Croatia Town, Peers Shun Orphan With HIV

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As the United Nations holds a special session on the AIDS pandemic Monday, the case of an 8-year-old girl underscores the myths and prejudices that persist about the disease. In this central Croatian town, and elsewhere around the world, AIDS still often leads to ostracism....since school started this month, she is one of only four pupils who are showing up for class. The other children are being kept home by fearful parents...

"The problem is that they are demanding segregation," said the principal, Ivan Corak. "As a professional and as a moral human being in this day and age, that's just not an option."..Last year, Ela met the same kind of reaction when she began primary school in the coastal town of Kastel and was forced to study in the library alone with a tutor. Eventually, though, she won the hearts of most of her schoolmates and was gradually integrated into a normal class.

Oblak said the family didn't think they'd have to relive that trauma when they moved back to Kutina, their hometown, this summer....A few teenagers in Kutina have taken up Ela's cause. Angry at what they see as adult paranoia, they are manning a stall at the town mall to collect signatures in support of Ela and hand out informational pamphlets that read: "AIDS don't die ignorant!" "It's not a concert with mega rock stars, but it's something," said Mladen Kuric, 17.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030921_732.html