My friends often told me to be more open, or maybe what they mean is more welcoming. I’m friendly, fun and very good to talk to, but I’m not when it comes to someone I barely know. Most people’s first impression of me is that I look unfriendly and arrogant, ouch! I understand why, really… because let me tell you something, I’m not very confident and comfortable when I meet new people, so I tend to be a closed-off person. Earlier this month, someone added my ID, a total stranger because he thought that my ID belonged to his friend. I usually don’t like it when unknown people try to start a conversation with me; I always block their ID once they say ‘Hi’. I don’t know how and why I didn’t do that this time around, but we start talking and have been doing so since that day. He’s OK and easy to talk to and by seeing that, I realized that talking to a new person isn’t that bad after all. You have nothing to loose, I even have a new friend now and learn about a whole new perspective from a different kind of person. Just the same happened when I first met young people in KISARA and Bali Kids and not to forget to mentioning when I joined the workshops for ‘Asia against AIDS-Back To Zero: Indonesia’!   Opening up yourself for new people and experiences is not as hard as you think, I even start to find it exciting now, because I always remember that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. I started my life this way already, have you?

Do you guys know what sexual orientation is? The term sexual orientation refers to the gender (that is, male or female) to which a person is attracted. There are several types of sexual orientation that are commonly described: ·         Heterosexual- people who are romantically and physically attracted to the opposite sex. ·         Homosexual- people who are  romantically and physically attracted to people of the same sex. ·         Bisexual- people who are romantically and physically attracted to members of both sexes.     Let’s discuss homosexual orientation. According to a German book, titled ‘Daddy’s Roommate’, this is what being homosexual means:   Click this: http://imgur.com/a/QH95nReading the book, and you will know that homosexuality is not only a sexual orientation, but it’s also a type of love. Every human being has the right to love no matter what. Let’s spread the love freely (and safely of course)! Visit our website www.indonesiaagainstaids.com for more stories    

This letter is dedicated to all couples out there, married or unmarried, Why is being faithful to your partner so hard? I believe some of you guys have been thinking of cheating, sometimes it is not about whether you want it or not, but it’s about the opportunity you get. No human is ever satisfied with one thing, they keep wanting more, but why is being grateful with what you have so hard? Be true to yourself; maybe you find someone ‘better’ than your partner, but you love her/him enough and don’t want to hurt them, so instead of breaking up you cheat. I don’t know -and especially don’t understand- the art of cheating, but why is being faithful an art at all? Being faithful is a way to learn to nourish and grow a relationship, to believe in one another, to seek a better version of both of you. Especially for unmarried couples, if you already cheated once you are in a steady relationship, then how will you learn to spend the rest of your life with just one person as your forever wife or husband?   I believe that none of you has ever imagined how it feels to be cheated on -and none of you ever want this happen to your children either. Being faithful is the same as learning to be grateful and to respect each other. Not only that: being faithful is also good for your health. Because when you’re faithful, you won’t do anything that potentially can risk your life, like having sexual intercourse with somebody who might have a sexual disease such as HIV. What I’m saying is, save your life and that of your loved ones by being faithful to each another, communicate about your problems and work things out together.Visit our website www.indonesiaagainstaids.com for more exciting stories!

Yesterday, me and my sister decided to rent a push bike, with basket in front of it, for a day. We wanted to stroll around Sanur and discover new places. Last night, I was happily biking in the streets of Sanur, because after visiting great places and having new experiences, what’s not to happy about? We were on the way to our homestay and I biked a few meters behind my sister. We biked on the left side of the street, because we have to be careful about the other vehicles. While I was pedaling, I suddenly I felt a hand caressing my shoulder and grabbing a hold of my handlebar. Turned out, there’s a motorcycle right beside me with the driver wearing a helmet. At first, I thought he was someone I knew from the homestay or it might be Mr Dusty (Ninette’s driver in Bali) wanting to say hi to me. For some time, we both just drove without saying anything, with him still  holding my handlebar. My mind started racing: “Who is he? What is he doing? What does he want?” because it was just so weird to me. Then suddenly, he grabbed my backpack from the basket and tried to lift it out!  He was not strong enough, so he tried to lift it out again but failed as my bag was so heavy (I brought my laptop) that he could’t lift it with just one hand, so he drove away. In that split second, I realized that he was trying to steal my bag! As he started to get closer to my sister who drove in front of me, I thought “OH NO! NO GOOD!” then I screamed out loud until my throat hurted: “DITA, WATCH OUT!” Because of my screams, the man thought the better of it and just drove away with high speed. I started to tremble with fear and pedalling to the homestay fast. Thank God we were just hundreds meter away from it. NOT a good experience!   After arrived safely at the homestay, I’m trembling with fear. But after some breath in breath out, I finally feel more relaxed. After that incident, I feel blessed that nothing bad happen to me and my sister, and promise myself to watch my back, bag, and that I’ll be more careful from now on.   Always remember to do everything carefully, including sex. If you do it, do it in a safe way ;-)

Everyone has their ‘first time’ moment, in whatever it is, from first boyfriend to first kiss and even first period. This time I’m going to share my very own first time experience. I was excited of course and my heart was thumping when I was about to experience this first time. I believe people would likely want to think it over and over again, but I assure you that it was a very big step that I took in order to make a difference and affect real change. I want to change the way young people think, to support them with actual information and education concerning HIV. Joining the workshop for Asia against AIDS-Back To Zero: Indonesia’ is how I started, but this first time is another story altogether. Have you ever heard the phrase “Change starts within yourself”? It never occurred to me before that I was going to take a HIV test, because I believe I have only a minor risk of being infected by the virus. But then I realized that if I don’t even make a difference for myself,  then how can I inspire others?   My first time actually happened earlier today, when I took the HIV test at PKBI Bali clinic. Perkumpulan Keluarga Berencana Indonesia (PKBI) is a NGO which addresses the needs of reproductive and sexual health for people in Denpasar. There is a procedure that has to be fulfilled just before I could take the test: I had a counseling session with one of the professionals from PKBI, who asked for my reason to take the test, the readiness to learn more and last but not least my sexual activity. She also informed me about the next steps to take when I find out if I’m HIV positive or HIV negative. This made me a little bit scared, but it only took around 15 minutes to get the result so it wasn’t a huge problem. The results showed that I’m HIV negative but the counselor advised that I should take another test in 3 months’ time, just to be sure. It took me some time to gain my courage, plus I’m afraid of injection needles! But I’m glad that I took the test and I hope that by encouraging myself, I can also encourage other young people around me. Dream big, start small and act now!

Today, I had the chance to visit Bali Kids and to learn more about their programs. I met Pak Komang, The General Manager, as well as Mr. Brenton Whittaker, the Project Manager. For those of you who don’t really know a lot about Bali Kids yet, let me tell you their story. Brent, the Project Manager, was in Bali and tried to help orphanages. But he discovered that many orphanages were only scams, set up to gain money from the tourists and the government, where they have such a difficult system that it makes the helps from others difficult to be monitored. Brent also saw that the medical treatment for the children was not good. The orphans seemed like the victims of these orphanages. So he decided that he wanted to provide medical treatment and education for poor kids, where he can control and monitor the development of the children himself.  In 2005 Bali Kids was founded and they received a permit as an orphanage in 2006.Bali Kids now has 17 children that are under 18 years old living in the house and they give them full medical services as well as take care of their education. Some of the children are HIV positive and Bali Kids take a full care of them as well as giving them ARV meds so they can live a happy, healthy, normal life. Besides taking care of the children, giving them medical treatment and paying attention to their education at school, Bali Kids also gives the children education about how to lead a healthy life. This health education program contains general health issues and information about HIV/AIDS. They even provide the children with booklet about HIV/AIDS (which is now being made together with Designers against AIDS (DAA), where I attend the workshops). According to Brent, having a proper health education is important, as is having education about sexual health. As you know, sex education is still considered taboo in many parts of Indonesia. Meanwhile, sexual intercourse as a way of spreading the HIV virus is happening everywhere, but young people have only little or no informations about both safe sex education and HIV/AIDS. Therefore, Brents think that what DAA is doing with ‘Asia Against AIDS: Back To Zero‘ is great. Young people don’t get this kind of information from their parents, their school, or their friends. So, having a social media platform is a very good way to reach out to the younger generations. Especially in Indonesia, where these subjects are taboo and the use of social media among young people in Indonesia is high. As Brent said “Well, it’s hard to change the mindset of the old generations, but you can change the young generations for their next generations. Because they’re the kids of the future.”Check or website for the latest update www.indonesiaagainstaids.com 

Today is my 7th day of workshop, time flies by so fast! It’s been a week now and I’ve learnt so much already. Today’s workshop feels a bit different, because we get away from the villa to have a little refreshment. Normally the workshop takes place from 1-4 pm from Monday to Friday and until yesterday we always did the workshop at Ninette’s villa in Padang Galak,  a lovely place but we have to move out today because they have to do a fogging against mosquitoes and we don’t want to breathe in that poisonous air. I want to share how Bali has treated me in the past few days, one thing that I learned from the Balinese is that they are a very humble and lovely, not to forget to mention helpful. Since today we have the workshop Grocer & Grind in DanauTamblingan, I was browsing through the internet to find out how to get there and it turns out that I found lot of cool places worth to visit in Bali as well along the way. The plans for this week’s workshops are very exciting for me: actually we had planned to go to Villa Kitty, a rescue and adoption center for abandoned cats and kitten in Ubud on Monday but because of dengue there, we have to reschedule our visit to one of the following weeks. What makes me even more excited is that we are going to Bali Kids tomorrow! Bali Kids is a support center for orphanages or children in need, a place which provides quality medical care and love for them. I really can’t wait to visit their place and meet the children; I really love children and I think it will be a great experience for me to get to know the children and spend some time there. So far, I enjoy the time that I’ve been spending in Bali; from the food to the people I meet. And I have a feeling that by joining the Indonesia against Aids workshop, I will become a different person in a very positive way!

Another day at the workshop and it’s getting better every day, as I have learned many exciting things along way. Yesterday, Bali was so hot and Ninette’s husband Peter treated us with ice cream and I learned that vanilla ice cream blended in a perfectly delicious way with fresh tropical fruits. It was one of many amazing things for me to discover hahaha! And today... we get to have our workshop in a new ‘office’ that’s full of delightful cakes! I’m so happy and thrilled!Ninette’s villa, where we usually have our workshop, has a fogging to do today, so we decided to have the workshop in a bistro named Grocer & Grind. This bistro has so many cakes that look delicious and taste good as well. I had a quite hard time to choose the cakes but finally decided to order a baklava and it tasted great!I always love sweets. And to have a chance to visit this place and try the cakes, while doing the workshop (they have perfect and fast internet here- is this heaven?) is another exciting thing for me.You can visit our website www.indonesiaagainstaids.com for more fascinating things on the workshop, as well as finding info and news about HIV/AIDS.

We are human and there’s no way that we can live without other people, because we need to socialize. And I believe that you guys, also have a friend or friends that you hang out with, talk with, share with, from time to time. And so do I! I have  friend that I talk with about so many things. Last night, he asked me about how the workshop is going, what the workshop is all about and he also asked me if I’ve met someone who is HIV positive. I have not yet met someone with HIV, so I told him that and also spoke about what we do here and said that I still have to learn so much. To be honest, there’s still so many things that I don’t know about HIV and I discover everything little by little through this workshop. Then suddenly he started to send me files and asked me to open them! Turned out that it’s his material for an HIV/AIDS class that he took some semesters ago. There’s so much information about HIV/AIDS and I think that I can learn a lot from this. After receiving the files, I feel more steamed-up in doing what we do now. I’m so thankful to have such a good friend like him. So, let’s be a good friend to all our friends as well with doing positive things with and for them, such as visiting our new website and share the information that you find there with all your friends (and with everyone else that you love too, of course). Be happy & healthy!   Find it all here: www.indonesiaagainstaids.com!

The idea of staying in Bali for a month has put me on my nerves. I'm so excited to discover new things while I'm in Bali. Where to eat, where to go and what to do, they always run in my mind. But I still can't figure out what I can do for my exercise routines, because I need to keep myself healthy. Back in my hometown, I'm doing some sports at least 4 times a week. From kickboxing and RPM to horseback riding. I'm not a sport freak, but it just makes me feel alive somehow and I need to maintain my weight as well. Since I arrived only a couple of days ago, I still have to get used to everything. So, while I'm busying myself figuring out what kind of sport will fit me best in here, I decided to take a long walk last Monday. I walked to Kuta Beach for about an hour, it was very tiring I admit but I found it pretty fun and refreshing, to walk and see the neighborhoods and get to know how it feels like to live like a Balinese. The next day I decide to swim just before I had my breakfast - refreshingly fun! After a little bit of researching on the nearby sport center and what I possibly can do for my excise, it occurs to me that it would be fun for me to have a morning walk or even evening jogging on the beach and swimming in the morning or evening at the home stay. It never really crossed my mind that while doing all these things, not only will I be exercising, but I can also enjoy the beauty of Bali at the same time! Discover more articles on www.indonesiaagainstaids.com

Hello there, my name is Dila and I’m a student who joins the workshop with Designers Against Aids for the new social media platform for Indonesia, which you can find on www.indonesiaagainstaids.com   As I arrived in Bali, Peter and Ninette welcomed me very warmly in their villa. We talked about stuff and over lunch Ninette told me about what we’ll be doing for the next four weeks in the workshop. I’m so excited about this workshop as I’ll learn something new and will have such wonderful experiences in Bali. My heart beats so fast as today is my first day, I’m so nervous yet so excited. And I’m going to start my journey with Designer Against Aids today. I always like to write to express my idea and thoughts. So I find it will be challenging for me, to write and show it to the world, about HIV/AIDS, which has become a big issue in the world as well as my country, Indonesia. I’m really looking forward to write and share my ideas to the young people in Indonesia in a fun and creative way. I hope that my writings can help and inspire them in a positive way.

Today is the day! Ninette had to say goodbye to her Designers against Aids team, her house and of course to the cats. She left the beautiful Belgian weather to go to even better and hotter weather in Bali, as we're organizing the first workshops there for 'Asia Against AIDS-Back To Zero'! We keep you posted about her adventures over there!