According to reports from UNAIDS, nearly 12 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 have HIV. There mustn't be any more delays in teaching young people about HIV prevention. A group of Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association members is working hard to teach people about HIV prevention.

Each patient lying in bed in an AIDS shelter in Wat Phrabahtnamphu Temple (a two-hour drive from Bangkok) in Thailand was captured by a video camera. Their arms and legs were so bony that they didn't even have the strength to sit up in bed. They gasped weakly.

Invading viruses were attacking day and night, invisibly and mercilessly, inside the bodies of those whose immune systems were no longer functioning. Signs of abscess and pain showed on every frowning face.

The video camera then panned over to a little AIDS baby resting against the shoulder of a caretaker. The caretaker gently patted the baby, and her little arm moved powerlessly with the rhythm. Her gaunt face showed a pair of helpless eyes that seemed to question the world outside.

Days later, the camera panned back to the little baby, but now she lay in a small coffin. The gathered skirt she wore could not hide her skinny body. Her face showed layers of paper-thin skin and a pair of deep, empty eyes that told others of her death. A hand-made doll lay next to her as her coffin was sent to the incinerator. Her life ended before her little brain had even had any chance to realize the meaning of life.

Human body specimens were everywhere, and bags of ashes were piled high against the walls. Signs of death in Wat Phrabahtnamphu Temple were everywhere.

Behind the video camera, Huang Ya-chun, a member of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association in Thailand, was shocked by what she saw.

Indescribable feelings welled up in Yeh Mei-ping's heart when she touched an AIDS patient for the first time. She was deeply shocked.

AIDS is referred to as "the Black Death of the century." Spreading around the world, the disease has ravaged Africa the most and then Asia.

More than a million people in Thailand--one in every hundred--have AIDS. The disease mainly affects people between 20 and 40 years old. An average of nine people die from AIDS every hour.

Yeh Mei-ping, another collegiate youth member in Thailand, said that it is frightening to think of the countless number of people walking by who have the virus.

Since AIDS is so rampant in Thailand, the local Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association is devoting much of its efforts to understanding the illness, helping out at shelters for AIDS patients, and engaging in HIV prevention education. To learn more about the disease, they began collecting information from the Internet, libraries, newspapers, books, and shelters for AIDS patients.

Mei-ping found out that the virus doesn't spread easily to other people. It is contracted through blood and body fluids. The main ways of contracting AIDS occur when people have multiple sex partners and when drug addicts share needles. Mothers with the virus can pass it on to their unborn babies as well.

After she had learned all this, Mei-ping went to visit AIDS patients. She said, "I never realized that what I saw before me could be so real, helpless, and heartbreaking." She saw the dry, emaciated bodies of these patients in the final stages of their lives. They couldn't feed themselves, and no matter how they turned their bodies they always pressed on some wound somewhere.

Mei-ping was completely depressed. "We can be tortured by a tiny wound, but their wounds are several times more painful!" She tried to control the unbearable emotions in her heart. "There are even AIDS babies in the shelter. They're so cute, but we don't know how long they'll live."

Indescribable feelings welled up in her heart when she touched an AIDS patient for the first time. She was deeply shocked.

Huang Ya-chun was also there to film scenes with a video camera. She was equally overpowered by what she saw. She wanted to ask how these patients faced their illnesses, how they faced desertion by the public, the truth behind AIDS, and why the public was so afraid of AIDS. Her curiosity eventually enabled her to find answers.

Accompanying and helping AIDS patients can't stop the spread of the disease. What can? While Huang Ya-chun was helping patients, she realized that AIDS can only spread through one's own actions. In order to reduce the number of people getting the disease, one must start by purifying people's minds.

In a report at an AIDS conference in Barcelona in 2002, the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS/HIV (UNAIDS) described how young people have become an easy target of AIDS because they lack proper information, engage in improper sexual behavior, or are drug addicts. According to statistics, 11.8 million young people around the world between 15 and 24 years old have the virus, and half of the new HIV carriers added every year are young people.

The same report also pointed out that since more people are having sexual intercourse at an earlier age, AIDS education should start during childhood before adolescence. Every country should focus on the continuation of AIDS education for schoolchildren.

While young Tzu Chi members were busy preparing to teach others about AIDS, Ya-chun came to the shelter in Wat Phrabahtnamphu Temple to begin 10 days of volunteer work, including wiping drawers with disinfectant, changing bed sheets, pushing patients out for strolls, and buying things they needed. She also helped bathe patients, helped them change clothes, or massaged patients with weak or sore bodies.

The volunteers carried out their work day by day, but their devotion still couldn't change the fate of these AIDS patients.

Ya-chun explained how her mindset kept changing while looking after the patients. At the start, she had focused on giving something practical to the patients, such as massages to lessen their physical discomfort or simply listening to them talk.

But after some time, she noticed new faces coming to the temple, which meant that more people were being infected. She started to ponder, "Is that all I can do for them? Accompanying and helping them can't stop the spread of the disease. What can?"

Master Cheng Yen's words, "Purify people's minds," brought light to her. Individuals spread the AIDS virus, so to reduce the number of people getting infected one should start by purifying people's minds.

Ya-chun was so positive in her conclusion that she vowed to become more actively involved in her volunteer work. She also encouraged other people to help with HIV prevention education. "The spread of AIDS is really scary. If one more person is properly educated about AIDS, the risk of other people getting it will be reduced."

Half of the new people carrying the virus every year are young people. HIV prevention education should start during childhood before adolescence. Young people can effectively spread information about AIDS to their peers by word of mouth.

Ya-chun pointed out that young people contract AIDS mainly through sex or drugs. After seeing the suffering of AIDS patients, she often says that the aim of HIV prevention is to push people away from hell before they fall into it.

Whether or not one is homosexual or has only one spouse, one can still spread the virus. Even embryos can get it from their mothers. "People are more likely to engage in sex than take drugs," Ya-chun observed. "So instead of trying to suppress sex, we should teach people to have safe sex."

She added that most AIDS patients die when they are between 30 and 45 years old. Since most patients carry the virus for 10 years, this means that patients are very young when they contract the disease. They die during the time when they are most productive and needed by society, which negatively affects all of society. Ya-chun saw a report in Thailand with the title, "The Lack of HIV Preventative Measures Will Destroy This Country Forever," indicating that public awareness was currently the most important issue and that team spirit and work would be needed.

Young Tzu Chi members in Thailand built up a good foundation from their research in various places before teaching others about AIDS. They use plays, speeches, and posters to make people more aware of the disease. They also join with other Tzu Chi volunteers to show videotapes or perform plays in orphanages and answer questions raised by children about AIDS. Their lively, interesting presentations receive a great response from the children.

Furthermore, the collegiate members have set up classes on AIDS for participants of Tzu Chi Still Thoughts camps, hoping that public awareness of AIDS will spread through various channels.

The Spring Sunlight Club at Tzu Chi University has proclaimed December of every year to be "No AIDS Month." It hopes to teach the public about respect for both genders, correct sex education, and safe sex.

An article on sex and young people by UNAIDS pointed out that the idea of HIV prevention is very important for young people and that only young people can bring that message to their world. "Peer education" is a very important part of the HIV prevention plan and will involve HIV prevention education on campus to reach young people outside campus.

The principles of the Spring Sunlight Club are: no drugs, no cigarettes, no alcohol, no betel nuts, and no AIDS. With help from the National Bureau of Controlled Drugs and the Center for Disease Control, club members teach teenagers how to protect themselves against AIDS.

In December 2000, the club held its first public awareness activity on AIDS and proclaimed December of every year to be "No AIDS Month." Cheng Yang-hsiu, the club president, said that in December of every year, they hand out condoms and teach the public about respect for both genders, appropriate sex education, and safe sex.

Yang-hsiu studies public health at the university. He participated as a freshman in the club's AIDS campaign, which led him to become more concerned about all AIDS topics. He felt that the disease had become a worldwide public health topic. Although no perfect cure exists, official research has shown that preventing is better than curing. Thus, prevention has become very important. "Making the public aware about AIDS may seem trivial, but it is a great contribution," he remarked. From design to execution of activities, the club's yearly efforts on AIDS awareness are carried out by students themselves.

Lin Pei-hsuan, former vice president of the same club, also studies public health. When she learned that the president of Tzu Chi University was thinking about producing an AIDS memorial quilt, she was inspired to bring all the students together to become involved in the topic. She said that when she was in high school, she was never interested in learning about AIDS. Since young people are having sex at an earlier age nowadays, it has become urgent to teach young children about HIV prevention as early as possible. She added that the idea of respecting both genders should also be taught to children.

Pei-hsuan, a mass communications major, said that she once saw a Japanese TV drama in which the main female character was a high school student who contracted HIV because she provided sex for money to buy expensive things she desired. She added that many people nowadays still don't know how AIDS is spread. Some people even believe that holding hands or swimming with AIDS patients will give them the virus. All this motivated her to learn and to teach others about AIDS.

Pei-hsuan explained that people should face HIV prevention with the right attitude instead of hiding from it. If no one faced AIDS with the right perception, even more people would contract the virus. She felt that students could use campus clubs as channels for teaching others about HIV. The students could digest the information while designing relevant activities, setting themselves as examples and leading other people to do the same.

Students shouldn't limit their campaigns only to campuses. Pei-hsuan said that in order to teach younger children about HIV, they wrote a script and invited other students to hold a stage play competition. After showing the play on campus, they plan on presenting it to grade schools in Hualien County and eventually around Taiwan.

Yang-hsiu said, "HIV prevention is so easy that you don't need much preparation. Safe sex can solve many problems." He feels that when people are dating, they should remember to respect their partners' bodies and not do anything to injure their partners. These ideas should be introduced and learned thoroughly during adolescence.

Besides sexual relationships, blood transfusions and drug injections are the two other main important areas to consider in HIV prevention. Clinics and hospitals in Taiwan throw needles away after they are used and examine donated blood to see if it has the virus before using it, so blood transfusion is not really a concern for contracting AIDS. However, drug addicts using needles are marginalized and hide in dark corners of society. Yang-hsiu believes that people don't take drugs just because they are curious; other factors such as family influences and the mentality of these individuals should be of great concern as well.

He added, "The main point about prevention is to relieve them of their pressure and to work on the core of their problems so that they don't need to use drugs to tune out. It is very important to establish good channels for them to release their emotions so that they won't be affected by them or even end up affecting society."

Yang-hsiu stated that what students can do is to carry out community education. He emphasized that family is one important factor in teaching HIV prevention. If family members can get along with each other, people can easily release their pressures. So when students design stage plays, they like to bring in the concept of family to illustrate its effectiveness in HIV prevention.

"No AIDS Month" is still being carried out in December every year at Tzu Chi University. Activities include posters, signing one's name to show opposition towards the spread of the HIV virus, distributing condoms, announcing out loud one's love for someone, and making AIDS memorial quilts. Last year, the students at the club designed a new T-shirt logo that let students paint and write the sentence "Because of love, I respect others and I am opposed to AIDS" on their own T-shirts. Hopefully, the students will learn the right views about respecting both genders.

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Chu Yen-fang, a member of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association in South Africa, relayed a message from a black volunteer about caring for AIDS patients. The message was, "Indifference will speed up the death of AIDS patients." This message struck hard in Ya-chun's heart. She said that when many Thai AIDS patients discovered they had the disease and were consequently despised or shunned by others, they tended to become pessimistic. Some would even stop eating so they could die faster.

In giving care to AIDS patients, Ya-chun also felt their pain and helplessness at being rejected by society. She felt they also needed care and warmth. She added, "When I see the horrible conditions of AIDS patients during the final stages of life, I deeply feel that the human heart can be even more horrible than AIDS."

Yeh Mei-ping emphasized that young people tend to lose their way. They do not know what they are doing. They often regret doing things in their lives that can't be mended. Ya-chun pointed out that all suffering appears because of one single thought that can create irrevocable results.

How can people fight against AIDS? Ya-chun said that the first thing is to look after one's own mind. With so much chaos in society, one needs wisdom to make the right choices. Loving oneself is the best remedy. If one can love oneself, one can love others too. If one can be one's own master, one can help eradicate AIDS and the spiritual suffering of others.