Inspire the Growth of Kazakhstan's Global Citizens

Recently a local college offering a range of vocational-based courses to 16-18 year olds wrote to us asking if a large group of their students could visit our AIDS-Xperience, the experiential learning installation giving people greater awareness of the way in which normal people can easily put themselves at risk of HIV/AIDS.

In a society where much understanding is still based on myths or ignorance, our partnership with the city's AIDS Centre means that we increasingly work together with them in using the AIDS-Xperience as a great asset in facilitating young people across the city to learn about these key issues.

The AIDS Centre staff arranged for these students' visit to Salem to fall on World AIDS Day, when they put on a special event on our site. Their specialists, together with staff from the Association of Specialists of Healthy Lifestyle, used educational games and discussions to give advice and information to the students.

One of the key topics covered before they each took the 15-minute interactive walk through the AIDS Xperience was the lived experiences of people with HIV, in particular the stereotypes that exist and the social exclusion they experience. Also on offer was rapid HIV testing on site, with counseling provided before and after the test.

As well as publicising the event through their Instagram account, the AIDS Centre staff posted an additional video of Anton, the Salem Director of Creative Media who also supervises the AIDS Xperience, explaining the importance of the AIDS Xperience and how important it is to fight discrimination as well as broader ignorance around the issue. It's clearly proving to be a very productive partnership!