Office work

Still doing a kelompok diskusi almost every night (just got back from an interesting one, with two waria who were 14 and 16 years old, just figuring themselves out and in desperate need of guidance), but I've been doing lots of office work the last couple days that will really fit into my research. I'm helping a bunch of staff do the insane paperwork needed to apply for the 8th International Conference on AIDS in the Asia Pacific, to be held in Sri Lanka in August. I don't know how they could do it without someone with serious internet and English skills - the barriers to access are amazing. I'm also going to be interviewing the GC staff this week in advance of a 3-day retreat this Fri-Sun. It will be great fun - we're going to a little resort on the beach kind of place nearby that the organization is renting, and it's a strategic planning retreat to plan the next few years of GC's growth. They purposely timed it so they could do it when I was here, so I could act as the facilitator. Since I helped form the group 14 years ago and have many years of experience with them in between, they thought I would work well as the facilitator. It will be very interesting and a lot of fun, I'm sure!

Getting into a groove...

I'm starting to settle into a pattern - doing these Puskesmas events (that's Dr. Yohana above, counseling a pregnant woman who's about to get an HIV test) and also group meetings in the evening with gay men and transgenders (harder to photo because at people's homes in small groups). I'm learning a lot from the conversations I'm having...



I'm also doing lots of stuff around the GC office; I'll write more about that soon. One of the big things is helping staff write abstracts and apply for the big HIV/AIDS in the Asia Pacific conference that's happening in Sri Lanka in August. The process is quite complicated and has to be done all in English, so I'm doing a lot of translating and helping people get their abstracts into shape, and also helping them register online and apply for scholarships.

As I'm settling into a pattern here I might start posting every other day more or less instead of every day more or less; we'll see, but in any case don't worry if you don't see a post for a day or two. You can always email me to check in (tboellst@uci.edu).

Yummy food

It rained most of the day today - just for fun, Dadang (one of the GC staff), who's from the Toraja region up north, cooked us some yummy Torajan dishes, including fried tempe and a noodle soup!

More Puskesmas, Kelompok Diskusi...

I've been settling into more of a pattern the last couple days. Today went to my 3rd Puskesmas event (here I am explaining how antiretrovirals work to a pregnant woman considering getting tested), and also my 3rd kelompok diskusi, with a really well-trained group that's been meeting for a year and is really motivated to protect themselves from HIV infection. Also doing lots of things at the GC office - I'll talk more about that at some later point. it's nice to be getting into a productive routine!

Back to Irvine email!

Last night I wasn't able to access my Irvine email (tboellst@uci.edu); now it seems to be working (and access to gmail (tboellst@gmail.com) is difficult!), so please use my Irvine email again. Sorry for moving back and forth; it's just an issue of which is easier to access. It's probably best to just email me at both email addresses to make sure one at least gets through on this dial-up connection halfway around the world.

Another Puskesmas visit

Today we had another very successful visit to a Puskesmas - about 16 women got tested. It appears that the husbands of some of the women may be injecting drug users, so there is a real risk for infection (some groups of injecting drug users in Makassar are getting infection rates of around 90%, which is very frightening). The staff and the GC folks were all very professional - the whole process went very smoothly. The women were a little shy to ask questions after the initial presentation, so they trotted me out as a "guest speaker" and I talked about HIV basics with the group for a few minutes, which helped break the ice. Tomorrow we'll be visiting still another Puskesmas.

Kelompok Diskusi

Tonight went to my first discussion group (kelompok diskusi or KD) of this trip, run by a very competent transgender staff of GC. These discussion groups have been running for about 8 years now in some cases, and bring together groups of gay men and transgenders from various parts of the Makassar metro area to talk about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. It's a powerful tool for building community and getting a long-term, detailed message through that can change behavior. This one I attended was in Gowa, the town right south of Makassar and a famous historical sultanate. Didn't get any pictures, but I'm going to another KD tomorrow - I'll be going to at least 5 a week - so eventually I'll get some good images, I'm sure.