Photographer Simon Crofts has extensive experience with commissioned work throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in particular Poland, Ukraine and Russia. In his presentation, he will share about his travels through Ukraine, some of the individuals who have inspired and surprised him, as well as his motivations and reflections on the 'Time Out On Holiday Street' series which portrays the many AIDS and HIV+ sufferers as well as carers he met at the Kiev AIDS Centre on Holiday Street.

Oksana Shved, communications manager of EveryChild Ukraine, will give a talk entitled 'Can you keep a secret?  Stigma and discrimination towards HIV-positive families and children in Ukraine.'

“The most awful thing is that I have to hide the status (HIV+) from everyone and everywhere. People don’t know anything, it’s the most terrifying.”-  a 65-year-old carer of a HIV+ child in Kiev.

In Ukraine twenty percent of children whose mothers are infected with HIV are abandoned and end up in an orphanage. They are rejected by adoption agencies and foster parents. As a result they often have no other option than institutional care. At the same time parents and extended family members affected by HIV and AIDS face numerous challenges, including not being able to access benefits, work and services because of stigma and discrimination, or a fear of stigma and discrimination. This fear of exposure and an emphasis on secrecy is an enormous source of stress and anxiety. Generally speaking, being a HIV+ in Ukraine is all about keeping secrets: secrets about your disease, secrets about your pills, secrets about the health of your child, secrets about your past and your future... This vicious cycle of secrecy, social exclusion, drug use, criminalization and HIV spread must be broken. Portraits from 'Time Out On Holiday Street' show people whom families affected with HIV can trust and disclose their secrets. Their selfless work proves that AIDS is a test for the whole of society and how it shows respect for human rights.

After a degree from Oxford, Simon worked as a lawyer in Moscow at a time when Russia was just emerging from the Soviet Union. This gave a backstage view of some of the reasons why Russia was transforming in the way it did. After he left Moscow, Simon lived in Krakow, Poland, for six years working as a photographer.

Simon has had a fascination with Slav culture and peoples, and in particular, Russia and Ukraine, since the age of six, not long after watching his first James Bond movie. He speaks fluent Russian and bad Polish. Simon now lives in his native Edinburgh where he works as a freelance photographer for a wide range of editorial and commercial clients, but he still pays regular visits to Eastern Europe and Russia, pursuing personal projects and working on corporate commissions.

For more information about Simon's work, please visit his website.

Oksana is the communications manager of EveryChild Ukraine – an international development charity working to stop children being left vulnerable and alone. She is one of the authors of the research “HIV/AIDS and children without parental care in Ukraine” (2010) showing the impact of stigma and discrimination on the issue of child separation from families and institutionalisation. She is currently a member of a working group on HIV/AIDS at the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine. In her present work Oksana deals with advocacy and communication activities connected with the de-institutionalisation of children, the development of social services for vulnerable families and children, reformation of the childcare system, children rights, as well as ensuring child participation in all spheres of social life. She has coordinated several public campaigns to tackle stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV/AIDS, e.g. during Eurovision Song Contest. Apart from this she has considerable experience as a trainer on HIV-related stigma and discrimination for media and organisations, including the national Olympic Committees of former Soviet countries. She holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary Foreign History.

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AIDS In Ukraine
Simon Crofts
Oksana Shved
Tuesday, 12 Oct 2010
7.00pm

Entrance Fee: £5
Concession: £3**
** Students, retirees and unemployed
Note: Entrance fee includes a glass of wine