The dawn call to prayer sounded. The melodious muezzin of a mosque awakened a group of residents of a sleeping shelter at the end of the dawn.
"Kak wake up, let's pray," Cila whispered (not her real name, 11 y.o.) who was trying to wake her friend from her lodge in a crowded dwelling in West Jakarta.
The effort of this little girl was not in vain, one by one her colleagues awoke from their deep sleep. After washing their faces then gather to pray together in the morning. The activities of the day were continued with a shower, cleaning the room, preparing the school textbooks they would bring.
Laughter escaped from their mouths when they saw a colleague who fell back asleep on the floor because he could not resist sleepiness while covering his face with a towel. "Kak Saras is the most difficult to wake up," Cila chirped while chuckling. Interspersed with laughter, they start the day. Cila is one of 4 child inhabitants of a shelter in a foundation called Vina Smart Era.
There is something special about these kids. They are children who have been left behind, without attention and often experience discrimination because they are children born with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus they get since in the womb.
Most of them are aged 10-16 years and no longer have parents or orphans. Their mother or father who is a needle drug addict has died of HIV / AIDS. Due to the status of HIV / positive children due to the mistakes of their parents, these children are forced to bear the burden.
The childhood they should be passing through with happiness and cheerfulness are forced to go through with discrimination or environmental scorn. Even from their own families, As Farhan (not his real name), 15-year-old child who is now orphaned. Both parents have also died of HIV / AIDS.
This skinny boy is the first of three children with HIV. His younger brother is also HIV positive. When Farhan was still with his mother who was dying because of HIV / AIDS had experienced discrimination from the hospital who cared for him. Until finally the mother did not survive and eventually died.
Not only that, little Farhan also had been rejected and removed from school due to his status as a HIV positive. Now thanks to the help of Vina, a health worker, Farhan can continue his education in a new school. Even so, the bitter experience of discrimination still haunts and can be repeated.
From the bitter experience of the imprint, Farhan is now sitting in grade 3 junior high school is aspiring to become a doctor. "I want to be a surgeon, so I can help people," said a little boy with a tapered face shy to gresnews.com who met him, some time ago.
The greatest difficulty in trying to embrace and make these children eager to live again. "They are wild, because nobody takes care of them. So often hanging out at midnight, their treatment is often neglected," said Asih who is an animator of the foundation’s youth group.
To these children, Asih provides learning methods that teach them to be more disciplined and dare to express opinions. "Restoring their ultimate confidence, self-confidence lost due to discrimination because of their status," she explained.
According to her, the discriminatory treatment would undoubtedly make children with HIV and their families increasingly difficult to get their rights as children. They can even harm the people around them unnoticed. Due to the trauma of the treatment they get.
Regardless of the status of these children as HIV positive people, they remain children who have the right to receive education and teaching in the framework of personal development and intelligence levels according to their interests and talents. As mandated by Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 23 Year 2002 regarding Child protection.
Giving attention, compassion, keeping them away from discrimination and letting them grow and develop their potential is like saving hidden pearls. According to a data in 2015, the number of children with HIV reported in Indonesia reached 3,408 people, while the number of HIV positive adults was 134,042 people.
This article is quoted from the original source with some photo adjustments used: (Edy Susanto/Gresnews.com)