Support for INP+ from the Brimbank Community Initiatives Inc

[Guest guest]

Hello to all those readers of eForum –

I am writing to introduce myself as a new member of the group.

My name is Geoff Heaviside and I met many of you who attended the 6th

ICAAP in Melbourne in October 2001 during the skills building

sessions there.

Slowly but surely a partnership has been developing between INP+ and

Brimbank Community Initiatives Inc which is my sponsoring agency here

in Melbourne.

Abraham Kurian has been the link person to the Board Members of the

Indian Network of People Living with HIV & AIDS. (INP+)

My Agency here in Melbourne has sponsored two visits to Melbourne to

extend the field work experience here with Abraham who has recently

succeeded our good friend Ashok Pillai as President of their Board.

As a tribute to Ashok and as a furtherance of the twinning

partnership that has been developing I have once visited India in

April 2002 to evaluate an invitation to come to India and work for

the latter half of 2002 beginning some time in July 2002.

The invitation was to facilitate some skills building workshops for

PLWHA's and to explore the establishment of an internet based Access

Information Centre whilst at the same time to assist in building some

unity in the variety of service organisations working with PLWHA's

drawing on our experiences here in Melbourne.

My background in this field began in 1989 when I became involved in

volunteer care and support in Melbourne for PLWHA's through n

AIDS Council initially through the Uniting Church where I was the

Senior Social Worker in a Parish Mission, and including a continuous

period as a Board member of PLWHA . I have also been a Board

Member of Straight Arrows that is a support organisation for PLWHA's

who do not identify as gay.

I am an accredited Pre & Post HIV Test Counsellor accredited by Human

Services in and I currently run a volunteer support program

under the above Agency that specialises in support for people living

with HIV-AIDS and other chronic illnesses.

Together with a number of colleagues we have been exploring work in

schools to try to overcome discrimination and stigma starting with

young people in peer education settings.

We have also worked through hospitals and associations of General

Medical Practitioners to make them more conscious and aware of what

living with HIV and AIDS is like on a day to day basis and also

monitoring the experiences and expectations of people who come in

contact with the disease including those infected and more

importantly those affected by it.

In Melbourne and in Australia generally we have moved away from

treating HIV-AIDS as a medical condition preferring to place it into

a social model of health delivery and outcomes.

Of course in India this experience will be different. It must

therefore be met with a very active and committed group of people

there, prepared to identify the most crucial issues for infected and

affected people.

In the 12 years that I have been involved in this field I never

thought I would see the day when people stopped dying and we had to

apply resources to programs that would allow people to move off

pensions and return to work, but that we are seeing for an increasing

number of infected people in our country thanks to HAART and

affordability here in Australia.

I visited India and whilst I only spent time in Chennai I have been

totally consumed by the potential and excitement that the social

health model offers for this disease and I am really looking forward

to coming to India as a volunteer auspiced by INP+ and meeting as

many people as is possible to try to identify issues and work

collectively towards solutions. Part of that process is to have

empowered and energetic PLWHA's with a common goal. NGO's everywhere

in the world are the energisers it seems. Pharmacists, Physicians,

Politicians and Journalists are being confronted with the problems on

a day to day basis and they will not just go away. Ideas must be

explored and PLWHA's must be at the forefront of the policy

direction. That is the case nationally in Australia and whilst I am

quite excited about coming to India for an extended time in my so

called early retirement, it is not to proffer solutions, for these

must be home grown responses with dare I say, an Indian flavour.

I am awaiting the extension of my business visa from the Canberra

Embassy and thought that I would place my introduction here so you

would all be aware of my visit and help me to get to know you and

your efforts during my time in India. I read with interest some

comments in this list from of FIAR that I felt echoed

many of the sentiments that I am feeling after my short visit, so it

is good that networks and so called twinning partnerships are working

out internationally.

I can be contacted on this email address or via INP+ in Chennai.

Thanks to those readers with whom I have already communicated, your

invitations are most encouraging.

Geoff Heaviside

Brimbank Community Initiatives Inc

Melbourne Australia

P.O. Box 606, Sunshine

Ph: 61 418 328 278

Fax : 61 3 9311 5052

email : gheaviside@...

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