Baby Jim, a fighter for the unborn

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An intercity truck was parked on the roadside. There was nothing unusual, except the picture on the back, depicting a pregnant woman who looks to be in deep grief, and some words: AIDS dapat menurun ke anak dalam kandungan (AIDS could be inherited to the unborn child).

What does a truck have to do with AIDS? Baby Jim Aditya knows it well.

"Intercity truck drivers are among those highly exposed to HIV/AIDS mainly due to their habit of having unsafe casual sex with many different sex workers along their way," said Baby, an HIV/AIDS activist.

She also knows all too well that such irresponsible behavior could put their wife and unborn children in danger of being infected by the HIV virus.

For those reasons, in 1996, Baby organized a campaign among intercity truck drivers who ply the highways and byways along Java's northern coast (Pantura) to re-paint their trucks with anti-HIV/AIDS slogans.

"It's simply about man's involvement and responsibility to his wife, who has the right to stay healthy," she said.

She was born as Baby Siti Salamah in Jakarta on Dec. 5, 1962 as the first child of seven children in her family. Her late father was a construction engineer, while her mother was a housewife.

The tomboyish Baby enjoyed her childhood by flying kites, fishing and climbing trees.

When she was in her second year of high school, her father died. To help support her family, Baby had to work while continuing her study. She was an announcer at Victory radio in Bogor from 1979 to 1982.

She then moved to several radio stations, like Prambors, Mustang, Ramako, and TVRI as a news presenter.

She was also actively involved in a popular theater group Teater Koma, where she met her husband, Jim Bary Aditya who is now an artistic editor at Matra magazine.

Baby married Jim in January 1985 and they have two sons, Gior Getarcipta, 17, and Zaro Megagenta, 13.

Her involvement with HIV/AIDS started in 1988, just a year after the first HIV positive people, a sex worker, was detected in the country, just a few short years after the first HIV/AIDS case in the world was revealed.

But many people, as well as the government, were not quite aware of the danger of HIV/AIDS. They tried to deny the virus could spread in Indonesia and wrongly believed it would only affect the promiscuous ones or those in other similarly high-risk groups.

"I realized how fast the spread of the virus was and that people here could be affected because of their unsafe sex practices," said Baby

She criticized people who still maintained their hypocrisy.

"As people continue denying the reality, they prevent all efforts to solve the problem as those problems itself they claim are nonexistent," said Baby.

Official reports from the government, as cited by her website (www.babyjimaditya.com), said that from 1987 to 2001, people infected by the virus stood at 2,830 in total. However, activists believe the figure could reach up to 120,000 in Indonesia.

"We believe that the number could reach a million by 2010," said Baby.

For Baby, the quantities failed to tell the story of the patients' despair, pain and anguish as a result of the infection.

She contended that the HIV/AIDS infection actually could be minimized if eradication was impossible by creating well-informed and well-educated men and women who were aware of the potential dangers of the virus and how it could be spread to other people, who are not necessarily those in high-risk groups.

Sexual workers, gays and drug abusers are believed to be highly exposed to the HIV/AIDS infection.

"The sharing of syringes which is common among drug abusers would instantly transfer the virus to many other people," Baby said.

Baby contended that the time was now to introduce the "harm reduction scheme" to help pressure the devastating impact of drug abuse by among others, providing free syringes to the public.

Amid her activities to campaign against HIV/AIDS, Baby also works as a fashion designer at her own workshop in Cipete, South Jakarta, and is taking a non-degree program in psychology at the University of Indonesia.

In 1995, she organized a musical drama entitled Sentuhan- sentuhan Warna (Touches of Color) played by former sex workers from the now-defunct Kramat Tunggak brothel area.

Starting in 1996 -- twice a year in the third week of May and first week of December -- Baby has been organizing candlelight vigils as part of the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign.

Baby, who likes reading books on literature and philosophy admitted she often felt discouraged in her efforts to disseminate information about the virus and its danger.

"The victims are not only the adults, but also teenagers and children who have been infected. We must bear the brunt of the blame as we have failed to give them proper information about the virus and its danger," sighed Baby.

Pointing at a picture of her son during his 17th birthday celebration, Baby said her two sons were her main motivation to persist.

"They are such precious treasures to me and always give incessant inspiration to me. I want to see their smile for today and for the next couple of years. Upon seeing them my drive to strive for the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign is sustained," said Baby, who proudly told a story about how her two sons assisted a pregnant cat in bearing its kittens.

"I hope I can still see, in the future, the bright smiles of the unborn children who stay healthy and free from the virus," said Baby.