HIV Girl Mod And Her 2 Friends

Was walking on the road heading towards the slum when a named Mod 33 stopped to talk to me in English. She told me she had boy friends before from Canada, also Germany and Australia so could speak English (sex worker?). Mod told me she was HIV positive for the last 6 years but was not on medication, she took medication for a short time when she was having the farang boyfriends (Canada guy) baby so the baby would not be HIV positive. The young baby lives with her grand mom in the slum, Mod sleeps there sometime she also stays sometime in a shack near the market with her man friends.

I asked Mod if I could make her portrait which she agreed to, later on 2 of her friends both older large men, both drug users came by to watch. I spoke to them and asked them if they wanted to have their photographs taken. I was warned again by one of the drug users Khune Gyp that there were many bad people in the area who might steal my camera, not him because he was good, but others might.

Ended up photographing all 3 of them using up my last 15 sheets of film. I was going to give them 20 baht each but Khune Gym asked for 100 baht for 3 people, so I gave him the 100.

Photographing these people was a bit dangerous, we were on the edge of  the canal, standing on one of the raised platforms, a platform supporting a pillar to the overhead freeway. It would not have taken much, a push and I would have been in the filthy water unable to protect my gear. In front of me as I worked were the girl Mod and the 2 men, behind me only a fall to the dirty bacteria filled canal water, a bit risky but so far I have been lucky with the people I have met in the slum, no real problems.

Thai people are generally good hearted people, even the ones on drugs are warning me of possible dangers.

This shows how if you reach out to people you can find good folks everywhere, that is the story I need to tell.