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."