AIDS 2010

My name is Angie, Chinese, and I am one of the 15 delegates at the XVIII HIV/AIDS conference. This is my third year with TYN and I have joined TYA twice with which I was the coordinator of the Human Rights & Youth as well as the Children’s Rights & Development Committee respectively. Same as many of you, I had done a number of MUNs and international conferences in the past, and joined one of the trails on the UN CAT representing Hong Kong NGOs in Geneva in 2008.

I lived most of my life in Hong Kong, studying in an international school, and have completed my law degree at University of Hull, England. I am currently taking my second gap year doing volunteer work and learning Spanish. I spent last year doing an internship at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders in The Hague, the Netherlands, contributing my time on advocacy and children rights work. Currently I am also busy applying to LLM courses in several countries and hopefully I will get some positive responses from the universities in the coming months.

A research project to Thailand in 2004 has affirmed my interest in human rights issues, it also drew my attention to the importance of public health care. As my interests lies within international human rights law, I feel that HIV/AIDS is a topic that is so closely linked to this subject and thus I would like to take this opportunity to learn more about this matter.

My name is Ran Han from Republic of Korea. The 14th TYA in January was my first international conference where I was working at the committee of Development and Diseases. Based on the brilliant experience as a part of TYA, I have taken this opportunity to work in the 18th international AIDS conference in Austria.

AIDS issue, especially related with strong social, cultural and ethical dilemma along its development is my first concentration on this part. It started when I was volunteering for translation of a periodical dealing with philanthropy by The Bank of America. This meaningful work has brought me a serious recognition that most authorized citizens are early considering next generation that could face with “basic problems” not so far. AIDS issue symbolizes them, located on the edge of overall global issues of both poor and rich countries. By the flashing intuition, I expect I could find “my role” at this issue. To embody it I’ve been preparing to major in International Relations and Public Health Policy. It’s for better access to the issue and the study about a way of administrative collaboration against the threatening disease. But above all, the upcoming AIDS conference and TYN will be a real first step and a great training ground!

My name is Rose Higgins and this will be my first international conference, and I am really looking forward to it! I have participated in TYN once at the Winter session in 2007 in the Water and Youth committee, having been introduced to it through Gina, who I was at College with. I was born and grew up in Australia, and when i was 12 my family moved to England where I attended secondary school and later made the decision to go to university in Dublin.

I studied Microbiology at Trinity College, and it is the scientific side (general I know!) of AIDS/HIV which I find the most interesting. The nature of the disease itself combined with other impacts, socially, economically etc. combined make it such a unique disease/problem.

My name is Shin woo jun, Korean. I was a participant of ‘Disease and Development’ committee in TYA14 conference in January. I lived most of my life in Republic of Korea and have no experiences of going abroad to other countries, especially Europe. But, I have numerous experience of directing certain research and data regarding to medical and hospital field because I am the headperson of Youth Committee in Anyang city, South Korea. When I directed this research, I recognized there are immense amount of AIDS/HIV patients especially juveniles in my country. As I am in major of physics, chemistry, and biology, I desired to help them in medical ways. I think this is the reason why I really want to participate in XVIII AIDS Conference and other disease related international conferences.

Although I am in 18 and in high school which provides extreme standardized education without any youth activities, I will not stop enhancing my knowledge related to youth in globe and diseases. Hence, I would take this opportunity to learn more about the connection between youths and diseases.

My name is David Dillon and I am an American currently studying for an MPhil in Public Health at the University of Cambridge, England. I graduated two years ago with bachelor degrees in German and Bio-organic Chemistry and spent the entirety of last year working as a medical volunteer in South America. My future plans include finishing my MD in the States and pursuing a PhD in Infectious Epidemiology here at Cambridge. My PhD work will likely involve extensive fieldwork in East Africa dealing with a large range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS. While I have a basic working knowledge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic I hope that attending this conference will help me truly understand the scope of the disease along with current and future prevention measures.

I have no previous international conference experience outside of strictly scientific symposiums and gatherings. Even so, it is my hope that I can not only learn from the conference proceedings but also, as a member of the TYN delegation, play an active role in doing something about the global problem we face.

My name is Daniel Salole and I am currently working at the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) in Brussels, as the project collaborator for the Nike and (RED) “Lace up. Save Lives” campaign. It will be 5 years this January since my last TYN experience: TYA 2005 where I was a member of the Committee on Education Against Discrimination. Before that, MUN was a big part of my early youth and I attended several conferences including THIMUN 2001, 2002 and 2003 from my high school in South Africa: the American International School of Johannesburg. I left South Africa in 2004 to study documentary filmmaking for a year in Norway, before moving to the Netherlands for my bachelors degree at University College Utrecht. There I majored in Anthropology and International Human Rights Law with minors in International Relations and Human Geography (Development Studies). I conducted my research during a three month stay in the Maasai village of Longido, Tanzania in the summer of 2008.

My name is James Walton. I was born in Abu Dhabi, I hold Australian and Scottish nationality and I have lived in the UAE, Australia, UK, France, India, South Africa and Liberia. I attended International Schools throughout my childhood. Having spent most of my life living and travelling in developing countries, I became increasingly interested in politics, public health issues and economic development. This interest later turned to a desire to get involved – a desire we all share I think. I was a delegate at the 2004 and 2005 THIMUN and JOMUN conferences and later joined the Youth Assembly as a participant in the HIV/AIDS committee. I also chaired the Global Young Leaders Conference in 2004 and attended the People to People Summit in 2005 – in Budapest and Washington DC respectively. I am currently finishing off a MA (Hons) Management degree at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.