my health was bad. I was very thin, with no appetite. I was too sick

to work and was given the sack".
Bunthy moved back in with his parents, telling them he had typhoid fever as he felt that they would despair if they knew the truth. It took two months for him to recover.
Support and recovery
Bunthy began working for an organisation for disabled people when his health improved. In 1999 he started giving advice to positive people who came to the organisation and noticed that he was seeing between 10 to 20 positive people each day.
"I realised that positive people really needed help. I told my employers that I had HIV."
This time the reaction was very different. "My boss gave me money from his own pocket for my medication".
Bunthy decided then to establish an organisation specifically for HIV positive people, and COPHA was born.
Computers and dollars
"I established COPHA in 2000, setting up volunteers in each area

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Bunthy Sok: "Everywhere I go people recognised me...my parents felt that I was bringing shame on my family's reputation"

for positive people and their families. I didn't know how to go about getting funding so I got advice from other organisations and I got a lot of feedback. I got a small grant from the UK embassy - $3,640 - and I bought computers. And an organisation in Holland gave us $3,000 to pay the rent on an office for six months."
That was the full extent of COPHA's initial funding. "I had to work at night part-time to pay the people working for me. It was only a small amount of money, but I was at least able to feed myself and the

others. I felt very responsible for these people. But six months later there was no money for the rent. I tried to explain what we did, but we were forced to leave." Another grant from