HK pupils bring a ray of sunshine toAids orphans' lives

Although they have never met, Cheung Pok-ho, 11, knows a lot about his pen friend Lan Ting, an Aids orphan from Henan province .

'Lan Ting's parents and uncle died of Aids,' says Pok-ho. 'What's worse, her grandfather was killed in a car accident after visiting her at Sunshine Home. But she is tough and does not give up easily.' The student from SKH St Andrew's Primary School says he was so touched that he cried after reading Lan Ting's diaries.

Pok-ho and his classmates have developed an unusual bond with their counterparts at Sunshine Home in Wen Lou village after exchanging letters and diaries with them. The boarding school is home to some of the young victims of the mainland's shocking Aids outbreak in the mid-1990s.

St Andrew's students are taking part in a pen pal programme organised by Michelle Zhang Zhen, secretary general of the Hong Kong Pao Foundation.

More than a decade ago, hundreds of impoverished villagers, particularly in Henan, were infected with the deadly disease after selling blood at unhygienic collecting stations.

Wen Lou is one of the villages hardest hit by Aids. Aids-stricken peasants have been dying over the past 10 years, leaving hundreds of young children orphaned. They are sent to boarding schools, such as Sunshine Home, where they stay until they grow up.