Media Center

©UNICEF/China

If only her father could see her laughing now.

When Mie (left) was 7 years old, her father could no longer bear the thought of her dying. 

“My father never believed that I could survive and go to school as a normal girl. He made me a delicious meal and ran away from home for a new life. I begged him to stay with me or bring me with him when he left, but he just told me to live by myself with whatever my fate brings to me. He said he couldn't see me die before him.” 

Mie was taken in by a woman named Nile, who started a mothers' self-help group for women and children who are HIV-positive that UNICEF supports with training and a monthly subsidy to peer educators. The local government and other organizations cover the children's expenses. Nile immediately enrolled Mie for AIDS treatment and into first grade. 

“Nile is like my mother. She is taking care of seven children, including four children abandoned by their real parents and three of her own children. I can't remember my own mother's face. Every time when I see a mother or father accompanying a child in a big bed for sleep in TV, I can't help but cry. I need my mother and father to love me but I only have scared dreams about them. Sometimes I hear my mom calling my name and asking me to go along with her in my dreams and it really frightened me. Every time when I have this dream, I can't sleep for the rest of the night. I don't want to die and that's why I never skip my life-saving drugs.” 

Mie is 10 years old now, with a bubbly life of friends and school activities that she wants her father to see. “I don't think I hate him. I wish he could come back to see me someday.” 

Note: The name of the HIV/AIDS affected child is changed in this article to protect her privacy.