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HIV-infected drug addicts find intimacy through letters at China detox centers

By Hu Yuwei (Global Times)    09:09, December 14, 2018

A letter Ah Jun wrote to his pen pal Ah Ga during their detoxification Photo: Hu Yuwei/GT

"Dear Ah Ga, counting down the days, I finally heard from you. You can't image how happy I am," Ah Jun wrote to his loved one.

They have never met before, but a relationship has developed between the two, who were complete strangers before detoxification.

The couple have many things in common. Both are drug addicts infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Both have been sent to drug rehab centers. Both come from Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, where many residents risk drug trafficking to relieve boredom and poverty.

They are part of a pen pal scheme developed jointly by the Sichuan Women's Detox Rehab Center and Ziyang Men's Rehab Center. The system serves as a potential matchmaker for single HIV-infected inmates.

The core dynamic is of the mutual encouragement between male and female drug addicts to fight addiction. But a romantic relationship between inmates may actually begin from the correspondence.

Zeng Juan, a correction officer at the Women's Rehab Center in charge of centralized management of addicts with HIV, was the first to come up with the idea. Though never explicitly encouraging romantic arrangements, Zeng recognizes the inevitability.

"It's very natural to see people fall in love with their counterpart inmates through warm and inspiring words. A stable relationship means a lot for those stuck with AIDS and addiction," Zeng told the Global Times.

"Feelings of inferiority and even despair over the prospects for marriage can increase HIV-infected drug users' risk of relapse. By forming pairs, they can possibly find life partners and kick drugs together," said Liu Jun, the director of the political office of the Women's Rehab Center.

"I think they deserve a caring friend," said Zeng, explaining what inspired Zeng to try out her pen pal scheme in 2010.

Due to safety issues, traditionally, inmates in different compulsory drug rehab centers are not allowed to exchange letters. Zeng tried to break the taboo. Through a friend who works in the Ziyang Men's Rehab Center, she encouraged male and female addicts with HIV to become pen pals. The pen pal program quickly spread through word of mouth among inmates. More than half of the women inmates have their own pen pals at present.

"Most of our relationship has been epistolary. We got to know each other through letters, and may get to live together when getting out," Cai, a 19-year-old HIV-infected drug abuser, told the Global Times.

Cai didn't believe in the power of a pen pal at first, until she heard that one of her fellow inmates was picked up by her pen pal, a former inmate of the Ziyang Rehab Center, when getting released. The two are still together now. This became a fairy tale in her mind.

Cai struck up a correspondence then and discovered a sense of understanding and undeniable chemistry with an inmate of the same age in the Ziyang Rehab Center.

"I am still very young, both of us want to find a person to seriously start a new life. We are all HIV-infected so we cannot get sick from each other. I expect that we can encourage each other to quit drugs and treat our diseases together as we do now," Cai said. "I do hope to see him picking me up when I get out!" she added.

Rights vs social responsibility

Although all the letters are censored by officers, long-distance couples find many creative ways to convey their affections. "Many picturesque paintings are attached, and touching sentiments are expressed," Zeng said. "Some fold their letters in the shape of a heart, which makes us extremely careful when opening them for monitoring."

"But we block the occasional letters that are clearly negative or flirtatious and suspected of manipulating a women's feelings," Zeng added.

"Letters are usually exchanged once every two weeks. On the day the mail arrives, some women are obviously hanging around the office door waiting for a response. Sometimes a letter can keep one's spirits up for many days," she said.

"Frankly speaking, for overall wellbeing, we advocate people with HIV to pair up with those who are also sick, rather than those who are healthy," Liu said.

"But we're also very conflicted. On the one hand, we respect their willingness to fall in love with anyone. We should not deprive their right to love freely just because of the disease. But on the other hand, more AIDS patients will greatly increase the cost of social relief."

From this point of view, helping the inmates infected with HIV find long-term partners could help prevent the virus from spreading.

In China, AIDS is not yet among the "medically unmarriageable diseases" listed by the marriage law. But in practice, under the guidance of the National Health Commission, doctors in most regions will advise against marriage when one partner is discovered to have the HIV.

"All we can do now is to actively guide them on protecting others, and preventing the virus from being passed to their partners. We actively encourage them to be honest with their partners about their illness, hopefully for minimizing the risk of transmission," Liu said.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji)

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