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You are watching UNICEF Television.

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A family struggling with HIV tries to cope with tragedy.

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It's only been a few weeks since Ina, an HIV-infected mother, died of cancer.

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Suhaimi now finds himself the sole parent to his own son and his late wife's three children,

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including one with HIV.

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I am the father, I am the mother. It's not easy to do this.

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In the morning I need to prepare their breakfast, then I need to go to work.

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Suhaimi also has HIV. Ina was his second wife,

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a woman he met while working for an HIV-AIDS support group.

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Suhaimi's first wife died in 2002.

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It was then he learned she'd been HIV-positive and that he was also infected.

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At the time, he was hooked on heroin and didn't even know he'd picked up the virus from shared needles.

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Even before he passed HIV on to his wife, drugs were taking a heavy toll on his family.

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When I was taking drugs, we were a family, but it was incomplete.

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The love wasn't there. I didn't carry out my responsibilities for my child's basic needs.

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Can you imagine, my son is sitting in front of me, and in front of my son I'm shooting drugs?

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Injecting drug users are overwhelmingly the largest contributor to the spread of HIV and AIDS in Malaysia,

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accounting for three-quarters of all cases in the country.

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They bear a double stigma.

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Not only dismissed as addicts or criminals,

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they and their children are shunned by society and often their own families.

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Suhaimi hopes his difficult experience can help others stuck in similar circumstances.

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He now works for Positive Living, a network devoted to assisting HIV-positive people.

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He feels his mission is to make sure his children can enjoy a normal life.

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I'm not expecting huge things from my children.

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My wish is that they become useful, don't become like me.

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I want to give them a good education so they don't have a wasted life like mine.

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You don't have to be rich. The most important thing is to have a happy family.

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A simple hope in a family for whom what others take for granted seems like a dream.

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In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this is Steve Nettleton reporting for UNICEF Television.

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Unite for Children.