The journey of HIV and AIDS awareness in Ubud Gianyar regency

Gianyar, Once again Yakeba conducted HIV and AIDS awareness activities for the local community in Bali. Activities were carried out in conjunction with students from Gajah Mada University (UGM) and were part of a series of field work activities organized by them in Ubud, Gianyar regency. Yakeba’s involvement started on July 19th, in the village of Tempekan Padang Kencana in Ubud sub-district and ended on July 30, in the village of Padangdegal Mekarsari. The complete team of Yakeba was present during activities.

The purpose of the students’ field work activities was to increase public awareness about the dangers of HIV and AIDS and tackle the widespread stigma and discrimination related to the disease. In order to maximize the impact of the awareness activities, the UGM students’ committee formed a partnership with Yakeba. But apart from Yakeba also other community organizations took part in the activities, such as Kita Sayang Remaja (Kisara) and Yayasan Kerti Praja (YKP).

Each awareness session was attended by around 40 to 60 residents from the local neighborhood. Amongst them were community leaders and elders as well as representatives of local women and youth organizations. Some sessions were also attended by children. Thus, the audience covered the whole age spectrum of the local community. Consequently, Yakeba made sure that the material presented was easily understandable for all parties and had a strong link to prevailing issues in the local community.

During the awareness sessions, Yakeba mainly focused on the issue of drug use and its link to HIV and AIDS. First, some basic information about the different types of drugs and their impact was given. This was followed by the delivery of basic knowledge about HIV and AIDS and its prevention. Then, the relationship between intravenous drug use and HIV and AIDS was highlighted.

Ubud’s community responded with great interest to the awareness activities. Moreover, the diverse questions asked by the audience testify to a quite diverse community. Many people still do not know how to deal with people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in their neighborhood and especially within their family. Also, many do not understand how the transmission of HIV from an infected mother to her child can be prevented or minimized. Yakeba also provided information on HIV testing sites in the area and conveyed information associated with the culturally important bathing of bodies of people deceased because of AIDS.

Yakeba is grateful to have been involved in the above mentioned awareness activities together with the students of Gajah Mada University. As most staff members of Yakeba have a history of drug abuse themselves, they managed to bestow the provided information with a human face. This will hopefully help to reduce the stigma and discrimination against drug users and PLWHA. To sum it up, the message of the activities would be to avoid the virus and its negative consequences instead of avoiding the affected people. Because stigma and discrimination cannot stop the transmission of HIV and the problem of drug use, rather it will make it bigger.