Yakeba was established as a non-profit foundation on 10th April 1999.
Yakeba’s original mission was to establish a Recovery Center for Alcoholics and Drug Addicts. The center began operations in January 2000.
Not long afterwards, it became obvious that there was another problem closely linked to drug addiction: that of HIV/AIDS ~ especially amongst the injecting drug using (IDU) community.
Consequently, Yakeba’s mission was extended to be: “The treatment and education of all people who are affected by drug, alcohol and HIV/AIDS problems and those at risk”. Yakeba believes that recovery from addiction is best served when the people who have the problem are a part of the solution. Yakeba also believes that those with HIV/AIDS problems (and those at risk) are best served by people who know and understand the problem.
Yakeba’s Recovery Center
After paying the rent, the premises was set up, staff recruited, and Bali’s first recovery center began operations in early January 2000.
It was meant to be financially sustainable, but most of the residents came to Yakeba with little or no money. Providence shined on Yakeba again with financial support from a US-based family trust and as Yakeba grew bigger, from a Bali-based private company. These funds enabled Yakeba to provide care, support and treatment to a largely financially underprivileged group of IDU.
In late 2000, Yakeba moved temporarily to Perian (on the Bedugul road) and then to Lalang Linggah in west Bali where it began to build its own center.
By the time the rehabilitation center was closed in September 2004 (due to a lack of continuing financial support), it had helped more than 180 young Indonesian on the road to recovery. More than 30% of the rehab’s residents are clean today and many of them have moved on to become valuable members of Bali’s growing NGO community ~ working in the fields of HIV/AIDS prevention, HIV/AIDS Community-based Awareness Programs, Harm Reduction Programs and Counseling.
Yakeba’s Office in Denpasar
In early 2001, Yakeba began negotiating a contract with IHPCP to establish an office in Denpasar.
Specific objectives included:
- To establish an HIV/AIDS & Drug Information and Referral Center aimed at IDU and students—with an emphasis on the negative social effects of drug abuse
- To establish After-Care Programs, IDU-Support Groups and Education Services to schools, universities, faculties, government departments and the tourist industry
- To organize Capacity and Skill Development Building in the IDU community
Within a few months, the following had been achieved:
- HIV/AIDS Awareness Programs were established in schools
- The Denpasar office began supporting the recovery center in West Bali
- A library pertaining to HIV/AIDS and drugs was established
- Support Teams for ex-addicts were established
- A Free Counseling Service was established
- The office hosted Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Alanson and Naranon meetings on a regular basis
- An IDU Needs Assessment Survey was undertaken
- A safe place where addicts, ex-addicts, staff and volunteers could share confidentially was established
- Yakeba began networking with other Bali-based NGOs and non-Bali-based NGOs
- Staff training (both in– and out-of-house) began
- NA meetings in the prison were supported
- Counseling for IDU in the prison were commenced
In 2009, Yakeba’s office plays “host” to a number of projects, including:
- The HIV/AIDS Prevention & Care for Indonesia (HPCI) Project ~ funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)
This project (which began in 2005) is an intensive Outreach & Harm Reduction Program aimed at Injecting Drug Users (IDU)
IDU are offered a comprehensive package ~ called a NEP package ~ consisting of:
- Accurate information regarding HIV/AIDS
- Information about using drugs safely
- Sterile injecting equipment including new needles, alcohol swabs and bleaching kits
- Free condoms
- Referral information to the Methadone Clinic and Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT)
- Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT) Project
The specific goals of VCT are to:
- Encourage people to initiate and sustain behavior change;
- Help people obtain referrals to additional medical, preventive, psycho-social, or other care and services; and
- Provide a safe opportunity for people to learn their HIV status.
Yakeba has a trained and experienced VCT Counselor in the name of Pak Yudho. Yakeba offers in-house VCT to anyone wishing to know their HIV status, but offers this service particularly for IDU referred by the outreach workers.
Clients are pre-counseled before a blood sample is taken for testing; and post-counseled at the time the results are giver to the clients. Further counseling is also available on an on-going basis.
CD4 Testing
If a client is HIV+, the next step is CD4 testing ~ a test to count the number of white cells in the bloodstream. Healthy individuals (HIV-) usually have a count of between 1,000 to 1,200 such cells per ml of blood. As the HIV virus begins to multiply, the number of CD4 cells begins to decrease.
AIDS
The condition commonly known as AIDS kicks in when the CD4 level is 200 or below.
ARV
Antiretroviral drugs are universally available in Indonesia to any person in the AIDS stadium and the Yakeba staff support all those seeking treatment.
Yakeba’s staff supports all its clients in CD4 testing ~ accompanying them to the clinic where their blood is taken and following them afterwards.
- Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi (YKIP) Project
Please see the individual projects on the YAKEBA home page for further information.
- Stop TB Project
This project is funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and aims at engaging People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) who are also living with TB. It also aims at helping shape policy-making at a local level by way of advocacy.
The main objective of this project is to move the target population from being consumers and patients to participating in the collective process of becoming more informed, motivated and empowered; and becoming responsible for creating and carrying out their own roles of leadership, representation agenda, activities and tasks.
- Human Rights Project
Yakeba has two human rights projects at the moment, and is fighting for the human rights of IDU and PLWA.
The projects are funded by the Open Society Institute (an arm of the George Soros Foundation) and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations.
Issues include:
- Police violence on arrest and during incarceration
- Insufficient health services while on remand or during incarceration
- The right to rehabilitation as an alternative to prison
- Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) Project
This project aims to provide harm reduction strategies specifically aimed at “kucing” ~ young Indonesian boys who offer sex to westerners for money.
Information about HIV/AIDS is provided, along with free condoms and lube. Clients are also referred to VCT and other health services
- Rehabilitation Center
This project began in 2009 with the help of YKIP and ALF.
It aims to help rehabilitate injecting drug users.
- KUBE Project
Funded partially by the Department of Social Welfare, this project provides opportunities for ex-addicts to learn handcrafting skills such as making soap, candles and incense sticks. The project also has a small kiosk selling nasi campur etc
- Women’s Court on Trafficking and HIV Project
There was a Court in Bali in August of 2009, hosted by the Asian Women’s Human Rights Council (AWHRC) and the UNDP.
Yakeba worked with these agencies to ensure the success of the project.
This project is made possible through funding by:
