We involved many Indonesian stakeholders in WORLD LEPROSY DAY, not only in MAKASSAR/ SOUTH SULAWESI, but also in LAMONGAN (near Surabaya)/EAST JAVA and JAKARTA our CAPITAL. In all approximately 500 people took part: from those affected, who belong to the organization (PerMaTa), their families and representatives of the Indonesian Government, WHO, NGOs, community leaders and informal and religious leaders, to staff from the mass media. Among the key guests were the GOVERNOR of JAKARTA and persons from the Social Department, Health Department and Co-ordinating Ministry of Peoples’ Welfare, etc.

In Jakarta we were able to celebrate this event with around 60 people from the SITANALA leprosy village, who were very happy to have arranged and managed their own event.

I will not talk at length about this major event, but will allow you to follow it in the various pictures below, through which I hope you will be able to feel “the free air” that all of the participants got from this valuable moment. We would like to conduct a bigger and more nationwide event for WORLD LEPROSY DAY in 2010 - that is our determination and dream for next year!

 
PerMaTa Group

In Makassar, after a rainy morning, people walked together and felt the fresh air of the day. You can see the many children who walked in the front in their traditional South Sulawesi costumes. A VERY BEAUTIFUL and AGREEABLE formation.

From the podium, the message was loud and clear: we should not stigmatize and discriminate against people affected by leprosy. Thanks to PerMaTa in Makassar.

We can refer to this as a JAKARTA CULTURAL MEETING, because not only are people from PerMaTa involved, but also many people from differing backgrounds and different religions -  WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

A STRONG POINT being made by a man wearing this POLO SHIRT in JAKARTA.

YOUNG PEOPLE mixing together with others in this beautiful moment.

We love them very much! They are all smiling and are happy with the efforts we are making to achieve our VISION: INDONESIA WITHOUT LEPROSY.

Even the members of our YTLI Board, AB SUSANTO, ARION HUTAGALUNG, ALEX MUTAK, BAMBANG TRISNO were deeply involved in this moment and especially

AB SUSANTO, who had worked very hard to motivate PerMaTa members and the community to be strong and to understand issues of stigma and discrimination and how they might be solved.

We nominated Pak AB SUSANTO an “AMBASSADOR for People Affected by Leprosy in Indonesia”. CONGRATULATIONS Pak AB Susanto! ( Please see AB Susanto, Arion, Alex Mutak and Bambang Trisno position in YTLI on www.transformasilepra.org )

Hand in hand towards an INDONESIA WITHOUT LEPROSY. Approximately 60 PerMaTa from SITANALA took part in this march, which proved to be a happy moment for them, because they had never ever had an experience like this before. It is something they will treasure for ever!

PerMaTa, YTLI, DIFABLE organization (PPCI) etc with GOVERNOR OF DKI JAKARTA, Mr FAUZI BOWO, after the march and speeches.

Krisman and Andy were kept very busy managing and co-ordinating this event. We should capitalize on their SUCCESS, and work hard to empower them and give them their INDEPENDENCE.

AB SUSANTO reading his POEM among HIGH SOCIETY during the Chinese New Year in JAKARTA, expressing the hope it would be possible to work with various people in the INDONESIAN COMMUNITY.

After the march and speeches, we also had an opportunity to chat and talk with the Governor of JAKARTA. Dr Revankar of WHO and Dr Ning (Christina) from CDC (the Health Department of the Republic of Indonesia) were also involved in this important moment.

Once again: Hand in hand towards an INDONESIA WITHOUT LEPROSY.


Copyright by YTLI 28^th January 2009, Nuah P Tarigan

 

Yayasan Transformasi Lepra Indonesia
E-mail: nuah.tarigan@transformasilepra.org
Website: www.transformasilepra.org

 

Categories: Field Activities, Indonesia, News and Notes