In Taiwan, Catholic volunteers celebrate Easter with people living with HIV/AIDS
Taipei (AsiaNews) – Easter celebration in Taiwan is a time to raise awareness about the situation of those who are suffering and the most marginalised.
Paul and Jiachyi are the executive directors in the Taiwan Lourdes Association (社團法人 台灣 露 德 協會), an association dedicated to caring for people, especially young people, living with HIV.
Starting this weekend, they are preparing a series of meetings to widen further their field of action and increase the number of people involved, especially in the Catholic community, in this kind of mission.
"In 1997 we started our work by setting up the Taiwan Lourdes Association,” said Paul Hsu (徐 森杰 秘書長), the association’s executive director.
“The association’s goal was HIV and AIDS prevention and the creation of a community of people focused on taking care of people at risk and those who had already contracted the virus."
"At that time, I had started to think about how best to use my talents,” he said. “Although I had received several job offers in the volunteer sector, we threw ourselves into this new field working with the sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity (天主教 仁愛 修女 會).
“After about 18 years I am happy with my work, which enables me to live with those afflicted by the immunodeficiency disease, and often, it is sad to say, the discrimination of those who are narrow-minded."
"The Daughters of Charity have always been the backbone of the movement,” added Yang Jiachyi (楊家琪 小姐). “As far back as 1960, they opened a ‘Lourdes Home' for orphans and disadvantaged children.”
“Starting in 1997,” she added, “as the number of HIV-positive patients ballooned, the service focused on supporting them and their families. The need to give stability to this mission led us to register the association as a non-governmental organisation in 2006.”
“This generated even wider visibility and greater support. Thus, more people came forward to volunteer their time or provide financial resources. Thanks to this, we were able to involve a very large number of volunteers. The basic work is to create ties, and prevent loneliness among those who feel marginalised."
"We are involved in various support centres across the island because the people who need our service and care know that with us they can find support and understanding, as well as medical support,” Yang explained.
"The campaigns we are preparing concern raising funds and especially awareness about the problem,” Paul said with regard to the meetings scheduled for the coming weeks.
“We want to show how the Christian community is involved at the forefront of this mission and heeds the call of those who are marginalised because of their illness.”
“Fortunately, even within the Church, people are moving more and more from an attitude of condemnation to one of acceptance. This overcomes many ideological barriers and favours working together for the good of those most in need. "
The Lourdes Association’s educational outreach is best seen in the fact that, in the past two years, 11,754 people, mostly teenagers, have taken part in the training and prevention courses it sponsored.
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