CWS News

According to Ministry of Health’s March 2010 report on HIV and AIDS case statistics, in Indonesia more than 20,000 people are living with AIDS and over 3,000 died due to AIDS. These numbers are relatively low compared to some countries in Africa or other countries with high HIV prevalence rates. However, the number will keep increasing if there is no any efficient program to respond to the issue.

Raising people awareness on HIV and AIDS is the objective of HIV prevention program. The International Candlelight Memorial is one of the oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV and AIDS awareness in the world started in 1983. “Many Lights for Human Rights” is the theme for 2010 commemoration.

“This commemoration aimed to improve participants’ understanding and awareness on HIV and AIDS in that they were asked to reflect and care about people living with HIV and remind everyone that there is still a lot of work to do to purge stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV ” said Titin Rejeki, CWS Advisor for HIV and AIDS and Gender program. Titin also pointed out that CWS targets general population in its program because this way they, as a larger community, can protect themselves and their family from HIV, eliminate stigma and discrimination, and improve support for people living with HIV.  Their support can contribute to scaling up access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support. “The more people are aware of and care about HIV and AIDS, the more universal the access is and the more human rights can be fulfilled,” added Titin.

Many organizations and communities host memorials that honor the lost and raise social consciousness about the disease. Church World Service hosted AIDS Candlelight Memorial commemoration in three different areas namely Banda Aceh, Nias, and Jakarta in May 2010.

In Nias, children from junior and senior high schools of Gunung Sitoli Idanoi and Mandrehe Sub-districts contested their creativity through posters and poetries from which we learned how well they understood about HIV and AIDS. This activity was followed by information session on HIV and AIDS facilitated by Mr. Yapintar Mendrofa, a staff of Promotion Department of District Health Office in Nias.

Religious community members, leaders and youth of Catholic and Protestant churches were involved in the commemoration in Banda Aceh. “Religious community, particularly youth, plays an important role in HIV prevention efforts in Indonesia, a country with a large number of young population where the role of religious communities is taken very seriously,” stated Hindra Sulaksono, Program Manager for CWS Aceh office. Hindra pointed out that CWS program in Aceh focuses on prevention program. “We expect that there will be snow ball effect and the participants can give the right information about HIV to a wider audience,” added Hindra during the information session conducted at Hati Kudus Catholic Church in Banda Aceh. We also provided the participants with booklets, flipcharts and leaflets on HIV and AIDS as a reference.

In addition to information session on HIV, Church World Service held reproductive health and sexual transmitted infection facilitated by Dr. Clara from Obor Berkat Indonesia (OBI) foundation Aceh and on Drug and Drug Abuse facilitated by Irwansyah and Fidal Akbar from the Police Department in Banda Aceh.

In a different area and setting, more than fifty refugees under CWS’s program of Protecting Urban Refugees through Empowerment gathered in Pasar Seni Impian Jaya Ancol Jakarta to commemorate Candlelight Memorial. The commemoration included information session on HIV and AIDS, quiz and art performances. Adhi, a man living with HIV was also invited to this event to share his life story. “Do you see me different from other people here?” asked Adhi. Adhi just wanted to tell his audience that one cannot tell if someone is an HIV positive by appearance. He works for Tegak Tegar Foundation, an organization that aims to assist HIV positive and AIDS people.

“This event aims to provide a space for refugees to express their concern on HIV and AIDS and to increase HIV and AIDS awareness among refugees as an effort to reduce stigma and discrimination towards PLWH,” stated Frieda Sinanu, Interim Program Manager for CWS Jakarta Office.

Church World Service has been working to respond to the epidemic through information sessions, educational materials and commemoration for more than eight years. The organization continues its effort to ignite the lights for human rights.   

Yuslidawati, the facilitator, explaining about what will happen when someone is infected with HIV
(CWS Indoensia)

The participants after the info session has done.
(CWS Indonesia)