Yayasan Gaya Celebes

It's time I say just a bit more about Yayasan Gaya Celebes (The Gaya Celebes Foundation), where I'm staying. This group, which focuses on HIV prevention and AIDS care for gay men and transgenders (but as you can see now does a lot else too) was first formalized in my living room in 1993 when I was living in Makassar for the first time. So needless to say, I've got a long history with these folks. This is the third time I've lived in the GC office (here's a shot of the front). They do great work and are a perfect way to really plunge into my research on HIV prevention. And they are great people who have supported me so much over the years. Here's a great group photo they did last year, with a couple blowups so Bill can recognize many of the faces.

At the Puskesmas

This morning I accompanied a bunch of the GC staff to a puskesmas (community health clinic) way up on the northeast side of town, up towards the airport.


Because of the quality of its work over the years, GC got chosen to implement a new voluntary HIV counseling and testing program for pregnant women, despite the fact that their main target groups are gay men and transgenders.


It was very informative to participate in the event. (I'm third from the right in the pic below.)



The GC staff put up a sign outside the clinic and with the help of a woman who's a neighborhood leader in the area, about 15 pregnant women showed up. Akbar gave a presentation about HIV/AIDS and the importance of preventing mother-child transmission, followed by a question and answer session.


Even the GC were a bit taken aback that almost every woman participating decided to get tested - a real sign that the education is working.



As you can see, the puskesmas was so far out that there were a few cows wandering around, and a little tiger too.



And an elementary school across the field.

To my Second Life friends...

I'm not sure if any of my Second Life friends are still reading this blog, but just in case: I'm on a dialup connection here in Makassar, a SLOW dialup, so there's no way I can get back into Second Life until mid-April. In the meantime, I'm trying to read some Second Life blogs and news sites occasionally to keep up with everything, but even that's a bit difficult, between the demands on my time here and the slow connection. So don't forget about me - I'll be back inworld in mid-to-late April, and look forward to hearing your stories about whatever crazy things you've seen while I've been away.

Meetings and meetings

Today I attended a weekly staff meeting here at GC. It was a good opportunity to reconnect with everyone in a more structured manner and also explain what I would be doing for the next two months. One of the main activities GC does are these "discussion groups" where staff have regular meetings with groups of people in the community. I've been involved with the design of this program over the years, which has been a huge success and I think will be one of the things I really study. The great thing is how excited people are to have me come participate in their groups - by the end of the day we had a jam-packed schedule for me for the rest of the week. Things are going to get super-busy soon, I think. After the meeting I did an impromptu English class for the staff, which was great fun. They'd like me to do English classes at least once a week and I'm happy to oblige.

Then later in the afternoon Akbar and I attended a meeting at the Mayor's office that was a kind of wrap-up from the national meeting in Surabaya last week. It was interesting to hear about the various plans for moving forward. Compared to years past, the government is really taking an interest in responding to the epidemic and working with the nonprofits - it's very exciting in that regard. Then on the way back to the GC office we stopped by a nonprofit that works with drug users trying to break the addiction. They're getting 90% HIV infection rates amongst this group sometimes - it's just staggering.

Tonight Akbar and I had dinner with Ilmi, who's my academic sponsor for this researcher. Bill and I got to know Ilmi back in 2001 when I was going my postdoc at the Australian National University; Ilmi spent 4 years there doing her PhD in anthropology. She's interested in gender issues and also in starting research on HIV/AIDS, so it's pretty certain we're going to be collaborating into the future, which should be great. It's nice to have local colleagues, and she's wonderful for exchanging ideas.

No pictures today, but I'll be doing various things tomorrow that should be photo-worthy. I keep forgetting to take a picture of the front of the GC office - I'll try to do that tomorrow.

An Arisan

Today GC had an "arisan" for a group of women helping GC with their new program for getting pregnant women in Makassar access to HIV testing and, if they are HIV positive, antiretroviral medicine which not only helps preserve their health but drastically reduces the chance that their children will be infected with HIV when born. An "arisan" is a kind of rotating credit association - these are found all over Indonesia and indeed all over the world. In Indonesia as in many places, they are for women. Basically, a fixed group of women meets every week and puts a fixed amount of money into a pot. A name is drawn and that woman gets the money. The next week the winner has to keep participating, but her name is taken out of the running until all of the other women have won. So it's not really gambling - it evens out in the end - but it's a way for women to get a larger sum of money at once every so often to use for household purchases, for instance - almost a kind of savings account. And it's an occasion to get together and gossip with friends.


This particular arisan served as the occasion to plan a program for 8 areas in Makassar so that the local health clinics can refer pregnant women to GC for testing. This program was pioneered in Jakarta by another organization, which with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, is being extended to other parts of Indonesia. The women will keep meeting regularly for the arisan and to make sure the program moves forward - should be good.


Tonight I went with a couple friends to the waterfront here in Makassar. The city is really trying to spruce up the waterfront - they've moved all the food stalls down to one end and have added a big plaza. It should have spectacular views of the sunset - I'll try to check that out soon. One of the folks who came with us is a person living with AIDS who's getting support from GC staff. I won't reveal anything more about the person on this blog to protect confidentality, but it was very interesting to learn a little about what the person is experiencing. Sadly, this is a change from when I was doing HIV/AIDS work here 14 years ago, 7 years ago, even just 3 years ago - more and more persons are getting diagnosed with HIV, getting ill with diseases to the point they get defined as living with AIDS, and even passing away. It lends a new urgency to what I'm trying to do here. Just in the last two days I'm already getting a bunch of interesting ideas for how to focus my research.

New book cover

I've just received the first image of the cover for my new book A Coincidence of Desires. I like it - like I requested, it's very simple and clean. Here's a first look! There's some fine tracing on the white background you can't see well on this small image. The book should be out by April or so.

A Wedding

My first full day in Makassar has gone great - got my little room all set up. Here's my bed and the little desk that will be my office for the next two months:


So a little more on Makassar. If you look back on one of my first entries from Dec 2006, you'll see a map of the island of Sulawesi, with Makassar (known from about 1975-1995 as Ujung Pandang) down at the bottom of the southwestern "arm" of the island. Makassar is a very important city historically - here's a little blurb from Wikipedia:

"Beginning in the sixteenth century, Makassar was the dominant trading center of eastern Indonesia, and soon became one of the largest cities in island Southeast Asia. The Makassarese kings maintained a strict policy of free trade, insisting on the right of any visitor to do business in the city, and rejecting the attempts of the Dutch to establish a monopoly over the city. Further, tolerant religious attitudes meant that even as Islam became the dominant faith in the region, Christians and others were still able to trade in the city. With these attractions, Makassar was a key center for Malays working in the Spice Islands trade, as well as a valuable base for European and Arab traders from much further afield."

Here's a basic map of the old part of down - I've put in a blue circle down south at the approximate location of the Gaya Celebes office:


So today I mostly just hung out in the office and caught up with folks, which was great fun. Everyone was asking about Bill so I did my best to let them know how he was doing and that he wished he could be here. And people were excited that my mom is coming at the end of March!

Then tonight a bunch of us went to the wedding reception of a friend's relative. Indonesian wedding receptions usually take place outdoors under a big tent (like this one) or in a big reception hall if the families are well to do. There's a fairly set, formal routine: the bride and groom sit up on a little stage, very stiff and formal and made up, with relatives from the families on each side. You come in and are greeted by a row of family well-wishers, then make your way to the bride and groom, shaking hands along the way. There's a place where you drop a little money for the couple (usually in an envelope that makes up part of the invitation). Then you get in line for a buffet dinner (almost always very good) and sit for a bit and chat with the other folks attending (but not the bride and groom and their family; they sit formally in front, continuing to greet new arrivals). People have a good time chatting, and you often just stay for 30 minutes or so, though there's usually live music and some folks stay late into the night. It's considered good luck when people come from afar for the reception, so foreigners are usually particularly auspicious, and over the years I've been invited to zillions of these things - I'm happy to oblige!