital, one of the hospitals Rejoice networks with.

A Better Life

Schools in Chiang Mai City set an example by becoming places where ethnic diversity is no barrier to education

The following article is taken from the Bangkok Post. It paints a positive picture of the fortunate migrant workers children who live in the city.  However, in the remote rural areas of the province this is not the case.

Making Regular House Calls 

Rejoice's programmes cater to a variety of needs, there are HIV/AIDS medical care, HIV/AIDS education and prevention programmes, free infant formulas, education sponsorship and one to one counselling.

The following articles show how, by means of networking and co-operation, patients living in rural areas are reached.

Chai Prakan Fight HIV with a Smile Club

This "Education and Prevention" meeting was organised by Plan International, Rejoice, Chai Prakan HIV volunteers group,"ชมรมไชยปราการยิ้มสู้", (Chai Prakan Fight HIV with a Smile Club), Baan Hua Fai School and the Si Dong Yen sub-district Administration Organization.

Baan Hua Fai School is located in Si Dong Yen Sub-district. Chai Prakan District, Chiang Mai. The school consists of 150 students studying from kindergarten to grade 3 and 15 teachers.

100 Novice Monks

Many will be surprised to see an HIV/Aids class being held in a Buddhist temple. Reproductive health education is a rather delicate issue not only in Buddhism but also in most other religions.
Wat Kong Lom is the second "Education and Prevention" session Rejoice has been involved in a Buddhist temple in Wiang Haeng District in the past month.
Wat Kong Lom temple is approximately 3km from Wiang Haeng Hospital.

Bangkok Patana Pre-med Students 2019

Each year in June Rejoice has the opportunity to welcome pre-med high school students from Bangkok Patana School. The students stay at the Mae Kok River Resort's Outdoor Education Centre. Part of the programme at the Education Centre consists of accompanying Rejoice on their visits to the rural hospitals, schools and villages.  Together with volunteer HIV healthcare workers, (themselves HIV positive), attached to rural hospitals Rejoice guides the students to witness first hand the practical and emotional support given to people affected by HIV in the rural North of Thailand.

To the good-hearted person, Carol Foo

Every Tuesday, on their way to the northern border, the Rejoice pick-up truck can be seen making a small detour, to deliver essential provisions to Mae Ho day care nursery.
The nursery is situated to the south of Chiang Dao town.
In 2015 the Thai government decreed that children under the age of 3 years should not be in a day care but at home looked after by their mother.

Education and Prevention at Wat Fa Wiang Inn

 Rejoice had been invited by the Abbot of the Shan, Buddhist temple on the Myanmar border to give a talk on reproductive health and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) to 40 Tai Yai (Shan) monks.

This was the first time Rejoice had been asked to make a presentation at a Buddhist temple.

The Department of Disease Control has revealed that most of the patients with sexually transmitted diseases are people aged between 15 and 24 years old (36.9%) while Bangrak STIs Center has posted on its Facebook page that syphilis patients are “dispersing” which has raised concerns on social media. The statistics also show that about 30% of people having their first intercourse do not use a condom.

 This intro, archive photo, from 2011, shows 6 children in Chiang Dao impacted by HIV and sponsored by SDL.

Today, SDL have sponsored 15 children, 9 from Chiang Dao. Some of whom, can be seen in the intro photo.

The SWAY below, from March 2019, show the Chiang Dao children sponsored by SDL. 

The following YouTube video was presented in the AVERT website. 'It is the first video in our brand new explainer series'.

Visit AVERT's website.

"Avert is working at the forefront of HIV and sexual health education. We believe in the power of digital communications to increase knowledge and understanding of HIV and sexual health, so people can make informed choices and live healthily."

https://www.avert.org/who-we-are

Baan Pang Fueng School

On Friday22 February 2019, an Education and Prevention meeting was held at Baan Pang Fueng School.
Rejoice together with HIV volunteers from Chiang Dao Hospital arrived at the School at 8.30am
The team were welcomed by the Head Master who introduced them to the students.
The Education and Prevention sessions was given to 52 students aged between 12-15 years