Indonesian Lutherans help with awareness, support for families
Across Sumatra, Indonesia, the Lutheran World Federation-member Protestant Christian Batak Church’s HIV/AIDS Committee offers not only medical assistance but emotional support for those living with HIV. Program participants Jenni (left), Ramiris and Maria share a laugh.
HIV is about life A
Text and photos by Y. Franklin Ishida
s in many places, being diag- nosed with HIV in Indonesia is about shame, stigma and
even death. “I was suffering from paralysis
and my parents had started making funeral arrangements,” said Gunung (last names of those living with HIV are withheld). “I have two children and my wife had already died. What was there for me?” But there was something. Te
Protestant Christian Batak Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan or HKBP), the largest Lutheran church in Indonesia, has an HIV/ AIDS Committee to bring healing and hope to Gunung and hundreds of others. Te committee provides health education, community build- ing and support for those living with HIV. Take Pirna, who faced sev-
eral obstacles before she became involved in the program. She was from Java and not Batak, her hus-
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band’s ethnic group. She had been Mus- lim, but now was a Christian. And when she had a baby, many family members didn’t visit because they believed she and her child were infected with HIV. But her husband was able to get
free care and attention for HIV, and with this came the community that is part of the HIV/AIDS Committee.
A caring community Initially the committee was not made up of experts. It was born in 2003 out of pastoral needs. Indo- nesia is home to one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Asia. Due to a lack of understand- ing the symptoms and high social stigma, less than 10 percent of people with HIV/AIDS get diag- nosed and treated. To the church, this was more than a medical issue to be handled by facilities like the
Manogari (top photo) says the church has given him “a lot of love” through an HIV/ AIDS outreach run by Indonesian Lutherans. Harapan Napitupulu, a government official, hands out vitamins and high-protein nutritional supplements to HIV-positive clients, including Grace, 4, at the HIV/AIDS Committee office in Balige, North Sumatra.
HKBP hospital in Balige, North Sumatra, where the HIV/AIDS Committee is based. When Sister Nurhayati Silalahi
opened the letter from the ephorus (bishop) appointing her to work with the committee, she was devas- tated. It was her first assignment as a HKBP deaconess. She knew nothing of HIV/AIDS and had wanted to work with children. “But in the end, knowing that this was the call from the church, I was determined to make this work,” she said.
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