All the team members are ex-addicts and some of them are living with HIV/AIDS.

They know what they are talking about!

The students are provided with accurate information relating to HIV/AIDS & drug abuse; thereby increasing their "awareness" of the current situation in Bali. This is done by using materials prepared by the team and is screened using an LCD projector. The students are then asked some questions relating to the drugs and HIV/AIDS; and if they answer correctly they are given a “door prize”.

Former addicts then "talk story" - telling of how they got involved with drugs and how it ruined their lives. These ex-addicts are in their late teens or early twenties and it is easy for the students to relate to them.

The students are provided with a list of people and organizations for obtaining further information ~ in particular for those who already have emerging drug/alcohol problems as well as referral information about drug rehabilitation, HIV antibody testing, youth sex education etc.

With funding from YKIP, YAKEBA has been able to reach the following number of junior and senior high school students:

2004	: 2,102
2005	: 8,329
2006	: 5,433
2007	: 14,788
2008	: 12,136

The YAKEBA Alcohol, Drug and HIV/AIDS Awareness Program in Villages

In 2006, a new program targeting youth in the village youth groups (called STT or Sekeha Taruna Taruni) was started. Instead of going to schools, the team goes into a village or urban kampung and speaks with the youth there. So far, we have reached:

2006	: 1,103 young people
2007	: 1,924 young people
2008	:  7,197 young people

This program has been recently extended to include information about harm reduction.
 
Harm Reduction is all about reducing the harm done to individuals (and others) if they indulge in “risky” behavior ~ such as injecting drugs or having sex. Harm can be greatly reduced by using sterile needles and condoms.
 
Yakeba has a comprehensive harm reduction program and distributes free needles and condoms; as well as Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT) for those wishing to know their HIV status. Village youth are also made aware of the many services available to them, including a methadone substation program for those wishing to stop using heroin.

PET (Peer Education Training) with AWARE

A program called PET (Peer Education Training) was put in place for theJuly 2006 - June 2007 school year. Two American volunteers, Mariah Ernst and Nicholas Satero from the AWARE program at Bard College worked with YAKEBA staff to create a new curriculum for PET. YAKEBA already had a curriculum in place and translated into Indonesian, which was then combined with the materials from AWARE.
 
The aim of this program was to put peer educators into five Senior High Schools who disseminated information on narcotics and HIV/AIDS to their fellow students. The initial training of peer educators began in July and ran for two months, followed by weekly sessions at each school. YKIP would like to thank Mariah and Nick for instigating and fundraising for this project.

The Yakeba Team

Project Coordinator / Moderator Dayu Rupini   Dayu is a former addict and has been working for Yakeba for several years. She is an activist for the human rights of Injecting Drug Users (IDU) and for the rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS. She is also the secretary of the Women’s Injecting Drug Users Support Group.	Asst. Project Coordinator Jordan Hartono   Jordan is also a former addict and has been working for Yakeba since early 2008. Jordan is accomplished artist and in his spare time makes post cards, Christmas cards etc.He is also involved in human rights issues.
Ex-Addicts Ex-addicts play a very important role in any Awareness Presentation. They are young and the students can easily relate to what they are talking about. They have "been there" and are eager to tell others about what it was like, what happened and what it is like now.	Project Consultant Bob Monkhouse is the director of YAKEBA and has been supervising Awareness Programs and other Yakeba projects since it began operations in 1999

Contact Us