Chung To

life - Life & death at Henan's AIDS' villages

Yesterday Chung To of the Chi Heng Foundation spoke at a meeting of the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club. This Hong Kong based charity has been helping orphans in Henan whose parents diend of AIDS, caused by the blood trade in the 1990s. In terms of deaths and human suffering this is one of the more gruesome stories in China's recent past. It has wiped out a whole middle generation.
While we all have read the stories and seen the pictures, hearing it from Chung To himself was still impressive. Some of the correspondents made notes, so I will be able to link to their stories later. Because many of the local officials have been involved in the blood trade themselves, charities like Chi Heng have had a hard time to actually give help.
Even now, many of the victims die without help and Chung To estimates that only a small percentage is now being reached.
More troublesome, because the blood trade is financially so attractive, underground blood stations are still working, maybe not in Henan, but in other provinces more West.

In another activity, the Chi Heng Foundation helped to set up China's first hotline for lesbians.