Chiang Mai Here We Come

Morning time:

So we get up and pack our things because we are on the move, this time by plane headed to Chiang Mai. We had to track back 3 hrs to Bangkok to catch a plane. After throwing a frisbee around at the airport and an uneventful 1 hour flight to Chiang Mai, we get there meet a Thai Christian artist at the airport which was pretty cool! Once we got in the van and started looking around we quickly realized that we already loved this place and must ride a moped A.S.A.P. It looks like a very chill city and we are xcited to see what we will be doing here.

P.S. We have yet to meet our XLAC, the running joke is that he doesn't really exist. We now call him the voice or Charlie ( and we are his angels) because we hear Duane talking to him on the phone but no face to the name! All jokes aside, he's really helped plan this out well.

Night time:

Today we met Lynn and Lee, the minds behind Bahn Handicrafts. It's a business run by those infected with HIV/AIDS. Lynn spoke to us about how exactly these survivors got infected -- some by intravenous drug use, but many women and children were infected by their husbands.

In Thai culture, it is often accepted or tolerated for husbands and men in general to attend brothels. They then come home and infect their families.

I was appalled. It just reaffirmed my belief that women must take care of each other and support one another. As a gender, we are very strong -- we give birth, we commit to being wives, we work hard at our careers -- and if men fail us, we must rely even more fully on each other.

Some women stay with their husbands after this catastrophe. Some have no choice -- drugs for HIV/AIDS are expensive and they may not make enough to support themselves and their children on their own. I feel all of these would be a deeply humiliating experience, and one to mourn.

Lynn described to me the story of one woman -- she did not even know she had HIV/AIDS until her husband got into a car crash and the hospital did an automatic test. He died several days later. So not only did this woman have to grieve for her husband and figure out how to support herself and her children on one income, she now had to deal with the hospital calling her and telling her to get herself and her children tested. And then deal with a positive test.

My soul cries out for these women, for this grave injustice being done to them. The world over, my sisters are being abused, and I must do all I can to ease their burdens.