Page 27 - IB MAR 2019

Opinion

Doing Development which funds the education of children of parents who have, or
have died of, HIV. It is a magical program which brings meaning,
Differently and hope, to the lives of grief-stricken families. Children find a
purpose in life. Parents become determined to live as long as
possible, so that they can help their children through school, and
What we can learn from PNG nuns often university, and into jobs. SEEF helps create a community
of mutual support and hope.
By last year, the Sisters of Notre Dame at Banz included among
their HIV work: a VCT and ART treatment centre where people
can come and be tested and people living with HIV can get their
treatment drugs; the Centre currently has over 300 people on
ART; the Shalom Care Centre and surrounding vegetable gar-
dens; skills training courses for PLWH who wish to earn some
money to support themselves; SEEF; a ‘Celebrate Life’ party on
1 December to bring together families affected by HIV; and a
new program for Shalom mothers in which they can come to the
By Elizabeth Reid Centre on Fridays to be together to share their stories, have fun,
AUSTRALIAN feminist, academic and development worker, tell jokes, have meals together, read the scriptures, do some life
Elizabeth Reid was recently awarded the 2019 Mitchell Hu- skills training, watch some good videos and return back to their
manitarian Award, in part for her work in Papua New Guinea. villages on Sunday.
Highlights from her acceptance speech at the Australian National The continuing need for such work was born out by a 2018
University follow. study which reported HIV infection rates of almost 20 per cent
Since 1998 I have been working alongside a Congregation of in sex workers in Mt Hagan.
Catholic Sisters in PNG: the Sisters of Notre Dame. This has helped Much is currently being written on the virtues of Adaptive
me learn some of the most important lessons of development. Management or Doing Development Differently.
In 1998 I was appointed Resident Coordinator of the United The Sisters of Notre Dame have been managing adaptively in an
Nations system in PNG and UNDP Resident Representative. In extremely complex and messy area, namely the highlands of PNG.
my first week in PNG, I was fortunate enough to meet Sr Rose HIV work places one within a swirling cloud of emotions: fear,
Bernard Groth of the Sisters of Notre Dame. anger, distress, shame, despair, vengeance, loathing and blame.
Sr Rose was a Pastoral Worker in Banz Parish in the Western One must be able to work within such swirling emotions, to see
Highlands. In 1985 she read an article in Time Magazine about patterns within them, and to find pathways to quieter spaces, for
the devastation the HIV epidemic was causing in Africa. She these emotional states affect people’s ability to think clearly and
understood immediately the devastation it could cause in PNG. they shape the ways that they see the world and interact with it.
The first case of HIV infection was reported in PNG in 1987. The Sisters of Notre Dame have no financial support from any
Sr Rose started working with and caring for people living with development organisation or institution active in PNG. They are
HIV/AIDS (PLWH) when, three years later, in 1990, two of her mainly supported by small, often one-off, donations from people
women parishioners were sick and Sr Rose suspected HIV. They who are impressed by their work.
were too ill to go to hospital to be tested so the doctors at Kudjip Perhaps donors need to do development differently.
hospital instructed Sr Rose how to take their blood. Both women What makes this work so effective?
were positive. No-one came near them. No-one cared. Nuns in general have, I think, been overlooked as a develop-
Sr Rose began to understand the stigma and discrimination ment resource.
surrounding HIV infection. When I talk of nuns, I am not referring to faith based organisa-
In 2002, Sr Rose opened the Shalom Care Centre, a two-bed- tions, nor to ‘nuns and priests’ or brothers, but to women, women
room house where four people living with HIV, especially newly who join a community and take the simple vows of poverty,
diagnosed and traumatised women and girls, stay for a week at chastity and obedience.
a time. They are taught about nutrition and healthy eating and The fundamental skill that successful and effective HIV work
how to counter the effects of the virus. Here, people living with demands is empathy, that is, knowing what is going on in people’s
HIV can come and have their fears stilled, their despair give way heads and hearts.
to hope, and their paralysis became empowerment. “I try to give With these skills, Sr Rose and Sr Regina provide an emotional
them hope,” she said. “They can live perfectly normal lives. They and spiritual enabling environment for reflection, for healing
do not have to die right away. They can have a good life even and for action. Within this environment, empowerment occurs,
though they are infected.” particularly for women, but also for families.
In late 2007, the PNG Sustainable Development Program began Positive change occurs at the personal level and in their
supporting Community Conversations in PNG. Sr Rose immedi- relationships, particularly power relations, in the family and
ately understood the value and importance of a community-based community. At the same time social norms and values which
methodology to address the HIV epidemic because of her work on impact on women’s lives are being challenged and changed in
tracing flows of infection. Up until then, all HIV prevention, and the community.
even care, programs were directed towards individuals. They have also created an enabling environment for account-
Three or four year later, Sr Rose decided reluctantly to return to ability, both individual and at the community level. They see
the USA after 48 years in country and Sr Regina, another member virtues as cultivated states of character and set out to strengthen
of the convent in Banz, took over her HIV work, including the the virtues of gratitude, civility, self-control and self-reflection at
Community Conversations and SEEF programs. the individual level; and the virtues of inclusive reflection, care,
SEEF, often just called Serendipity, is a micro-grant program compassion and the common good, at the community level.”

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