Several hundred  Thai youth in their late teens and early 20’s have taken time off from school to volunteer their services at the XV International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand. In fact, schools and universities in the capital, Bangkok, are officially closed to allow young Thais to attend the conference.

“I wanted to be a part of the conference because I feel this is a Thai conference. It’s held by Thai people. So, I wanted to be part of it. And to let foreigners know that we are Thais, we are good, we are nice,” said 20 year-old Nattamoan Choo-iead, an Economics student at the local Thammasat University.

Ms Choo-iead decided on volunteering after spotting notices at Thamassat University’s library asking students to volunteer and she immediately filled out a form for selection. She says she “was not surprised to hear” that her application was successful.

All successful candidates were put through a rigorous week-long training programme to orientate them about the conference before being assigned duties. Nattamoan is stationed at the Bangkok airport where she works as a receptionist until the conference ends on Friday, 17th July.

But, her job is not about answering telephones. She says it involves “receiving guests at the airport, making sure that they get to the correct hotel and that they feel comfortable about being in Thailand.”

Volunteers are paid a small fee in the local Baht currency.

The conference has helped Nattamoan to “deal with people, especially their emotions which require her to be patient,” an attribute she admits that she “lacks to some degree.” But for the image of the Thai she is prepared to take whatever the “foreigners throw her way.”

It’s frustrating, but much fun at the same time. However, Nattamoan laments the fact that she “cannot attend nor take part in any of the sessions taking place” at the XV International AIDS Conference.

“I want to learn about the lives of people infected with HIV, their real lives because I never learnt about that. And no one can teach you. You have to learn it yourself, from your experiences. You have to be with the people who have HIV… I’m not scared of people who live with HIV, but I’ve never been with them all my life. I just want to know how it would feel if I would be with someone who has AIDS,” she said.

But she reckons it’s “good that the conference is being held in Thailand”, adding that it would “help the nation, particularly young people to protect themselves from contracting HIV.”

And how about herself? “No, I don’t think I’m at risk. I know how to protect myself… I’m still a virgin. In Thailand, we believe that women should be virgins until they get married. In terms of boyfriends, for me, I just want someone whom I can really talk with, just be friends, be close to each other. Sex is not important to me. Maybe it’s not the time, yet. Maybe I’ll decide to have sex some day when I think I’m grown enough to be responsible for the effect, but now I’m not,” she said in between giggles.

At the moment Nattamoan is single, unattached and looking. Her boyfriend just recently dumped her. But that’s not something she worries about. “He broke up with me. I got dumped… But I’m fine. Actually, my ex-boyfriend cheated on me. He’s the bad one. So, who cares? I’ll find another one. The better one,” she said.

E-mail Khopotso Bodibe