All the visits went well however the last two schools were better equipped with suitable space for the students to feel as comfortable as possible. The first two schools gave me a different room that was not a traditional classroom to conduct the survey. This room caused the students to sit quite close together which was not ideal due to the nature of the survey. Also, the final school which provided 109 responses, about 78% of the participants were female. It is important to note that the selection of survey participants was biased. I was limited to schools that 1) had a relationship with my organization, HOPE; 2) were still in session; and 3) agreed to participating in the survey. The final count for survey participants is 217 in four high schools in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Though the sample size is not yet complete, the preliminary data is quite useful.

The results of the responses were quite beneficial in becoming more knowledgeable about the adolescents of Indonesia. To cut to the chase (or to the juicy information), very few students reported doing drugs or being sexually active. If you are looking for scandalous information, the surveys are not where you find it. However there are some key and interesting findings:

99% reported not using drugs. Those that admitted to doing drugs used ganja.

When asked their perspective on how many of their peers they believe are sexually active, 39% reported “a few” and 35% reported “most” (choices were: all, most, about half, a few, none, don’t know). Those who responded that they believe most are sexually active seem to have the wrong perception if compared to the number of students reported being sexually active (4%).

75% of students do not feel any pressure from people around them to engage in sex but 17% do feel pressure.

When asked if globalization plays a role in affecting the respondent’s belief on when it is appropriate to become sexually active, 40% said “somewhat” and 32% said “no”. However when asked if they believe that globalization has influenced Indonesian people in general on their sexual behavior, 67% responded with a “yes”. It seems as though most students believe that their own individual beliefs are not as influenced by globalization as the general population.

95% of students reported being sexually inactive. Of the 9 students who reported being sexually active, 55% report never using any form of contraceptive and another 22% report seldom using any form of contraceptive for a total of 77% with zero or seldom use of contraceptives. Of the 9 reported sexually active students, 88% have never been tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

When questioning their knowledge of how to prevent HIV from spreading, 43% reported that a condom can prevent the transmission of HIV and about 56% reported that condoms either cannot prevent transmission or that they did not know.

Most students (47%) reported not having anyone in their lives that they feel comfortable talking freely about sex and the risk of contracting STD’s. 18% reported they did not know if they had someone they feel comfortable talking freely about sex and the risk of contracting STD’s.

Finally, to measure the students’ proximity to the disease, 7% reported knowing someone who had or currently has HIV/AIDS.

To understand the demographics of the respondents, here are some numbers. Almost half of the respondents were 16 years old and the other half were 17 and 15 year olds. About 70% of the total sample were females. Almost 90% of the respondents were Muslim, which is slightly over the national estimate provided by the CIA Factbook (taken from the 2000 census), measured at about 88%.

These results get me thinking. Very few students reported being sexually active, however the perspective they have on others is either a more accurate estimate of those who are sexually active or a misinterpretation of the true activities of their peers. Judging off of the nature of surveys, I am inclined to believe that the number who reported being sexually active is below the true value. Also, the number of students that responded correctly to whether a condom can prevent HIV transmission during sexual intercourse was quite low. It seems as though a sizable portion of the sample experiences some kind of pressure regarding sex and an even larger portion report not having someone in their lives that they can talk about the subject freely.

These key findings enable me to make special recommendations to the HIV-drug prevention program of these to target. My conclusions thus far are that open communication, accurate safe sex education, and exploring where the pressure for sex originates would be important in the program. Also, continued surveying in lower grades would be beneficial to target the age that some students become sexually active. Continued surveying among many random schools throughout Jakarta is very important in obtaining a better and more accurate sample which would not only be valuable to this project but also to other organizations that want to start a program of this sort in Jakarta. There is very limited Jakarta-specific research done on HIV/AIDS and it is among the top 3 provinces in the country with the highest prevalence rate.

The remainder of my project will be writing my final report which will be a compilation of survey data, formal and informal interviews, and my own internet research to recommend the best HIV-drug prevention program for implementation in the future. It will be submitted to the Country Director, Charles Ham, on July 2, 2010.

I have to make a shout out to Professor Hawken for providing me with the skills to be able to conduct, interpret, and report the findings of my survey. It has been a great experience-one that I have made mistakes, learned from them, and will only continue to be better in the future.

Indonesia Sea World was pretty cool – a little smaller than the one in San Diego, but it was a fun trip nonetheless.  They don’t have this guy in San Diego!

Is that a hippo in Sea World Indonesia? Yep, that’s right.  Though the hippo was pretty cool, the dolphin show was the most entertaining.  Make sure you visit them outside of the shows at their tanks because they are very fun to watch

This past Sunday HOPE worldwide Indonesia had a closing ceremony for their festival which was photo exhibition at one of the nicest malls in Jakarta.  A group of photographers showed their photographs for purchase in order to raise funds for HOPE’s activities; the theme was mother and child.  As you can imagine, the photos were so precious and showed many sides of motherhood and childhood from so many parts of Indonesia.  I liked this picture of a Balinese mother and son so much that I took a picture with it.  I wish I had the talent of balancing a bowl of fruit on my head so bad!

The closing ceremony was facilitated by an announcer who briefly interviewed Keyla and me about our activities at HOPE to show that the organization attracts many volunteers all over the globe.

After our fifteen seconds of fame, then came the performance of the children of Cilincin.  Cilincin is a slum village that I visited in my first week in Indonesia where HOPE implements the program called “Saturday Academy”.  This program makes it possible for disadvantaged children to have access to books and education.  They performed a musical number with the traditional instrument called angklung, which is native to Java.

The other great performance was a group of girls who danced what is called the Saman dance.  This is a traditional dance native to Aceh, North Sumatra.  Aceh is the province that got hit the hardest by the 2004 tsunami.  It is so interesting to watch because of the beautiful outfits and high-pitched screeches the girls made throughout the dance.  This is among my favorite things about visiting another country – experiencing the culture, more specifically, the traditional culture.

Check out what we used to get to the school.  I love the funny modes of transportation here! You never get bored!

This is the view when you look out the back door while driving.

The school I was at today was a government run high school and the other 2 schools I visited were private.  All the schools looked the same to me… outdoor hallways, rambunctious teens in uniforms, and small classrooms that housed many students.

Today was a perfect example of a typical visit to a school to conduct my survey.  I was accompanied by Donald, a staff member at HOPE, who helped me greet the headmaster and he also served as a translator to the students.  Once the classroom was set up and the students were seated, I began my presentation to the students.   I explained that the purpose of the survey is to help me understand the culture, behaviors, and attitudes towards sex.  The responses will help me in designing an effective HIV-drug prevention program that is tailored to the teens in Jakarta.  Then I explained the confidentiality of the survey and reiterated the importance of taking the survey seriously (because high school students can be a little too care-free as we all know/remember).

Here is a picture of the students taking the survey.  They were so great!

After the survey we opened the classroom to question and answer sessions since it is such a treat for the students to be able to interact with a person from the States.  They only read or watch things about the States from afar so it is fascinating for them to ask questions – and they do.  From “do you have a boyfriend” to “what is the culture of teens towards sex in the United States”? 

The students today were such a joy to talk with.  They were full of life, questions, and were so polite.  They would burst out in laughter every time I would say things in Bahasa (the local Indonesian language) and they wanted to know all about life in California.  They also asked for my perspective on Indonesia thus far in my trip and I was happy to report that I really enjoy myself here especially because the people are so nice.

After everyone had lots of laughs and all the questions were answered, we presented the headmaster with a Certificate of Appreciation because we so are grateful of the time they sacrificed to help us with the development of our program. 

Finally, after the mini ceremony, the students, Donald, the teachers and I all got together to take pictures to mark this event.  It is an extremely exciting time for the students because they really want to take a picture with a white girl from the United States since that is so foreign to them.   I really cannot get used to the attention – people wanting to take your picture and getting overly excited to stand next to you.  Every time a student would make a point to stand next to me, the whole class would roar in laughter making fun of that student. 

This is a picture of only the grils in the class.  We had such a great turnout.

I couldn’t help but compare my high school experience to theirs.  It differed so much.  There were no  football fields, no Olympic sized swimming pools, no cheerleaders walking around, no air conditioning in the classrooms (and it is much warmer in Indonesia than Southern California), and way under the mob of 2,500 students walking around like my high school had.  Instead of a parking lot full of cars, you see tens of motorcycles – the most common way to travel in the city.  There is such a wide gap between my high school experience and theirs, so it was an awesome experience for both the students and me to learn from each other today.

Once you make the hike up the mountain (it wasn’t that bad) you overlook the beautiful crater which looks like a meteor hit, when in fact it was part of the volcano.  When the eruptions happened, the lava flowed laterally which caused the crater to form (maybe not the most scientific explanation but that is what I got from the information board for the tourists).

After overlooking the crater from high up, we marched down a steep and slippery path that took us straight into the middle of the crater where there was a strong smell of sulfur, lots of steam, and several hot springs.  There were many people taking spills because the mud was so slick (even me) but it was definitely worth the bumps and bruises.  Standing in a giant extraterrestrial-like crater with hot springs, and steam coming from the earth all the way down to its core, was amazing.  The boiling water from the hot springs felt great on all my itchy mosquito bites.

(Sorry I am making a weird face, it was really bright)

It was a great day especially since seeing a hot spring was on my list of things to do in life.  Check that one off, only a million more to go!

I have also met with an HIV/AIDS Specialist for USAID who was kind enough to give me over an hour of her time talking with me about the HIV situation in Indonesia.  She told me that she believes that injecting drug use, which has been the source of the dramatic increase in HIV infections since the turn of the century, is now under control.  The prominent source of the continued increase in HIV infections in the most recent years is due to sexual transmission via male and female sex workers and promiscuity of the more rural provinces.  We had such a fascinating conversation that we may even meet again as my project develops more for further input. 

I have also a string of interviews this week which I am looking forward to: a woman who works on HIV/AIDS for AusAid; the Executive Director for International Center for Islam and Pluralism; and finally an M.D. who is also a professor of Public Health and Prevention Medicine.  In addition to the interviews, I am scheduled to visit schools to conduct the survey.  So this week will be pretty hectic, but pretty fun.  Will update you soon!

Last weekend Keyla and I joined Maybe’s family on a trip to Subang about 3 hours outside of Jakarta with traffic and about half the time without traffic.  Maybe’s family have an awesome little “cottage” (for lack of a better word) on a piece of land that has rice fields, fish, ducks, and a cow.  We went there to have dinner with some more family members and enjoy the picturesque and peaceful surroundings.

This guy put a fish at the end of the stick to feed the mega fish in the water.  They were imported from the Amazon and they are as big as a smaller shark but have the same ferocity and aggressiveness.  When these fish want to eat they make a quick attack that nearly throws this guy in the water.

One thing is for sure though… I won’t be bored this summer.

On Thursday, May 27^th I had the opportunity to join Charles Ham, the Country Director of HOPE Worldwide Indonesia, to a nearby medical school where he interviewed about 25 students applying to join the U.S. Mercy Navy Ship in the humanitarian effort to provide medical treatment to those most in need in Indonesia.  This was a great time for me to talk to young adults in the medical field and get their perspective on the HIV/AIDS situation in Indonesia and their views on how best to prevent further transmission as they were waiting for their interview.  They provided me with exclusive information from their very unique perspective.

The primary take-away of my conversations with the students is that there are many reasons that HIV infections are rising but they differ across the country.  Indonesia is comprised of more than 17,500 islands with a wide range of cultures and religions. Take for example Sumatra, Java, and Papau.  All are islands that make up Indonesia however differ drastically in terms of culture.  According to the students that I talked to, Sumatra is a place where close to all the people are strict Muslims and that there is no discussion of the issue of sex.  It is simply part of a statement that sex is prohibited until marriage.  The end result of this no-discussion policy is a taboo subject and curious youth. 

The island of Java is where the capital, Jakarta, is located where roughly 50% of the approximate 240 million people of Indonesia live.  Jakarta is a very urban city with big malls, many restaurants, tall buildings, and of course slum areas.  According to the medical students, the number of HIV infections in Jakarta is rising because of globalization, prostitution, injected drugs, and the taboo sex culture.  When kids receive sex education, they remember their teacher being very uncomfortable speaking about the subject and creating an environment that is unfriendly for free discussion and questioning.  Also there is a common problem among university campuses that some girls go to the nightclubs or bars at night and sell their bodies in order to pay for school.  Indonesians do not have the option to apply for a student loan, the key to many Americans’ education, and are required to pay for school in cash.  This makes some students on many campuses go to extraordinary measures to make sure they are able to stay in school. 

In a much different, more rural province in Indonesia called Papua, the HIV infection rate is about 15 times the national average (UNAIDS 2009) – 3% in Papua and .2% for the national average.  According to the medical students, the reason the rate is so high in Papua is due to lack of education, heightened promiscuity as compared to other regions of Indonesia, and lacking condom use.  Because Papua is so rural there is little education and when there is little education there are more HIV infections.

The students also commented on Bali – the world famous tourist destination known for its beautiful beaches and perfect waves – and suggested that tourism is the main cause of HIV infections on the island.

By getting an understanding of the medical students’ perception on the HIV situation in Indonesia, it became obvious how important it is to treat every section of the country independently when dealing with the causes and transmission of HIV. 

It was a great experience to be able to talk to this group of students because they were able to give me an idea of current culture of sexual behavior across Indonesia by being young and also give me the perspective of a medical student.  I am eager to learn more about this diverse culture.

Here is a picture of the adoption ceremony.  Baby Rafael is in the center on the lap of his new father and surrounded by his new family.  We went around the circle giving thanks for this special occasion and to wish the family well and then we all ate together.

Today Keyla and I got to go to a slum village in Jakarta and see the place that HOPE administers ultasounds and educates women during their pregnancies.  Even though these women have very little, they have very big hearts and warm personalities.  Without this free service that HOPE provides, the pregnant women would not have the means to maintain a healthy pregnancy or be given basic necessities.  Another great day in the field!

This is a photo of a new mother who accessed services from HOPE.

Today was a jammed packed day with a briefing on the maternal health program which helps educate young mothers through their pregnancies and teach them about family planning.  Then we headed off to the Computer Training Center and TB clinic in Jakarta.  The bottom floor is used for people who have TB to come into the clinic and receive medicine and education on how to treat the disease.  There is also staff that personally goes to patients’ homes and checks on their progress and monitors their treatment regimen.  We were told a startling statistic by the manager of the clinic, John, that in Indonesia all people who are HIV positive have Tuberculosis because the HIV virus weakens the immune system so much that everyone easily contracts TB as well.  Therefore this program serves an invaluable place in the community as people infected with HIV are increasing.

Here is a picture of Keyla and me with a nurse at the clinic who is testing to see which patients have contracted TB.

Upstairs from the clinic is the Computer Training Center where everything about the computer is taught– from Windows, to Microsoft 2007, to fixing your computer, HOPE covers it all.  They began the program by accepting everyone that applied and now they only admit 38% of the people that apply.  Priority is given to those applicants that show motivation and need. 

Here is a photo of one of the computer training classes.

Many alumnus of the program turn around and give the service back to others by teaching it themselves or are able to obtain jobs after.  A major success story from the program is a man named August.  When he graduated from the program, he used the skills he learned ot open two internet shops and now has five people working for him who have also graduated from the same program.  In addition, he maintains a sizable group of regular customers – many of which are children that come in all the time to play video games.

From the Computer Center we headed off to a very low income area in North Jakarta called Cilincing which is the sight of another program at HOPE called Saturday Academy.  This program gives children with little opportunity for education in their lives the ability to read books from a preschool level to Macroeconomics and Physics. 

Here is a picture taken inside the home that they operate Saturday Academy.

Located right on the water, this fishing community is quite beautiful (indah in Indonesian) however it is contaminated by loads of trash.  Children love playing in the water here and love seeing foreigners like Keyla and me.  At the sight of us they jumped and shouted every English word they knew.  It was an amazing experience to walk through such tight quarters where people live filled with millions of flies and tens of cats attracted to the fish, where the poverty is so vivid and see the people with so much soul and spirit. 

Right outside of the Saturday Academy house, you can hear the blaring music of traditional Indonesian music called “dangdut” which had an inlander vibe mixed with great beats…great music to my hears.  I can’t wait to buy some of this “dangdut”  and share it with friends in the States.

All in all, it was a jammed-packed wonderful day where we saw new places within Jakarta and met more of the warm-hearted Indonesians.  Tomorrow we venture to HOPE’s orphanage located in Bogor – will report soon.

This is quick blog entry dedicated to the food of Indonesia.  I would like to report that all is very well in the food department.  The basic overview of Indonesian food so far is a variety of dishes that include vibrant flavors and spices making rice, meat, and vegetables taste delicious.  Tea is the drink of choice of Indonesians which, thanks to lemon tea, is turning a girl who used to hate tea actually really enjoy it.  Indonesians are also very big on vegetables, my favorite being something leafy and green with a soy-garlic sauce called “kangkung”.  Desserts are often times a choice to be made from a wide array of fruit sold on the side of the road (of course you have to remember to wash it before you eat).  I enjoyed the Balinese orange which looked like a brain but tasted like a grapefruit and Keyla had something called star fruit where the pieces looked like stars but it tasted like a refreshing flower. 

Just yesterday staff from HOPE took Keyla and me to lunch which was actually a woman’s home who opens it up during the day to sell home-cooked meals.  This was quite surprising to me as kids ran in and out of the living room as we were eating our lunch, but what a cultural experience and tastey meal!

Check out Mama’s House below.  This is where the HOPE staff goes to lunch everyday.

You can also find a lot of these on the side of the road if your looking for some quick, cheap, and delicious food.  This is where I bought the Balinese orange.