JAMES CHAU: A TV CELEBRITY WITH 'A HEART OF GOLD' By Melati Mohd Ariff

BEIJING, May 20 (Bernama) -- James Chau, 31, is a celebrity in his own right. He first appeared on television in a children's show in Britain at the tender age of nine years old.

As a television presenter, he taped about 15 programmes a week. His news and
business programmes were viewed in more than 80 countries on China Central
Television's English channel, CCTV-9, and a 24-hour news channel.

Describing his hectic schedule, Chau said: "Everything is built around the
timing of my television programmes, which changes every week. Sometimes I am on
air in the early morning, other times in the evening, while on occasions, I stay
in the studio until 4 am for overnight shift."

To Chau, his television career is his number one priority. Nevertheless,
despite his hectic schedule, Chau, in his personal capacity, has another
passion.

For this, Chau said he ‘has to make time’ for it.

"So passionate that it drives me through the times when I think I want to
give it all up. We don't have much time to live. Eighty years, if you are lucky?
Maybe 60? Or not even 20?

"So, we have a duty to get out of bed and live the opportunities each day
given to us to its absolute fullest!" he told Bernama, adding that "not everyone
knows who I am, but maybe someone, somewhere has heard of me and will give me a
minute to talk to them about HIV and AIDS".

HIV AND AIDS

Chau has now become a strong advocate for HIV and AIDS. Due to time
limitation, Chau has turned his website www.james-chau.com into a platform for
anyone to access, among other things, good and reliable information on the
disease.

His website also has links to other AIDS-related websites and he has also
opened two accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

"I hope these exciting forms of digital media would allow me to reach out to
the young people, to talk to them about HIV and AIDS and for them to ask me
questions," he said.

On and off screen, Chau partnered the United Nations (UN) in fighting the
stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA).

He has travelled through India, Thailand and China and was amongst 40 health
activists named to the inaugural Young Leaders Summit at Google, California.

He is also involved as a working group member of the aids2031 initiative,
supported by the UN, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), as well
as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Chau who spent the first 22 years of his life in London is also a Media
Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

"I think it is natural for a journalist to be interested in everything that
move in this world. I am obsessed by news, politics, architecture, arts and
music.

"But most of all, it is people and the complex nature of human relationships
that makes me most curious," Chau who is a graduate of Cambridge University
said.

The writer chanced upon Chau while attending a two-day Media Leaders'
Seminar on HIV and AIDS in Beijing last April 23-24, a programme organised by
Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV /AIDS and Development (APLF).

Chau whose grandfather (from his mother's side) once lived in Malaysia was
invited to speak and share his thoughts and experience on HIV and AIDS issues.
The subsequent interview with Chau was done through e-mails.

HOW IT STARTED

It was 'almost by accident' that Chau became an advocate for HIV and AIDS.
In 2003, he was asked to cover the global SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome) pandemic that took him to four locations, namely Hong Kong, Bangkok,
Kuala Lumpur and Geneva (accompanying Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi to the World
Health Assembly).

The assignment was in his own words a’ crash course' for him in public
health and infectious diseases. Being a 24-year-old reporter back then, Chau
said he did not think too much of his own exposure to the virus.

Chau's parents and brother were more worried for him as they thought of the
many people he came into contact each day throughout his work.

Chau recalled how the people were gripped with fear and panic when they were
hit by this so-called new and mystery illness.

"The same could be said about HIV and AIDS even though now it is no longer
new and no longer a mystery. But the prejudices against people living with this
disease are shocking.

"Through my journalism career, I got to know a lot of people at the United
Nations and I asked them what I could do to help. After all what's the point of
being a so-called 'public figure' if I couldn't use my skills to serve the
public?

"At first, I imagined myself writing press releases or giving some media
training. But they would like me to meet people living with HIV and AIDS. And
that's how it began. It happened almost by accident but a 'happy' accident," he
quipped.


LIFE TRANSFORMING

According to Chau, a lot of people associate HIV and AIDS with the process
of 'dying' but to him, it has taught him how to live a good and better life.

In admitting that he too at times suffered bouts of depression, both minor
and severe to the extent of wanting to give up, Chau confided that there was
also a positive side to it.

"My depression is also good as it gives me a sense of urgency to live each
day to its fullest. It also helps me to understand that life is not easy for any
of us.

"As such working on issues of HIV and AIDS has been life transforming
because it gives me a new purpose, a new meaning and heaps of new energy. I have
been to testing centres and to slum communities from Thailand to India. This has
changed my life, my expectations and my hopes.

"When I was in California last year, I said the same to UN Under
Secretary-General Peter Piot and thanked him for getting me involved in HIV and
AIDS programmes and for taking me under his wing. Because all this has saved me.
It has given me a second shot at life. It has given me a reason to live," said
Chau.


SHEER FRUSTRATION

But as Chau juggles time between his television work and championing the HIV
and AIDS cause, he was at times left frustrated.

He used to get frustrated by people who did not understand but now he got
frustrated more by people who did not want to understand.

"We live in a world brimming with prejudice whether it is based on race,
religion, sexuality, gender, economic power and so on. For HIV and AIDS, the
stigma and discrimination cover all these.

"Who would want to live with HIV and AIDS? Yes, the 'physical' disease can
be managed by anti-retroviral medication that allows you to live a good and long
life, but is often the 'second' disease of stigma and discrimination that is
harder to treat.

"No wonder drug can ever protect you against unkind words, harsh looks and
discriminatory behaviour which is why, time again, we have to be mindful of the
way we act and react towards each other," explained Chau.

Talking to PLWHA, he said, has often made him realised that the doubts,
concerns, fear and hatred showed against them also exposed the 'insides of all
that is flawed with the human soul.'

"Pessimistic as it may sound, it is not a lost cause. We can all change even
if it is bit by bit. The trick is to get someone to start the ball rolling and
for each of us to make a silent commitment to ourselves each day to use the 24
hours we are given to use it the best we can," he said.

Prejudice, according to Chau, stemmed not only from a lack of information.
He said it was also due to lack of desire to learn that information sometimes
speaks more loudly of our insecurities and self-doubt than it does about our
feelings towards the person we are directing our unfeeling behaviour.

TOP AGENDA

Chau who has lived in Beijing for the past six years argued that HIV and
AIDS need to be given top priority.

Each year, he said, more than two million people die of AIDS-related
illnesses, which is more than all the recent influenza epidemics put together.

"HIV and AIDS need to be at the top of our agenda for the simple reason that
28 years after the first cases were identified, it continues to affect our
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

"If you don't think it matters to you, think again. It is not just about
good health, it is about our way of life," he stressed.

The UN Security Council, Chau said, in Resolution 138 recognised that the
pandemic has a 'uniquely' devastating impact on our society which, in itself, is
a clear and present threat to the security and stability of our world today.

Chau also felt strongly over public health issues and he spoke his mind at
last year's WEF.

"We were asked to give keywords to describe our biggest challenges. Most
people came up with short-sighted terms like global financial crisis while I
stood up and talked about the urgent need to address public health issues.

"I could hear groans in the audience and I could see them roll their eyes.
But I was not perturbed. I asked them what good it would be (and what profits
would be had) if their workforce was dead?

"I still believe that while economic recessions come and go, old and new
diseases are here to stay. Together, though, we can change that one step at a
time. The danger is that we will just get used to HIV and AIDS and let it grow
while we are distracted elsewhere," explained Chau.

JOURNEYS' OF PLWHA

Meetings with PLWHA had left a deep mark with Chau and to him, each person
he met was unique. Their individual journeys with HIV and AIDS, however, he said
were best told through the families around them.

Chau recounted to Bernama his trip to Bangkok last year where he visited a
facility which he described as 'amazing' called the Wednesday Friends' Club. It
was established in the 1980s and subsidised by Thai Red Cross Society.

The first members of the 'Club' were a small group of men and women who were
HIV positive. These people had the same doctor and met each other randomly every
Tuesday while waiting in the corridor. They bonded through a feeling of
solidarity which grew over the years.

At the 'Club', Chau said he met a woman named Nin (not her real name) who
was infected by her migrant worker husband. The husband has since died.

He described 'Nin' as a model of life, adding she looks great and full of
energy. She smiles a lot and works at the Club as a counsellor. Her face lighted
when she related to Chau accounts of her works with HIV positive people.

"She has given a lot of her time for this work and is a tower of strength
for every PLWHA that crosses her path. I asked her who gives her encouragement?
Who gives her love?

"She tells me it is difficult to talk to her father but she calls her mother
when she feels down. It is a tough life for Nin and I am touched by her journey.
I am also touched by the 33.2 million PLWHA's journeys worldwide that are being
walked, overcome and conquered as we speak," said Chau.

Chau's work with HIV and AIDS was far from over and when asked if ever he
was granted with a wish, Chau was quick to say: "That we live in a world where
HIV and AIDS do not exist and where war, conflict and human suffering belonged
to a footnote in history."

* Chau represents the UN when he talks about HIV and AIDS and go on visits.

-- BERNAMA