Waverley Care - 'Help us tackle this prejudice and ignorance'

The story of ten-year-old Paul as told by his father in today's News is enough to break any parent's heart.

It is impossible for the rest of us to fully understand what this father and son have been through together. How do you even begin to explain to your child why no-one has turned up to their ninth birthday party? How do you protect them from hate and misunderstanding when it surrounds them from the moment they step out of the door each morning?

The reason they are forced to live like this is due only to fear and ignorance of a medical condition, one which Paul was born with, HIV.

Twenty-five years after the Aids crisis gripped the country, it is still a condition which all too often prompts hysterical and irrational reactions. The 50-odd children in the Lothians directly affected by HIV/Aids and their families will all tell the same story.

A powerful stigma surrounds them. The fall-out from people learning the truth about their lives is so damaging that almost all choose not to tell. They live instead with what becomes a terrible secret, making their burden all the harder to bear.

This year the Evening News Christmas appeal will raise funds for the city-based HIV/Aids charity Waverley Care and its work with children and young people.

We are asking for your help to fund vital support services which ensure these children and their families do not have to cope alone. Times are tough financially for all of us so we are asking only that you give whatever you feel you can spare. But what Robert wants more than anything is to challenge prejudice against people with HIV/Aids. Please help us to do that by sharing his story with someone.

Warm reception?

The St Andrew's Day celebrations in Edinburgh tomorrow aim to move away from the blinkered tartan and shortbread image of Scotland by featuring breakdancing alongside ceilidh.

The only question is, how many people will notice? Most of us will be too busy following another Scottish tradition, trying to keep warm as the temperatures plummet. It's enough to make you wish St Andrew had stronger connections with, say, a day in June.