Soon Aids sufferers or people living with HIV Aids (PLWHA) will have a place to call 'home'.

Thanks to the Community Aids Service Penang (CASP) - among the pioneers in Aids relief work in the northern region - plans are underway to set up a shelter home for PLWHA's.

CASP chairperson PR Selvarajan (photo - seated third from left with his commitee members) said that a home was badly needed, and there was none in the north region to cater for the needs of homeless and abandoned PLWHA's.

"The need for a decent place to stay and to die in dignity is the objective of the shelter home. It is also for clients who have been disowned by their family and spouse," he told malaysiakini.

"Over the years there has been an ever increasing need for a temporary shelter for clients who are sick but have been discharged from hospital as they do not need any medical attention," he said.

"What they would need is supervision for their medication and care to recovery. This would give the care-givers at home a break and would not hinder with their work," he added.

Spouses affected

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus ) infection destroys the body's immune system, causing severe illnesses. At a later stage, the cumulated symptoms are defined as Aids (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).

Treatment is available, but it is costly and there is no known cure.

CASP is currently servicing a number of clients, who are suffering from symptoms of Aids due to defaulting medication and appointments at the hospital, and have no where else to turn to.

Its client list has grown from 30 in 2002 to 177 in August this year, and these patients include males (70), female (44), children infected with Aids (13). They also care for those suffering from HIV related illnesses (50).

Most of them are married with a family, thus their spouses have to be the sole bread winners. Their families may be infected with HIV as well, said Selvarajan.

"The wife who is not well herself, is forced to work, to care for the children, and to add to her burden is the sick husband," he explained.

"This is very taxing for the woman and in most cases she too falls ill," he added.

Meanwhile, several PLWHA's have expressed their need for a shelter home, giving various reasons why there is an urgency to establish such a place.

Dignity

Loner (not his real name), said that his wife has left with his children, and he does not have a home or family to go home to.

"Just give me a corner, even in the mortuary will do," he lamented.

Vicky (not her real name) said that she and her husband were both HIV positive and he had stopped taking his medication two years ago due to financial constraints.

"I have often stayed back to look after my sick husband and I am also feeling very sick," she said.

"A shelter for people like us would be most welcome - to help us in our most difficult moments to ease the burden we bear," she added.

Bala (not his real name) said that he had been looking forward to a shelter where he "could die with dignity".

"When my condition gets bad I will just leave my family and hope to find a place I can die in dignity and spare my family the stigma and discrimination," he said.

Anthy (not her real name) said for the last five years she had been moving from place to place as she was homeless.

"My husband passed away in 2000 and it was only after that I came to know that I am infected with the virus as well. Then, my in-laws threw me out of their house.

"I have no one here, I cannot speak Malay and cannot get employed as I do not have the documents.," said Anthy, who is an Indian national.

"A Shelter would indeed be very welcoming for people like me when we get sick and no one to look after us, she added.

S LOONG is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.