Fr Gearóid Ó Conaire, OFM, tells of a little Vietnamese boy with AIDS who captured the hearts of those who knew him.This is the story of Tam, an eightyear- old Vietnamese boy who died of AIDS. As well as drawing our attention to a phenomenon affecting two
million children with the HIV virus, Tam taught Fr John Phuong Dinh Toai, a Camillian priest, and all those who cared for him profound spiritual lessons in generosity and detachment. I met Fr John in Rome at a conference I moderated for Caritas Internationalis and the US Embassy to the Holy See between 14th – 16th October 2009. The theme of the conference was on securing better access to early testing and treatment for children living with HIV or HIV/TB co-infection and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Experts from the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation, the famous Vatican children’s hospital (Bambino Gesù) and the Health Commission of the Superiors General were involved in a packed three days of presentations and discussions.