“People say I have nine lives. Many a times a funeral was prepared for me. Even my mother questions how is it that I am not yet dead. You don’t believe me? This is my story”.
These are the stories of nine incredibly strong women. Against all odds they survived, against rejection, discrimination, against stigma, and the disease that changed their lives forever. Each of these women live with HIV, each has felt time running out on them. And yet each has also found a way to cheat time, to make time last forever … for them.
These are stories of anguish, of bitterness, of acceptance. Reading them will make you appreciate living, and life, all the more.
“Aku Kartini Bernyawa Sembilan” (I am Kartini with Nine Lives) is the result of a series of workshops organized in 2006 by the United Nations Joint Programme for HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) with women living with HIV in Indonesia.
“HIV prevention efforts targeting women failed because it could not overcome the barrier of gender inequality,” National AIDS Commission Resource Mobilization Officer Elis Widen said at the book launch on Wednesday (29/08)
“The workshop (and the book) was a way to make women’s voices be heard. To let them tell their side of the story. So that the book will become a powerful advocacy tool for more effective methods of HIV prevention for women,” she said in her speech. With the help of six Indonesian women authors — Cok Sawitri, Djenar Maesa Ayu, Nukila Amal, Ayu Utami, Oka Rusmini, and Dewi Lestari — the women try to express their thoughts and feelings through writing. Short stories from nine women were finally published in this collection.
“Writing is therapy, and sometimes can be gut wrenching,” author Dewi Lestari said in the discussion following the book launch at GoetheHaus.
“I am certain that this book will be a bestseller, not only because it is written by people living with HIV, but also because of the quality of the writing,” she said.
“Aku Kartini Bernyawa Sembilan” was developed with funding from the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development (APLF), and published by PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Contact the nearest Gramedia bookstore for your copy.
