LAP – The Harrowing Story of the Challenges Faced by Team Members Caring for HIV Children.
We strongly urge you to read the summary below which we recently received from Nita Anggriawan (the Program Coordinator at LAP in Jakarta). It not only describes the challenges faced by individual case workers in their tireless efforts to care for the children, but it also highlights the risk to the viability of some of LAP’s key support programs as it confronts a loss of around 2/3 of its sponsorship funding.
This is a story about a group of remarkable, strong women who are devoting their lives to humanity. Their lives have not been easy as they have been infected with HIV from their husbands, marking the most impactful events of their lives. The second most impactful event for them is unknowingly passing the HIV to their children—something that is extremely hard to accept. Furthermore, some of these strong women end up raising their children alone as their husbands have already passed on.
However, living with HIV is not the end of the road. These women choose to live on for the sake of their children. Their tenacious will to live have brought them to LAP, Lentera Anak Pelangi. LAP has become their new family, where they can share their life stories, support their children and each other.
Their resilience is manifested in their willingness to support Lentera Anak Pelangi’s mentoring program by becoming case managers Ms. Nur started as an assistant case manager and is now participating in the children’s house visit in North Jakarta. Ms. Nur feels that her background as a mother of a child with HIV is an advantage that empowers other mothers who also have HIV children. Ms. Itok, Ms. Siti, and Ms. Titin share similar stories. They feel that their role as a mother absolutely helps the caregivers of the children with HIV, the very children who are accompanied by Lentera Anak Pelangi.
Even though they are not that young anymore, they do not hesitate to explore Jakarta with all its traffic jams to visit the children whom they accompany. In addition, some days, they can spend more than half a day in the hospital to accompany the children for their ARV monthly checkups. They treat the children with HIV like their own children.
Becoming a part of Lentera Anak Pelangi changes their lives significantly. They have learnt basic counselling techniques, how to use a laptop, how to write and present reports. They have become confident to talk to the doctors about the children’s complaints, to tell life stories through mass and social media, and even to express their own opinions to a government minister during one of the gathering events.
Nonetheless, since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, they have become really worried about the continuation of their work at Lentera Anak Pelangi. So many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic. Sad news arrived in the beginning of this year where Lantern Anak Pelangi lost 2/3 of its operational budget because of the pandemic. Several regular donors who have been supporting Lentera Anak Pelangi had to cut down their donations to the point where the Lentera Anak Pelangi’s mentoring program may no longer be sustainable.
Besides Ms. Nur, Ms. Itok, Ms. Siti, and Ms. Titin, there are also those who participate in their daily work through psychosocial support and advocacy at Lentera Anak Pelangi such as Ms. Wulan, Adit, Henri, Wardiman, Riama, and Natasya, who are just equally impacted by this situation.
We can only hope that the light of the lantern does not dim out halfway. Over the past 12 years, our tiny lantern has been able to bring rainbows to the lives of more than 150 children living with HIV in Jakarta. We believe that there are good people who will join us to ensure that we keep our lantern going by keeping the fire and the oil.
Please support us to keep our lantern alight, to colour the lives of children with HIV in Jakarta.
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PARISH FUNDRAISING
Our next fundraising collection at Masses will be in November. However, in the meantime if you would like to assist LAP in meeting their financial challenges, please contact the parish office. Alternatively, you can donate directly to the following parish account established specifically for contributions to LAP.
BSB 083347
ACCOUNT NO. 546358602
ACCOUNT NAME: OLMC CHURCH ACCOUNT – LAP DONATION
Thank you for your ongoing support,
OLMC Fundraising Team for LAP
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 