"Our expenses are running high, at as much as Bt4 million per month, while our donations only reach Bt1 million to Bt2 million a month," Phra Ajarn Alongkot Dikkapanyo, the temple's abbot said.

"On bad days, we only get around Bt3,000 in donations," Chalermphol Pholamung, an official of the temple's Thammarak Niwet Project said.

The temple is now home to about 500 patients and people living with HIV/Aids of various ages, 150 of whom need round-the-clock care, and a further 200 of whom need regular medication and close monitoring, said another official Charin Khonman.

Most of them are older than 30, he added.

According to Charin, the two main sources of income funding the temple's activities are direct donations to the temple and indirect donations made through social activities held under the name of abbot Phra Alongkot.

State authorities do allocate some funds to the temple, but only Bt1 million a year.

"This does not even cover the temple's costs for one month," said Phra Alongkot. The main costs at Wat Prabaht Namphu are food, medicine, electricity, and maintenance, Charin explained.

"Abbot Phra Alongkot has to work around the clock seven days a week to earn Bt2 million to Bt3 million every month in order to ensure the temple can continue to run smoothly," he said.

"We cannot imagine how we could continue without the abbot's energetic activities."

The abbot's fundraising activities include the collection of donations for Dhamma preaching services.

Apart from the lack of sufficient donations, the temple also suffers from a shortage of volunteer workers, Charin said. It has just two doctors who visit the patients regularly on a voluntary basis.

"We used to ask doctors and nurses to work on a regular basis at the temple but no one agreed to come here. So we now have to send serious cases that require doctors to Lopburi Hospital instead."

"We are currently running at 30 per cent overcapacity. One volunteer has to take care of 10 patients, which often rises to 30 patients at weekends when some of our staff have to leave to attend to their studies," Charin said.

Under the patronage of Phra Alongkot, Wat Phrabaht Namphu's reputation as a sanctuary for terminally ill Aids patients has developed over the last 14 years, starting out with the handful of patients who came to the temple in the hope that its Dhamma practices would help them breathe their last breaths in peace and contentment.

"We are glad that the Dhamma can help them even though it is the last period of their life. It is a monk's duty to help people. But when they came, we had to take care of them too. That was the beginning of the story," Phra Alongkot said.

From a handful of terminally ill Aids patients, the numbers rapidly swelled, then stabilised at about 500 people living with HIV/Aids at the temple today, including patients with varying medical needs, the abbot said.

"We try to limit the figures to this number, except the special cases that really need our service. Otherwise we will exceed our capacity," Charin said.

Individuals affected by HIV/Aids applying to live at the temple fall into two main categories, those who find themselves unable to cope financially and those who are unable to live with their parents or communities due to social pressures and rejection.

"Some of them cannot live at home even though their families understand them. If their family runs a food shop or salon for example, customers often refuse to use their services," Charin explained.

"We have to screen case by case in order to ensure they really need to stay with us. We begin by checking their identity, blood and background. We then provide consultation first, which might take an hour or as long as half day in some cases. In many cases, they agree to go home after adjusting their attitude and witnessing how people in the temple are struggling with their illness," he said.

But demand is still incredibly high. Phra Alongkot reports that every day, around 10 people come to the temple to apply to stay there free of charge and under medication, most of whom are children brought by their parents or relatives.

"We can take better care of them now. In the past, three infected kids died every month, now this figure has been reduced to only one," the abbot said.

Apart from taking care of Aids patients during the last days of their lives, the temple is also undertaking three projects, including the Thammarak Nivet Project to create working communities for people living with HIV/Aids.

The project's site is located in a 2,600-rai area in Nong Muang district of Lopburi, and is expected to become home to thousands of people living with HIV/Aids.

"We don't want this group of people to be excluded from society, but they really need somewhere they can live a normal life," Charin said.

"Such a project would not be necessary if people in society had the right attitude towards people with HIV/Aids, or their local communities practised more understanding and learned to live together," he added.

Another of the projects at Wat Phrabaht Namphu is a public education programme addressing the issue of HIV/Aids, which puts an emphasis on preventive measures.

"We have learnt that helping these people when they are facing death is good, but not good enough. Preventing them from putting themselves at risk is much more important and we are prioritising this new aim," Charin said.

However, the new programmes will put even more financial strain on the temple.

"In terms of the financial crisis, the best we can do is to try our best to save money as much as we can. Unfortunately, due to the rising oil prices and the current economic situation, our regular costs are inevitably increasing and we are likely to be unable to avoid shouldering more," he said.

Kamol Sukin

The Nation