The Bali Spirit Festival put the spirit right back into our project. Today, Zach, Putu and I visited their headquarters in Ubud where we spoke with WeWe - the head of the “Ayo! Kita Bicara HIV/AIDS!” program. The Bali Spirit Festival has a vision to evolve into a premiere international holistic wellness & world music destination, while leading to a positive change in the community. The festival founders are working to create HIV/AIDS awareness programs through “Ayo! Kita Bicara HIV/AIDS!” to alert families about this rising issue. Wewe explained that they provide workshops in high schools across Bali promoting prevention, knowledge, and spiritual well-being. Our group (HIV + Positif: Kita Bisa Rubah) has a focus on promoting HIV education and testing within the local community. We have hopes of collaborating with this organization’s efforts to bring affordable or free testing for the Balinese that attend the free family day the last day of the festival. Wewe also put us in touch with helpful contacts within other organizations in Denpasar. Everyone and everything seems to be connected in Bali - the night festival is hosted at ARMA and “Ayo! Kita BicaraHIV/AIDS!” works with Campuhan College…

The headmaster and a friendly English teacher at the high school SMAN 1 Ubud (the largest public high school in Ubud) helped our group understand the extent of sex and HIV/AIDS education available in their high school. The high school has approximately 700 students enrolled, ages 17-19 years old. They also explained the way the high school curriculum works and we have an appointment to meet with the Biology teacher (the person responsible for teaching sex education) tomorrow at 10am.

Anna and Kim visited several clinics in Ubud, speaking with doctors and nurses to learn the protocol of HIV testing, prevention and care in Ubud. The answer was: it’s almost non-existent and they were always pointed to the capital, Denpasar. This confirms the need for our initiative in Ubud for HIV testing and our next action research destination: Denpasar.