Nane Annan speaks out on HIV/AIDS

Nane Annan speaks out on HIV/AIDS

Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

United Nations chief Kofi Annan was in town last week, and so was
his wife, Nane. Dutifully playing her role as the UN's first
lady, and joining the spouses' program designed for the 50th
jubilee of the Asian African Conference -- Nane also had one
small request: Could she have the opportunity of looking
firsthand into the issue of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia?

Between the rigmarole of tours and dinners she managed to do
just that, with the help of the country office of UNAIDS in
Jakarta and several non-governmental organizations.

The low-key visit, which was blissfully free of paparazzi,
ended on Saturday after she had visited the Spiritia foundation,
which supports people living with HIV/AIDS and their families.
She also met privately with Frika Chia Iskandar, an Indonesian
who is co chair of the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with
HIV/AIDS.

Nane, an attorney from Sweden who was Nane Lagergren before
wedding Kofi in 1984, "is too modest", said one observer. "She
should exploit her position to promote the issue," said another
blonde, gaunt woman, who wore a red ribbon-shaped brooch
symbolizing the movement that raises awareness about HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS organizers said she had been adamant about not shifting
the media attention even for one minute away from the Asian-
African Summit and dismissed questions about her personal life.

One thing that is known about the private couple is that she
and Kofi apparently share a love of dancing and painting. They
met while Nane was working at the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, and they have three children
from previous marriages. Interestingly, Nane is the niece of
Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat known for his role in rescuing tens
of thousands of mostly Jews from the Nazi regime.

Fighting discrimination -- against race, sexuality, age and
HIV/AIDS -- seems to run in the family.

Nane said she was moved by her visit to the Spiritia
Foundation in South Jakarta. "It was a house full of colors, full
of spirit," she said. She met with the parents of the late
Susanna Murni, an advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS, who
died a few years ago.

"Her father told me what he had told Susanna, after she had
decided to go public (with her status), that if she had
difficulty opening up, she could always come home," said Nane,
quickly dabbing her eyes.

"I thought it was such a wonderful thing for a father to say
to a child." Many more children in a similar condition would need
such support, and this is something parents should think about,
she said.

"Perhaps many other children would be helped if they knew they
could speak up and knowing they would always be welcome (at
home)", she added.

Nane said her visits accompanying her husband to many
countries gave her the opportunity to visit hospitals and many
organizations engaged in "incredible" work.

While there was no cure for HIV/AIDS yet, she said, "at least
people were caring for each other."

The issue of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the
stigma around HIV/AIDS, she said, interested her deeply. It was
increasingly found in many countries that women were mostly
infected by their partners. "There cannot be any stereotyping
anymore," she said. In the early days when the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus was first exposed, it was always
associated to high-risk groups like sex workers, wrongly and
fatally assuming that "decent housewives" and respected
businessmen were safe.

Nane quotes a few lines from a speech by the UN Secretary
General, regarding the necessary strategies for women. It
includes no less than a "social revolution that will give more
power to women".

"Silence means death," she said; even women who know they
could be protected by condoms might not want to push their
spouses to use them. Women needed to watch out for themselves,
she said, stressing the importance of education for women and
girls: "Make sure the child is educated, empowered and can decide
what she wants to do".

Nane said she was heartened President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and First Lady Kristiani Herawati had placed HIV/AIDS among the
top priorities in the fields of cooperation between African and
Asian nations -- among the major regions affected by the virus.

She plans to continue to take advantage of the opportunities
at hand, visiting people with HIV/AIDS and those supporting them
in a private capacity.

Nane remembers visiting a care center in Kenya, where she met
a bedridden woman. The support group caring for her focused also
on advocacy, caring for orphans and nutrition.

"Just being there, seeing how they reached out" to those in
need; this is what counts for Nane -- to watch and to spread the
word how in different countries and different cultures there are
people who act on the simple belief that the people they are
caring for, she says, "are just human beings who happen to have
HIV/AIDS."