Summer camp fights AIDS depression

Members of a summer camp sponsored by Hong Kong's Chi Heng Foundation visit the Beijing Office of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, a public relation company in Beijing on Tuesday. [Pang Li/China.org.cn]

"I felt so small [in the vast city of Beijing]," Xiaowen, an 18-year-old girl said when asked about her first impression of Beijing on Tuesday.

The jolly and talkative girl is from an AIDS impacted family in Henan Province. Now in Beijing, she is attending a weeklong summer camp comprised of 40 teenagers with the same family background, aged from 10 to 18.

"But sightseeing is not the important aspect of the camp. Chi Heng has created an inviting atmosphere around us," she said, referring to the Hong Kong Chi Heng Foundation, which sponsored the camp. "I have learned that teamwork spirit matters a lot [through playing teamwork building games].Today I saw considerable talent in other people. To play as team, you need to know what other team members are good at."

The ultimate goal of the summer camp is to inspire young people from AIDS impacted families, said Kong Zhouzhou, director of the Chi Heng Foundation's Beijing Office. "We bring those children from their hometowns to big cities to show them a different world. A university tour can prompt them to work harder. We also take them to zoo and science and technology museum to give them chances to learn," she said.

On Tuesday, Xiaowen and her peers visited the Beijing Office of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, a public relations company, where they learned about four Summer Olympics hosting cities around the world and interacted with the company staff in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore.

Xiaowen said that she grew up in a poor family with three children. She became emotional while talking about the hardship that her parents went through in raising her and her siblings. She showed great ambition when talking about her academic studies. She took the college entrance examination in June. If admitted into a university, she said, she would like to major in food quality and security. Furthermore, she would like to go to Canada to further her education after getting a bachelor's degree for the North American country is well-known in this field, if given an opportunity, she said.

Su Wenjie, a staff worker of the foundation, said that camp activities have brought considerable changes to youngsters. Using a child from a previous camp as an example, Su said that the introverted youngster became more assertive after returning home from Beijing, which surprised the child's parents, and the youth also wants to go back to the city to live in the future.

Su said that children in AIDS affected families often suffer great psychological pressures. They don't talk much and are usually shy with other people. They bury their pain in their heart, only to pile up pressures. The camp activities, such as teamwork games and sightseeing tours, are designed to mitigate such pressures, he explained.

Currently, the foundation is financially supporting 15,000 children from AIDS impacted families to allow them to go through formal school educations. Su used to be one of charity receivers. He finished vocational school with the financial help.

Su revealed that the foundation supports school students with one or two parents infected with AIDS. Now it now gives 100 yuan (US$15.7) per month to primary and junior middle school students. As for the summer camp members, they selected the young people based on their academic achievements, household economic conditions and personalities, he said.

Over next few days, the summer camp students will be touring a few places of interests, playing rugby, visiting Tsinghua University and companies, and having drawing and dancing classes.