First lady meets AIDS patients in Thailand
AIDS weekly plus 1996: 14
1996
PMID: 12320489 Document Number: 302088
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her tour of Thailand: 1) joined a panel discussion at New Life Center, a missionary shelter and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) hospice that houses and educates 151 girls from remote hill tribes who were rescued from being, or from becoming, brothel prostitutes or "restaurant hostesses"; 2) inspected a U.S. supported program in Chiang Rai province that provides scholarships, vocational training, and jobs to 1200 girls as income alternatives to their sale; and 3) toured a school that extends the education of girls beyond the mandatory age of 12, the age at which many are sold to Bangkok brothel middlemen. There are 500,000-700,000 prostitutes in Thailand; many die of AIDS. Girls can be sold for $1000 and send money home later; instead of poverty, the family has a new home, a motorcycle, and status. Mrs. Clinton emphasized the lifetime benefit available to a family when a girl is educated.