In 2007, Harmony Home Association, Taiwan, rented an apartment for the victims of HIV to live in. However, the neighbors filed a lawsuit against Harmony Home Association because they feared that they would be infected by HIV. Although, during the second trial concerning this issue the court dismissed the accusation, the patients with severe AIDS had already been relocated to another apartment that had been converted to a shelter for  women recovering from drug abuse and infants born with AIDS. This case attracted a lot of attention; many humanitarian organizations took this as an opportunity to raise awareness about this issue. As a result, the government amended the law to protect these vulnerable people.  

 I've always loved playing around with kids, especially taking care of the babies since I'm the oldest at home, however, when I first stepped into the shelter, seeing all the children and babies there, I felt a sense of sorrowness, thinking if all of the cute faces are orphans. Not knowing what to expect, I was really nervous and didn’t know what would happen for the next two weeks. To be honest, I was really afraid because I thought that they are all HIV positives children. Because of the lack of knowledge, I was afraid that scratches on my arms and legs would cause infection.

However, after learning how HIV is not as easily passed on as I thought (the virus 

does not easily survive in air without a host), I felt really horrible about myself. Moreover, not every child at the shelter is HIV positive, and even if they are, there’s a good chance that they can be cured if they are under one year old. I put all my prejudice behind and tried to blend in with the kids.

Xin Xin is the very first baby I took care of. She turned one during our service trip. She became really attached to me and cried whenever she saw me taking care of another baby. Her mother took her to the shelter every day and left for work at 11 am. She picked her back up at 7 to 8 at night. This is to ensure that even though the mom has to work for the both of them, they do not lose the mother-daughter relationship while the daughter is growing up. Xin Xin is definitely one of the more privileged in the shelter. Unlike Xin Xin, Ti Ti, like most of the other children at the shelter, lives there permanently. With the money we raised before we went to the shelter, we bought presents for them that could help with their education. Even though Ti Ti refused to share the toys we bought for them, he was more able to put others first than most kids. When Nadia had trouble holding a crying child, he offered his help and the child immediately stopped crying. He knows how to take charge by telling children younger than him not to do this or that like a big brother in the center.

My name is Nicole Wu, a senior at San Domenico School. During the summer of 2013, along with Yi Ning Wong, Nadia Ting, and Holly Wheeler, I decided to volunteer at Harmony Home Association in an attempt to help reintegrate the residents into society and raise awareness about them. 

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