The kader of WPA Kota Bandung generally collaborated with the HR-PKBI team. Naniek stated that neither she nor the other kader knew how to initiate action regarding their concerns about the epidemic, so they asked for advice from the team, whose members suggested that they learn first by participating in the activities of HR-PKBI. Their first thing they did was to participate in a ‘clean- up’ day, a regular activity of the HR-PKBI team to collect used syringes. With the NGO team and some members of a Karang Taruna youth group, they collected used syringes at Flexi Park, a popular park in Bandung commonly used by persons who inject drugs (PWID). Naniek said they were surprised at how many used syringes they found there. After the clean-up, the HR-PKBI team explained to them the behavioural trends of young PWIDs in Bandung, the evidence they had found that day and the risks to health this implied. She and the other kader were motivated to prevent people they cared about from becoming drug users and infected by HIV. Gradually, the WPA kader
became more familiar with activities to prevent drug use and HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately, neither Naniek nor Riki had much information to give me on the names and addresses of the WPA Kota Bandung kader, other than those from Kelurahan Babakan Sari, therefore, in the following discussion I can only focus on the history of the WPA in this kelurahan.
The WPA kader worked within their own kelurahan and in others. According to Naniek, any activities outside their kelurahan were organised by the team and the WPA kader
followed their lead. The clean-up at Flexi Park was one example of such an activity outside their
kelurahan. Action within their kelurahan was organised by WPA kader with the support of the HR-PKBI team. According to Naniek, disseminating information about drugs, and HIV and 71
AIDS prevention, to people living in the same kelurahan is one example of the work done by the WPA groups. They did this during everyday conversations with neighbours and sometimes they organised information sessions at regular community meetings. Naniek mentioned that the first thing she did in her kelurahan was to organise information meetings for members of the Majelis Taklim or Islamic fellowship group54. She used to be a member of Pemberdayaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK), but she was hesitant to share information there because she was not as involved as she once was.55 Her husband advised her to use Majelis Taklim as the venue.56 He was the head of the community group (RT) and had a close association with the
ustadz (Arabic) or Islamic preacher, the convenor of the Majelis Taklim. He helped her to lobby him.
Naniek testified at an information meeting at Majelis Taklim, in which she disclosed her personal experiences to her neighbours for the first time. She admitted that the personal risks of doing so in her own neighbourhood were much higher than if she had done so elsewhere. If her neighbours had a negative response, her family would face stigmatisation, discrimination and possibly even eviction. However, her intention to encourage her neighbours to learn from her experience was much stronger than her fear of the effects on her family. She insisted that people must know the facts so they could understand and prevent a similar situation in their own families. Fortunately, very few neighbours reacted poorly to her experience. Most were sympathetic and concerned, and appreciated her willingness to share her story for others to learn from. Her peers in Kelurahan Babakan Sari were the first to show their sympathy at her experience and about the epidemic, and they decided to join her as WPA kader. There were five WPA kader in Babakan Sari at that time.
Naniek and other WPA kader in Kelurahan Babakan Sari continued to collect used syringes, integrating this action with Jumat bersih (Ind.) or clean-up Friday and kerja bakti (Ind.) or voluntary work in their kelurahan.57 The HR-PKBI team was invited to join the WPA kader
and the team told all local residents to let them know when they found used syringes in the neighbourhood because they were evidence of drug use in the area. The team also told them
54 Majelis Taklim is a regular gathering for religious learning and performance that has become widespread among Muslims in modern Indonesia (Millie, 2011; Winn, 2012).
55 See PKK in chapter one and seven.
56 Naniek is not a member because she is a Catholic but her husband is. He had close connections with the ustadz
and persuaded him to allow Naniek and the HR-PKBI team to pursue their plan to give information about the epidemic to members of Majelis Taklim.
57 Jumat bersih and kerja bakti are types of collective action by local residents to clean up the environment around their houses; such as collecting rubbish, cleaning drains, weeding and so on. Jumat bersih is on Fridays, kerja bakti is usually on Sundays.
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about the risks of the habit, and all local residents who participated in the clean-up agreed that an immediate response was necessary to prevent people in their kelurahan using drugs. The HR- PKBI team, WPA kader and some members of the community then collaborated in arranging information meetings about drugs and HIV prevention for all members of the community. Close collaboration between the team and WPA kader resulted in developing mutual trust. The team told the WPA kader later about the harm reduction program that they had unobtrusively conducted in their kelurahan, and asked for support. WPA kader at Babakan Sari supported the HR-PKBI team in setting up an HIV information post, where members of the community could obtain information on the HIV epidemic, and on care, prevention and treatment. A free, mobile, voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) service and health examinations were offered at this post. It also became the meeting point for HR-PKBI outreach workers in the kelurahan. In Babakan Sari, Naniek allowed her house to become an HIV information post.
Naniek and Riki explained the process and context of forming WPA Kota Bandung, and elaborated on the early actions of the group. The group formed because local residents, attuned to problems of drugs and HIV and AIDS, wanted to articulate their concern through collective action. Some residents were worried about narkoba (Ind.) illicit drugs and about HIV and AIDS because they (such as Naniek) had direct experience of them or because they were aware of their potential to affect their lives. Drugs are considered dangerous not only because their use can lead to an HIV infection; the disease is dangerous because it is life threatening and incurable. Testimony from people with direct experience (such as Naniek) evoked residents’ awareness and concern about the epidemic. Knowing that many people living in Bandung were affected led the local residents to become aware of the closeness of the problem to their everyday lives and to become concerned.