Good bye, Uncle Bob!

Sadly another loss to report, this time not directly caused by HIV. Bob Monkhouse, known to his friends and many, many 'children' as Uncle Bob, died early this week in Bali.

Bob had been in Indonesia since at least the mid 1970's. At some stage he opened a bar (I think it was the Pink Panther) in Kuta. I'm sure he'll forgive me for noting that, like many in that situation, he became too fond of his own wares. The upshot was that he formed an Alcoholics Anonymous group in Bali. This group continues to meet.

In the late 90's, it was natural that he should feel drawn to respond more directly to addiction. His first approach was to form the Bali Health Foundation (Yayasan Kesehatan Bali, or Yakeba as it soon became known). Yakeba set up a rehab centre for addicts in Denpasar. With growing demand, this was moved to some cottages in a lovely spot in the Balien valley, near Tabanan. Rosy, one of the early residents, remembers it as being very free, with no doors. Uncle Bob was always quick to forgive the inevitable thieves.

As news of HIV among drug users started to spread, Bob decided this demanded action. But like most of us at that time, he was no well informed about HIV, and felt the best approach was to get all the eighteen residents at the rehab centre tested. The results arrived on New Year's Day 2001: eight were positive! Rosy was one of those who received this terrible New Year's present; she recalls that they all had no idea what that meant, just that they would probably die within days or weeks.

Bob searched for help in responding. Fortunately, he quickly contacted the AusAID-funded HIV program (IHPCP) in Bali. At that stage, the extent of the HIV epidemic among injecting drug users (IDU) in Indonesia was only just beginning to become apparent, but the news from Yakeba was a real shock. By chance, I happened to be visiting the IHPCP office on 3rd January 2001, and was invited into a meeting with Bob (I think Rosy was also there), to try to decide what to do. One upshot was to arrange for them to meet with Suzana Murni, the founder of Spiritia. Meeting with a 'peer' who had been living with HIV since 1995, greatly assisted them to come to terms with their infection.

As a result, it was natural that the eight should form a peer support group in Yakeba. This group, now known as Hidup ('life', but also playing on the abbreviation IDU) still continues to support many people infected with HIV through drug use in Bali.

As the extent of the drug-driven HIV epidemic in Bali became more apparent, Bob expanded Yakeba's activities. Surveillance in the Kerobokan prison identified a huge problem there, so outreach to addicts in that prison was an early activity. As a result of these efforts by Yakeba and other groups, stigma and discrimination against those with HIV in that prison was pretty much eradicated by mid 2004.

This was followed by outreach to schools, and the initiation of a harm reduction program in 2003. When the methadone program trial was started in the Sanglah hospital, Yakeba took on the task of finding the first clients. Later, Yakeba also started a program of outreach to gays in Kuta.

Rosy remembers Uncle Bob as having a kind heart, willing to help anybody. While not being 'religious', he had strong spiritual convictions, with a deep trust in God.

"Uncle was our father," Rosy told me yesterday. "He gave us dignity."

Uncle Bob, you deserve your rest. Give us strength to carry on your legacy.

Babé

PS. Please respond if you have your own memories of Uncle Bob, or corrections to my fading memories.

PPS. There is an obit of Bob on the BaliDiscovery web site <Bob Monkhouse, 1941-2009> which provides a little more history.