A place where they can be different
When Luiz Loures, an UNAIDS official, walked into the three-storey building housing the Colombo office and lounge of a group supporting gays and people with a different sexual orientation, he was not only surprised but amazed at the courage of these men speaking out and openly expressing their views.
Brazilian-born Mr. Loures, Deputy Executive Director, Programmes– UNAIDS, was so moved by the large number of men greeting them, that he hugged and virtually embraced Lalith Dharmawardene, founder of the Heart to Heart Lanka organisation. “You are doing a great job. There are two champions in this room. You and the Global Fund,” he said warmly putting a hand on Mr. Dharmawardene’s shoulder as he spoke to foreign delegates and members of the local association.
Deputy Executive Director- UNAIDS, Luiz Loures, (third from right), Dr. Dayanath Ranatunga, UNAIDS- Colombo (fifth from right), President – Heart to Heart, Lalith Dharmawardena, (fourth from right) with members of the delegation and Heart to Heart members at their office.
Mr. Loures, UNAIDS officials and board members of the UN-backed Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (GFATM) were in Colombo this week for GFATM’s 25th annual board meeting, and a visit to Lalith’s organisation at Narahenpita was one of the highlights of their week-long stay. UNAIDS is the UN agency that combats HIV/AIDS.
The fund, established in 2002, has supported more than 1,000 programmes in 151 countries providing AIDS treatment for 4.2 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 9.7 million people and 310 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. Sri Lanka, a board member of the fund, is among the first four countries to receive funding when the fund was launched.
Foreign delegates crowded into a small room on the second floor of the small building as officials and members of the Heart to Heart organisation explained their role, objectives, issues and concerns.
Mr. Dharmawardene started his career as a banker, went into trade unionism and ended up as a successful hair dresser with his salon located in the same building. A large percentage of his earnings are spent on sustaining the organisation. “We started this organisation in November 2011 bringing together all those groups involved with gay men. Lesbians and the ‘Angels’ network of transvestites have also joined us,” he explained to the visiting delegates.
A member of the organisation, in fluent English and extremely articulate, says that they are treated like lepers. “If someone in a bus knows we are gay, they will move away. It has changed slightly from what it was many years back, however this stigma still remains.”
He says it’s mostly females in the family that accept who they are while the male members are the more difficult to convince about their rights and choice.
The large group of young and middle-aged people from different social backgrounds present at the meeting is a breath of fresh air in the fight by this community to be accepted by society, unlike many years when stigma and discrimination was at the peak. This was the time when former pastor Sherman de Rose founded his Companions on a Journey group, for the first time enabling gays, lesbians and others with different sexual feelings to meet and discuss their issues. The times were tough then.
As the 20-odd delegates file into the luxury bus that takes them to the next stop of site visits – a drop-in centre for AIDs victims run by Princey Mangalika’s Positive Women’s Network (PWN) at Wellawatte, the Sunday Times asks Mr. Loures for an update for the global AIDs crisis.
“There are many countries and places in the world where people are frank and open (just like the Heart to Heart centre). In many places the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) community is getting more and more space in the society where they have a constructive dialogue with society and contribute in an effective way to the fight against HIV/AIDs,” he says over the din of other conversation in the bus and the vehicle rolling through heavy traffic.
But he also points out the contradictions saying that while on one side there has been enormous progress particularly in science and social mobilisation, there is still fear, discrimination and inability to talk of one’s sexual orientation.
One of the biggest concerns to UNAIDs is that the level of global funding to fight the infection is reducing. That’s not a good sign, he says. “There is progress on HIV/AIDS primarily because of the investments made in the past 15-20 years. But if we lose that now, and don’t continue to invest, we’ll be paying more (on treatment and recovery) in the future,” he says.
One negative example is that because of the financial crisis, the health budgets have been cut in Europe and the number of infections are increasing because of more unemployment, less information and awareness on HIV/AIDS, and increasing drug use. “The epidemic is not over. Sustainability of funding is the key issue now after three decades of this disease,” he says stressing that the UNAIDS office in Colombo will continue to provide support to the Government and civil society efforts to tackle the HIV/AIDS issue.
At the drop-in-centre, Ms. Mangalika, a victim herself and a pioneering volunteer, warmly greets them. But as the delegates sit down, she pours out a litany of woes about insufficient funding, not enough food to feed dozens of women and their children who frequent the centre. Often emotional and bursting into tears, Ms. Mangalika explains the struggle to keep her organisation alive.
As the elders speak and reflect on their plight to the delegates, a small girl, probably around five years, walks around smiling and trying to engage everyone in some conversation. “She is also a victim,” one of the members of the centre, says. There are many couples and single mothers and their children who live at the centre as they have no other place to go to, having been ostracised by the community.
The centre has a membership of 216 PLHIV (people living with HIV) and strives to provide a safe, secure and confidential environment, free of stigma and discrimination. The PWN provides a nutrition pack each month to 21children living with HIV, among other work. “We don’t have much money and it’s a hard struggle,” says Ms. Mangalika.
GFATM officials say financial resources are limited and demands come from many countries. However they acknowledge the concerns saying these issues would be discussed at the Colombo meeting.
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