VZCZCXRO3462
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHPO #0443 2981408
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241408Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0433
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000443 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA - JROSHOLT 
DEPT FOR G/IWI SPEDROARIAS AND SLINEBERRY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM NS
 
SUBJECT: SURINAME NOMINATION 09 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL 
WOMEN OF COURAGE 
 
REF: STATE 99729 
 
¶1. (U) Post is pleased to nominate Juanita Altenberg-Dest, Director 
of the Maxi Linder Foundation, for the Secretary of State's 2009 
Award for International Women of Courage. 
 
¶2. (U) Biographical Information and justification for award 
selection: 
 
Full legal name of nominee: Juanita Augusta Rudolphina 
Altenberg-Dest (note that Surinamese passport reads Altenberg spouse 
of Dest, as Surinamese women retain their maiden names for most 
purposes) 
Job title/association: Director of the Maxi Linder Foundation 
Date of birth: July 31, 1953 
Country of birth: Suriname 
Citizenship: Surinamese 
Address: Krakalaan 3, Paramaribo 
Telephone: (597) 863-6889 
Email: juanitada@sr.net 
Passport number: R 1033900 
 
Justification: 
 
Summary: Juanita Altenberg is co-founder and Director of the Maxi 
Linder Foundation, the sole organization in Suriname that educates 
and provides assistance to commercial sex workers.  While the 
Foundation originally started their work by educating sex workers on 
condom use and increasing sex workers' awareness of HIV/AIDS and 
other sexually transmitted diseases, the Foundation's mission has 
expanded to include providing vocational training as well as 
encouraging and assisting commercial sex workers to leave the 
streets and find safer jobs to support their families.  As such, 
Altenberg is advancing the President's Freedom Agenda by fighting 
against the spread of disease and protecting the human rights of 
underserved commercial sex workers. 
 
Altenberg's belief that health care should not just be accessible 
for a small, privileged group, but to all, prompted her to choose a 
career in health care.  She began her career at the Ministry of 
Health but was soon "loaned" to the National Aids Program (NAP) to 
coordinate their "commercial sex workers program". In this capacity, 
she and her team went out on the streets to educate sex workers on 
condom use and to increase sex workers' awareness regarding the 
HIV/AIDS virus. Interviews with the sex workers showed there was 
little knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases or HIV/AIDS. 
Based on this information, Altenberg got together with a few other 
women to establish the Maxi Linder Foundation in 1994. 
 
The Maxi Linder Foundation is the sole organization working with sex 
workers in Suriname and serves not only to educate sex workers (male 
and female) on health issues, but also provides a "safe haven."  The 
Foundation conducts vocational training sessions, and it assists and 
motivates sex workers to leave the streets and find a safer job to 
support their families. Surveys conducted by the Maxi Linder 
Foundation showed that there are children on the streets as well. 
Some are brought to "work" by their mother, while others do so due 
to poverty at home. Altenberg works tirelessly and sometimes with 
fear for her own life to get these children off the streets and into 
child care centers.  She also works to increase awareness of the 
dangers amongst their parents/caretakers. 
 
Altenberg frequently goes out into the streets and into the clubs to 
meet "new" sex workers. On many occasions, her team has discovered 
during these visits women who were trafficked into Suriname. Despite 
threats from brothel owners and others, and with fear for her own 
life, Altenberg succeeded in helping some of these victims leave the 
brothels and return to their countries of origin. 
 
In the fourteen years since the establishment of the Foundation, 
Altenberg succeeded in raising awareness among commercial sex 
workers of HIV/AIDS and condom use. She also succeeded in bringing 
topics such as sexually transmitted diseases, commercial sex work, 
and empowerment of commercial sex workers out of the sphere of the 
taboo and into the open for discussion. She succeeded in empowering 
women who formerly worked on the streets so that they could choose 
safer jobs in providing for their families. 
 
¶3. (U) Post has informed Altenberg of her nomination. She is honored 
and accepts with gratitude. Post's POC for women's issues is 
Political/Economic Chief Geneve Menscher; email 
menscherge@state.gov. 
 
BELL