ATAMBUA, Indonesia (UCAN) -- A predominantly Catholic district in western Timor Island focused on ending discrimination against people with HIV during its commemoration of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

The 2,000 people who gathered for the event in the Belu district capital of Atambua, 2,000 kilometers east of Jakarta, included high school students, activists working on HIV/AIDS issues and religious leaders.

"I ask all of you present here to treat AIDS patients like your brothers and sisters who must not be kept away, isolated and discriminated against, because we are human too," Santy told those gathered at the town square.

The 30-year-old Catholic housewife, who stood at center stage, admitted to the gathering that she contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which usually leads to AIDS, from casual sex. "But please do not dismiss us as sinful. We are common people like you, we just need to take medicine to survive," she said.

Marsel Lai Nurak, who was there, appreciated the "honest" testimony. Many people still regard people with HIV/AIDS as "the dirty ones," who must not be associated with, he said, but "we cannot afford such an outlook." He added, "Santy's testimony comes from her heart."

Two adolescents then appeared on stage. They promised to "uphold religious and social norms to avoid HIV/AIDS, participate in any effort to help HIV/AIDS patients and work together with parties involved in the war against HIV/AIDS."

The event culminated with a reflection by Father Yohanes Senda Laka, who represented the different religious leaders in Belu. Ninety-four percent of the more than 250,000 people in Belu district are Catholic. Small communities of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Protestants also live here.

HIV/AIDS "is a world problem," Father Laka said, and the local community "must wisely respond, otherwise this generation will be lost."

The reflection ended with the signing of a 5-by-30-meter banner that would be sent to the National AIDS Commission to show Belu people's commitment to fight AIDS.

Ahmad Setyawan, a Muslim leader in the district, told UCA News, "All religious leaders should continually campaign against the danger of HIV/AIDS from their pulpits."

Earlier that day, thousands of people marched through Atambua's streets carrying banners and shouting slogans about the HIV/AIDS danger.

Maria Yasintah Mau, 16, and Aloysius Manek, 17, from two schools in Atambua, told UCA News they were happy and proud to join the march. Mau said she has "already heard of the dangers," while Manek pointed out that HIV/AIDS "is a problem for all human beings and may attack anyone."

Belu district has officially recorded 73 people with HIV/AIDS and 21 deaths because of it.

Meanwhile, the National AIDS Commission and National Family Planning Board are handing out condoms and brochures about HIV/AIDS prevention during a countrywide "condom week" that runs Dec. 1-8.

Condom use is against Catholic Church teaching, which allows natural methods of family planning but forbids artificial contraceptives.

At the Atambua event, Gregorius Mau Bili Fernandez, Belu deputy head and head of the district's National AIDS Commission chapter, urged people to protect themselves from infection by using condoms. But there was no special effort to promote or distribute them.

Meanwhile, across the country in Palembang archdiocese, west of Jakarta, Sacred Heart of Jesus Father Antonius Yuswita expressed concern over the condom distribution there. The vicar general, the highest archdiocesan official after the archbishop, told UCA News this pragmatic step is equivalent to legalizing casual sex among adolescents and students, and clearly presents "a moral and pastoral challenge for the local Church."

Since 1987 the national Health Ministry has recorded 10,384 people with AIDS and 5,904 with HIV, and confirmed 2,287 related deaths in Indonesia. Unofficial estimates say the number of infected people is close to 250,000.

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