00:00:14.625 --> 00:00:18.666
We all know the history of AIDS.

00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.250
But it’s great to explain
what HIV is in a new way.

00:00:22.250 --> 00:00:26.041
We look through the
eyes of the new generation

00:00:26.041 --> 00:00:29.583
and see how they perceive it.

00:00:42.208 --> 00:00:47.333
I think we keep changing
people's attitudes towards others

00:00:47.333 --> 00:00:51.375
who are the same as them.

00:00:51.375 --> 00:00:54.208
It doesn't matter if the
person is HIV-positive or not.

00:00:58.833 --> 00:00:59.875
I've always been

00:00:59.875 --> 00:01:01.000
drawn to

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:02.375
making work about the key

00:01:02.375 --> 00:01:05.250
social issues of our times.

00:01:05.250 --> 00:01:06.458
As a photographer

00:01:06.458 --> 00:01:10.125
who spent many years
documenting HIV myself,

00:01:10.125 --> 00:01:12.041
it was time to hand
over the camera

00:01:12.041 --> 00:01:13.333
and hand over the visual

00:01:13.333 --> 00:01:15.333
storytelling to
HIV-positive people

00:01:15.333 --> 00:01:19.000
so they could tell
their own stories.

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:20.666
Our role was
just to kind of help

00:01:20.666 --> 00:01:23.208
facilitate that.

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.958
I like that we are
a new generation

00:01:28.958 --> 00:01:34.375
that can tell a new
story about HIV.

00:01:35.583 --> 00:01:36.375
Along the way,

00:01:36.375 --> 00:01:39.000
we really wanted
to work in Ukraine.

00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.083
Since the brutal
invasion by Russia,

00:01:41.083 --> 00:01:42.916
it really got us
thinking again about

00:01:42.916 --> 00:01:43.833
“How is this affecting

00:01:43.833 --> 00:01:47.541
HIV-positive people in Ukraine?”

00:01:49.666 --> 00:01:53.333
In the city where I live,

00:01:53.333 --> 00:01:56.416
explosions are still
heard quite often.

00:01:56.416 --> 00:02:01.000
And we don't know what
the rockets may target next.

00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.250
We don’t know which hospital,

00:02:03.250 --> 00:02:05.208
which kindergarten,
which school,

00:02:05.208 --> 00:02:10.208
or house they might bomb next.

00:02:28.166 --> 00:02:30.583
When I was growing
up, I went to school

00:02:30.583 --> 00:02:34.333
and we lived in a not-so-great
neighborhood in Kyiv.

00:02:35.375 --> 00:02:37.708
From what I remember,

00:02:37.708 --> 00:02:42.416
we had no money to live on.

00:02:42.958 --> 00:02:47.708
There were only two sofas
and we connected them,

00:02:47.708 --> 00:02:50.875
so I could sleep there.

00:02:52.166 --> 00:02:54.791
When the full-scale war started,
my family and I moved to Berlin

00:02:54.791 --> 00:02:57.666
and now I live with my mother

00:02:57.666 --> 00:03:01.791
and my cat in Berlin.

00:03:02.958 --> 00:03:06.916
The German person
who gave to us the flat

00:03:06.916 --> 00:03:08.583
who opened their home,

00:03:08.583 --> 00:03:10.916
they were holding this
sign to welcome us.

00:03:14.625 --> 00:03:17.375
Yesterday, the International
Day of the refugee.

00:03:17.375 --> 00:03:19.875
But no one to celebrate

00:03:19.875 --> 00:03:22.916
refugee of the cat.

00:03:22.916 --> 00:03:25.750
So we need to change something.

00:03:27.958 --> 00:03:28.708
Look at this.

00:03:28.708 --> 00:03:31.833
The picture of this,

00:03:31.833 --> 00:03:35.041
it's very beautiful.

00:03:35.041 --> 00:03:36.500
10 am

00:03:36.500 --> 00:03:37.833
I take it every day.

00:03:37.833 --> 00:03:40.208
And this is at 10 pm.

00:03:44.416 --> 00:03:49.708
When I was 3 years old,
I was in an orphanage

00:03:49.708 --> 00:03:52.541
because my mom was taking drugs.

00:03:52.541 --> 00:03:55.041
And then, after she
quit taking drugs,

00:03:55.041 --> 00:03:56.916
she took me back to her place.

00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:06.083
I found out that I
had HIV in 1999.

00:04:06.333 --> 00:04:10.625
Unfortunately, it turned out that
Yana was also diagnosed with HIV.

00:04:11.916 --> 00:04:16.083
YANA: When I was 10 years old, I
didn't know anything about HIV,

00:04:16.083 --> 00:04:17.708
but I already had AIDS.

00:04:17.708 --> 00:04:20.291
And then my mom told me

00:04:20.291 --> 00:04:23.833
that I was HIV-positive.

00:04:25.666 --> 00:04:27.916
I was on vacation with Yana,

00:04:27.916 --> 00:04:31.416
and when I told her
about her HIV status

00:04:31.416 --> 00:04:37.166
she asked me, "Mom,
am I going to die?"

00:04:38.333 --> 00:04:43.458
I knew what they said at
school about Freddie Mercury,

00:04:43.458 --> 00:04:48.083
that he died of AIDS,

00:04:48.083 --> 00:04:53.916
and I had a great
fear that I might die.

00:04:54.291 --> 00:04:58.208
But my mom told me
that there were medicines

00:04:58.208 --> 00:05:01.083
and people were living with it,

00:05:01.083 --> 00:05:04.625
that everything was
normal and good.

00:05:09.583 --> 00:05:10.666
In some ways, this whole thing

00:05:10.666 --> 00:05:13.791
began with Yana Panfilova.

00:05:13.791 --> 00:05:16.083
And the reason to do
a photography project

00:05:16.083 --> 00:05:18.583
at a time like this

00:05:18.583 --> 00:05:20.000
is that the photographs
and the stories

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.666
that are connected
to those photographs

00:05:22.666 --> 00:05:26.041
mean something so
deeply and can motivate

00:05:26.041 --> 00:05:29.083
a public to engage
in a particular cause.

00:05:36.208 --> 00:05:37.875
I spent some time

00:05:37.875 --> 00:05:39.708
working with her
in her apartment

00:05:39.708 --> 00:05:42.625
to do some
photographic education.

00:05:43.916 --> 00:05:47.625
I encouraged her
to use the camera

00:05:47.625 --> 00:05:50.750
as a tool for self
representation.

00:05:54.375 --> 00:05:55.750
The nature of infection

00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:57.666
in Ukraine and
Eastern Europe as well,

00:05:57.666 --> 00:05:58.916
and Russia was very particular

00:05:58.916 --> 00:06:01.125
and was being very driven

00:06:01.125 --> 00:06:03.916
by intravenous drug use.

00:06:03.916 --> 00:06:06.000
Yana and so many young people

00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.625
in Ukraine, particularly young
people who were born positive,

00:06:08.625 --> 00:06:11.000
were facing immense stigma.

00:06:12.583 --> 00:06:16.375
When I was 3 years old,

00:06:16.375 --> 00:06:18.583
and I was looked
after by doctors,

00:06:18.583 --> 00:06:21.125
they were wearing
3 pairs of gloves

00:06:21.125 --> 00:06:23.041
and 3 gauze masks,

00:06:23.041 --> 00:06:25.000
and they were only
touching my stomach.

00:06:26.125 --> 00:06:29.833
When I talked to other
HIV-positive people,

00:06:29.833 --> 00:06:34.333
I found out that some of them
had to eat from separate dishes

00:06:34.333 --> 00:06:36.708
because their parents did
not want to share plates.

00:06:36.708 --> 00:06:38.791
Until 2004,

00:06:38.791 --> 00:06:42.166
there was no
treatment in Ukraine

00:06:42.166 --> 00:06:46.583
so we all felt every day

00:06:46.583 --> 00:06:49.458
that if something
happened to our health

00:06:49.458 --> 00:06:51.958
it could end badly.

00:06:56.708 --> 00:07:00.125
When Yana revealed her HIV
status, she was very worried,

00:07:00.125 --> 00:07:04.166
but many of her
classmates supported her.

00:07:04.166 --> 00:07:07.625
She did not expect such support.

00:07:10.875 --> 00:07:13.083
But at the same time,

00:07:13.083 --> 00:07:15.916
one of the parents
called me and said,

00:07:15.916 --> 00:07:19.791
"Your daughter spent the night

00:07:19.791 --> 00:07:23.041
at another classmate’s house

00:07:23.041 --> 00:07:28.166
and now we all have
to get tested for HIV.”

00:07:34.208 --> 00:07:36.791
YANA: Previously,
people with HIV died

00:07:36.791 --> 00:07:39.416
from a lack of pills.

00:07:39.416 --> 00:07:41.666
Now we are a
different generation.

00:07:41.666 --> 00:07:44.958
We have pills,

00:07:44.958 --> 00:07:48.625
but we have other
problems, such as a public

00:07:48.625 --> 00:07:53.625
that does not support us
and stigmatizes us instead.

00:07:55.125 --> 00:07:59.916
When I first started working
for UNAIDS in 2004 in Kyiv,

00:07:59.916 --> 00:08:03.250
I got very close to Yana
Panfilova and her mother,

00:08:03.250 --> 00:08:06.333
and at the time,
Yana had just started

00:08:06.333 --> 00:08:10.166
to create a new
movement of young people.

00:08:10.541 --> 00:08:15.958
We wanted to make
not only a project for

00:08:15.958 --> 00:08:21.458
HIV-positive adolescents,
but for adolescents in general,

00:08:21.458 --> 00:08:24.500
and that's when
Teenergizer was created.

00:08:24.958 --> 00:08:26.833
VINAY: What I think
makes Teenergizer unique

00:08:26.833 --> 00:08:30.791
is what I would
call the audacity

00:08:30.791 --> 00:08:32.208
of the young people

00:08:32.208 --> 00:08:34.166
to demand and insist

00:08:34.166 --> 00:08:38.333
that their voice is heard.

00:08:39.083 --> 00:08:41.875
We were doing very well.

00:08:41.875 --> 00:08:44.916
We had made such
a good community.

00:08:46.583 --> 00:08:49.041
Until February 24th, 2022,

00:08:49.041 --> 00:08:52.500
I thought living with
HIV was the biggest

00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:56.833
challenge of my
life, but I was wrong.

00:08:58.666 --> 00:08:59.875
It was unprovoked.

00:08:59.875 --> 00:09:01.333
But this is what Russian

00:09:01.333 --> 00:09:04.250
President Vladimir Putin
unleashed on Ukraine.

00:09:04.250 --> 00:09:05.291
We receive reports

00:09:05.291 --> 00:09:07.333
that Russian forces
have reached an area

00:09:07.333 --> 00:09:10.125
just north of Ukraine's
capital city, Kyiv...

00:09:11.208 --> 00:09:14.583
I returned to Ukraine 3 days
before the full-scale invasion,

00:09:14.583 --> 00:09:19.625
which began at 4 am
on February 24, 2022.

00:09:19.625 --> 00:09:21.166
I slept through

00:09:21.166 --> 00:09:23.416
all the bombs and
when I woke up,

00:09:23.416 --> 00:09:26.125
it was a completely
different reality –

00:09:26.125 --> 00:09:29.166
different from the reality

00:09:29.166 --> 00:09:32.500
in which I fell asleep.

00:09:33.750 --> 00:09:37.625
I had just moved
to Washington, D.C.

00:09:37.625 --> 00:09:41.583
and was on a daily
basis in contact

00:09:41.583 --> 00:09:42.500
with Yana

00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:44.000
and with her mother,

00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.958
and both she and her mother

00:09:45.958 --> 00:09:48.291
were very concerned as to,

00:09:48.291 --> 00:09:52.833
you know, was
Kyiv going to fall?

00:09:52.833 --> 00:09:56.375
They were just
bombing everything.

00:09:56.375 --> 00:09:59.166
There was no air defense.

00:09:59.166 --> 00:10:04.500
We felt completely defenseless.

00:10:06.291 --> 00:10:10.625
I was lucky that I
had two mattresses.

00:10:10.625 --> 00:10:13.833
We used one mattress

00:10:13.833 --> 00:10:16.875
to cover the windows
in the kitchen.

00:10:16.875 --> 00:10:19.291
We set the other
one up in the corridor

00:10:19.291 --> 00:10:22.625
and slept there.

00:10:22.625 --> 00:10:27.916
YANA: At one point, we
realized that we had to go

00:10:27.916 --> 00:10:31.291
and we decided
to leave by train.

00:10:31.875 --> 00:10:33.500
After some very intensive

00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:35.500
and I think some very
emotional conversations

00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:36.208
that we had,

00:10:36.208 --> 00:10:38.125
Yana and her mother made really

00:10:38.125 --> 00:10:39.833
a life changing decision

00:10:39.833 --> 00:10:41.458
to at least drive their car

00:10:41.458 --> 00:10:42.333
from their home

00:10:42.333 --> 00:10:43.875
in the center of Kyiv

00:10:43.875 --> 00:10:46.541
to close to the train station.

00:10:46.541 --> 00:10:53.000
When I was leaving Kyiv,

00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.833
I was driving by
car and I was crying

00:10:55.833 --> 00:10:59.125
because I was saying
goodbye to Kyiv,

00:10:59.125 --> 00:11:05.125
and I didn't know if I
would ever come back.

00:11:05.916 --> 00:11:07.500
When we left Ukraine,

00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:09.708
we had nothing. No apartment.

00:11:09.708 --> 00:11:12.208
We were going to
an unknown place.

00:11:12.208 --> 00:11:14.541
We had nothing at all,

00:11:14.541 --> 00:11:16.250
and we were just figuring
things out as we went along.

00:11:17.541 --> 00:11:20.833
At that moment

00:11:20.833 --> 00:11:24.000
I had to lead everyone
because I was

00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.416
the only one who
understood English.

00:11:26.416 --> 00:11:30.041
So I found an
apartment for us in Berlin

00:11:30.041 --> 00:11:33.125
and we moved here.

00:11:35.916 --> 00:11:37.250
In 2014,

00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:39.250
we were planning
to work in Ukraine

00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:40.166
and it almost happened

00:11:40.166 --> 00:11:41.541
but it was actually disrupted by

00:11:41.541 --> 00:11:42.791
the Russian invasion.

00:11:42.791 --> 00:11:43.833
It’s more like an activist.

00:11:43.833 --> 00:11:46.333
Yes, like activist,
you need something...

00:11:46.333 --> 00:11:48.791
Okay, like a statement,
the way you are holding it.

00:11:48.791 --> 00:11:49.625
Right, I get it.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.000
We really

00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:52.791
tried to work in

00:11:52.791 --> 00:11:54.500
places which are
really important

00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:55.583
in the global journey,

00:11:55.583 --> 00:11:57.750
in the global history of HIV.

00:11:58.208 --> 00:12:00.166
Since we began in 2007,

00:12:00.166 --> 00:12:02.750
I worked with David Gere

00:12:02.750 --> 00:12:03.833
to develop the

00:12:03.833 --> 00:12:05.916
Through Positive Eyes project.

00:12:05.916 --> 00:12:07.500
When we started
building this project

00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:09.541
something like 15 years ago,

00:12:09.541 --> 00:12:11.708
we had no idea where
it was going to end up

00:12:11.708 --> 00:12:15.416
or how it would grow over time.

00:12:15.416 --> 00:12:16.916
Every time we did the project,

00:12:16.916 --> 00:12:19.666
we worked with a group
of HIV-positive people.

00:12:20.375 --> 00:12:23.833
And it's been this
kind of long journey of

00:12:23.833 --> 00:12:25.750
figuring out how best to do it.

00:12:28.125 --> 00:12:29.958
I like to make what I call

00:12:29.958 --> 00:12:32.000
tools of visual activism,

00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.375
tools which can be
used to change the world.

00:12:36.583 --> 00:12:38.666
I think we know that
it's not a perfect project,

00:12:38.666 --> 00:12:40.000
but over the years,

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:41.833
the images were
really widely used in

00:12:41.833 --> 00:12:44.875
global campaigns.

00:12:52.208 --> 00:12:54.625
Yana helped us meet
many of the people.

00:12:54.625 --> 00:12:56.333
And, you know, she
was in some ways

00:12:56.333 --> 00:12:58.000
our gateway into the project.

00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.041
And because of the difficulties

00:13:00.041 --> 00:13:00.833
of being in Ukraine

00:13:00.833 --> 00:13:01.916
and working in Ukraine,

00:13:01.916 --> 00:13:06.250
we decided to do the
workshop in Berlin.

00:13:06.250 --> 00:13:09.500
Before the war we were
also trying to connect people,

00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:11.416
especially
HIV-positive teenagers

00:13:11.416 --> 00:13:15.125
and HIV-negative teenagers.

00:13:15.416 --> 00:13:18.125
When I moved to
Berlin, the idea of mine

00:13:18.125 --> 00:13:19.041
the same idea.

00:13:19.041 --> 00:13:21.250
So that's why we are just trying

00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:22.958
to catch up with
other young people

00:13:22.958 --> 00:13:27.333
living with HIV.

00:13:28.916 --> 00:13:33.166
Maybe we can bring
some teenagers from Kyiv,

00:13:33.166 --> 00:13:35.500
only like two persons,

00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:37.333
and we connect
with the other girl,

00:13:37.333 --> 00:13:38.791
like three person.

00:13:38.791 --> 00:13:41.750
And now we have
like 6 or 5 people.

00:13:41.750 --> 00:13:46.083
It should be really,
really nice to do this.

00:13:47.541 --> 00:13:49.375
War is really tough and war

00:13:49.375 --> 00:13:51.291
is being you more depressed.

00:13:51.291 --> 00:13:54.416
So many people in
Ukraine that more affected

00:13:54.416 --> 00:13:56.125
and now they're
feeling so much stress

00:13:56.125 --> 00:14:01.208
and you know,
isolation and depression.

00:14:02.125 --> 00:14:05.416
In Berlin, you feel stability

00:14:05.416 --> 00:14:07.291
and you feel life.

00:14:07.291 --> 00:14:12.000
I mean like, you don't
need to be a survivor.

00:14:13.375 --> 00:14:15.916
Yehor came to us from Ukraine

00:14:16.416 --> 00:14:18.000
as well as Liza.

00:14:18.208 --> 00:14:20.500
They came together with Mariia.

00:14:21.416 --> 00:14:25.041
Mariia, her home was
destroyed by Russians.

00:14:25.041 --> 00:14:27.041
And now she's
openly living with HIV.

00:14:27.041 --> 00:14:28.208
Actually, when it was last time

00:14:28.208 --> 00:14:29.833
in Kyiv, few months ago,

00:14:29.833 --> 00:14:31.708
she opened her
status for the first time.

00:14:31.708 --> 00:14:32.958
So that's amazing

00:14:32.958 --> 00:14:34.583
young people living with HIV

00:14:34.583 --> 00:14:36.875
open their HIV status.

00:14:36.875 --> 00:14:38.708
And also, it's good to,

00:14:38.708 --> 00:14:42.041
to connect them to
be with each other

00:14:42.041 --> 00:14:44.166
and to have the space to create

00:14:44.166 --> 00:14:46.000
and to make some photos.

00:14:46.166 --> 00:14:48.416
Oh no, everything is blurry!

00:14:48.625 --> 00:14:53.833
Ok that’s it. It will
take four pictures now.

00:14:54.375 --> 00:14:56.000
And then I think
it's very interesting

00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.666
what's, what's happened in,

00:14:58.666 --> 00:15:02.791
what's happened
next, like in Ukraine?

00:15:04.291 --> 00:15:09.041
YEHOR: We will arrive
at 7 pm in Warsaw

00:15:09.041 --> 00:15:12.458
and our next bus is at 9:30 pm.

00:15:28.166 --> 00:15:28.958
This is very different

00:15:28.958 --> 00:15:30.333
to a normal way of working,

00:15:30.333 --> 00:15:32.000
where at the end of the workshop

00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.750
it’s kind of the full stop

00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:34.583
and the conclusion.

00:15:34.583 --> 00:15:36.458
Whereas this is
going to continue.

00:15:36.458 --> 00:15:38.166
And I'm kind of very interested

00:15:38.166 --> 00:15:42.750
to see where this might go.

00:15:44.083 --> 00:15:46.458
I hope that it can develop

00:15:46.458 --> 00:15:48.750
and that everyone in the group

00:15:48.750 --> 00:15:50.833
will take the
impetus of this time

00:15:50.833 --> 00:15:55.708
to develop their work
and tell the story of

00:15:55.708 --> 00:15:57.875
HIV-positive people in Ukraine.

00:15:57.875 --> 00:16:00.541
And tell the story of Ukraine.

00:16:02.125 --> 00:16:04.500
YANA: Sometimes it
is really hard because

00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:06.041
you can see that

00:16:06.041 --> 00:16:07.958
so many people
don't really understand

00:16:07.958 --> 00:16:09.625
what's really going on.

00:16:09.625 --> 00:16:11.625
And that's why
it's very important

00:16:11.625 --> 00:16:13.000
to show the truth

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.375
especially with photography.

00:16:21.416 --> 00:16:23.666
Every family have a tragedy.

00:16:23.666 --> 00:16:25.625
Every family in Ukraine.

00:16:25.625 --> 00:16:28.875
Tragedy with husband,
tragedy with son

00:16:28.875 --> 00:16:31.458
with brother, with others

00:16:31.458 --> 00:16:33.750
with home...

00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:38.125
Because the war is so long.

00:16:50.541 --> 00:16:52.333
My name is Liza.

00:16:52.333 --> 00:16:54.333
I am from Kyiv.

00:16:58.416 --> 00:17:00.791
Now all the equipment,

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:05.041
all the tanks and cars
that are in our city center,

00:17:05.041 --> 00:17:07.958
it's all, unfortunately

00:17:07.958 --> 00:17:10.458
because of Russia –

00:17:10.458 --> 00:17:13.208
the aggressor
country that decided

00:17:13.208 --> 00:17:17.291
to try to take away
our independence,

00:17:17.291 --> 00:17:19.833
our rights, and our freedom.

00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:35.083
Every day I understand
that, unfortunately,

00:17:35.083 --> 00:17:39.041
there will be more and
more of these vehicles.

00:17:39.833 --> 00:17:43.000
And some of the guys
who are now at the front

00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:45.875
fighting on the very frontline,

00:17:45.875 --> 00:17:47.875
some of our soldiers,
unfortunately,

00:17:47.875 --> 00:17:52.416
do not return home.

00:17:58.958 --> 00:18:00.333
I'm sure that you read

00:18:00.333 --> 00:18:02.916
many scientist researchers

00:18:02.916 --> 00:18:04.833
admitted that during the war

00:18:04.833 --> 00:18:06.416
and during the cataclysms

00:18:06.416 --> 00:18:08.208
and other tragedies,

00:18:08.208 --> 00:18:11.875
the infection, like
HIV is increasing.

00:18:11.875 --> 00:18:15.083
And Ukraine –
it's not exception.

00:18:16.916 --> 00:18:21.250
Treatment of HIV is key
to someone's survival.

00:18:21.833 --> 00:18:24.333
But when the war happens

00:18:25.250 --> 00:18:28.208
people think in other
terms of survival.

00:18:28.208 --> 00:18:30.708
They are forced to
leave their homes,

00:18:30.708 --> 00:18:32.500
or they are on the road.

00:18:32.500 --> 00:18:36.041
They may not have a job.
They may not have income.

00:18:36.041 --> 00:18:40.083
So they think about
those things first.

00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:49.541
YANA: I think that the HIV
story will spread and grow.

00:18:49.541 --> 00:18:54.416
It’s normal because it
always does in times of war.

00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.500
LIZA: I was born in Kyiv,

00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:05.666
but when I was a year
old, I moved to Bucha.

00:19:08.083 --> 00:19:11.541
The first few days of the war

00:19:11.541 --> 00:19:16.083
were incredibly scary.

00:19:24.250 --> 00:19:27.916
When you hear a tank
pass by your house

00:19:27.916 --> 00:19:30.958
and you look out the window,

00:19:30.958 --> 00:19:33.583
and you realize it
is a Russian tank

00:19:33.583 --> 00:19:36.208
and see all of its markings,

00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:40.916
you completely lose it.

00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:49.916
So I hid in the basement.

00:19:49.916 --> 00:19:52.083
I was there for 5 days.

00:19:52.083 --> 00:19:54.666
I only had a sausage, some bread

00:19:54.666 --> 00:19:57.625
and a big bottle of water,

00:19:57.625 --> 00:19:59.750
which I needed to
take my medicine.

00:19:59.750 --> 00:20:02.291
I understood that,
without medicine

00:20:02.291 --> 00:20:05.583
I couldn't survive.

00:20:15.750 --> 00:20:18.333
At the moment

00:20:18.333 --> 00:20:21.333
the safest place in our country

00:20:21.708 --> 00:20:23.166
is probably the metro.

00:20:23.958 --> 00:20:25.875
I took the photos there

00:20:25.875 --> 00:20:31.125
to remind people of

00:20:31.125 --> 00:20:34.208
all the panic when
the air raid sirens go off

00:20:34.208 --> 00:20:36.833
and many come down here,

00:20:36.833 --> 00:20:39.375
some with small children,
some with animals,

00:20:39.375 --> 00:20:44.125
some with their parents.

00:20:46.916 --> 00:20:50.375
Like Yana, I was
also born with HIV.

00:20:50.916 --> 00:20:53.958
I found out about it
when I was 9 years old.

00:20:54.166 --> 00:21:00.208
I was born with HIV because
my mother injected drugs.

00:21:00.833 --> 00:21:05.541
I opened up about
my HIV status in 2019,

00:21:05.541 --> 00:21:08.958
when my mother died.

00:21:09.583 --> 00:21:11.750
GIDEON: A big
part of our priority

00:21:11.750 --> 00:21:14.750
in the storytelling
is building empathy

00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:17.375
for the people who

00:21:17.375 --> 00:21:19.083
are telling the story
with their photographs.

00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:21.166
So it's really kind of a window

00:21:21.166 --> 00:21:22.416
into people's lives

00:21:22.416 --> 00:21:24.541
which they've
created themselves.

00:21:27.166 --> 00:21:32.375
Yehor, I know him when
Teenergizer established.

00:21:32.625 --> 00:21:33.916
He is a real activist.

00:21:33.916 --> 00:21:36.750
And now he want
to be with the army.

00:21:41.375 --> 00:21:43.958
My name is Yehor.
I'm from Kryvyi Rih.

00:21:46.166 --> 00:21:49.250
I have been living with
this virus since I was born,

00:21:49.250 --> 00:21:52.541
and only at the age of 13
did I learn about my status.

00:21:56.041 --> 00:21:58.791
Being positive did not interfere
with my life in any way

00:21:59.416 --> 00:22:04.291
until the moment I
decided to go and connect

00:22:04.291 --> 00:22:06.666
my life with the army or police

00:22:06.666 --> 00:22:10.041
or the military in general.

00:22:11.958 --> 00:22:14.750
Since childhood, I have been
very fond of military culture,

00:22:14.750 --> 00:22:17.958
and for me, military culture is

00:22:17.958 --> 00:22:20.166
something masculine,
something that

00:22:20.166 --> 00:22:22.166
a real man should do.

00:22:23.375 --> 00:22:25.375
I was in the territorial defense

00:22:25.791 --> 00:22:29.500
until they began assigning
us to military units.

00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:33.916
It turned out that I did not
have a military certificate,

00:22:33.916 --> 00:22:38.666
and I was deemed unfit to serve.

00:22:38.666 --> 00:22:43.666
There was a medical examination.

00:22:43.666 --> 00:22:48.583
I told the medical examiner
that I am HIV-positive,

00:22:48.583 --> 00:22:52.208
and I was told directly,
"This is the end.

00:22:52.208 --> 00:22:55.041
You can pack your
things and go home."

00:22:57.375 --> 00:23:01.166
This is how my military
career began and ended.

00:23:02.833 --> 00:23:08.041
Now I have to
somehow change my life.

00:23:08.041 --> 00:23:10.833
Change my goals, change
my dreams, thoughts.

00:23:11.833 --> 00:23:14.875
It is very difficult,
especially when you don't

00:23:14.875 --> 00:23:17.041
see yourself as anything
other than a military person

00:23:17.041 --> 00:23:21.583
since childhood.
It is very difficult.

00:23:21.583 --> 00:23:25.291
Because of my HIV
status, unfortunately,

00:23:25.291 --> 00:23:28.000
the road to the armed
forces is closed to me.

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.750
I hope temporarily.

00:23:34.916 --> 00:23:38.166
I wanted something
new, and I found

00:23:38.166 --> 00:23:41.750
a friend who has his own
shop, his own production,

00:23:41.750 --> 00:23:45.666
who taught me in
principle all of this craft.

00:23:46.291 --> 00:23:49.583
Thanks to him, I
found my new hobby,

00:23:50.375 --> 00:23:52.875
which is also connected
with military culture,

00:23:52.875 --> 00:23:57.750
and now it's a space
for me from the idea

00:23:57.750 --> 00:24:02.708
that I want to go to the
frontline. I need to go there.

00:24:03.625 --> 00:24:07.583
The psychologist told me

00:24:07.583 --> 00:24:11.291
that I need to accept the
reality that I will no longer

00:24:11.291 --> 00:24:13.291
be able to be in the
ranks of the Armed Forces,

00:24:13.291 --> 00:24:15.458
and I need to somehow contribute

00:24:15.458 --> 00:24:19.166
in other ways.

00:24:19.750 --> 00:24:22.750
I'm looking for something
new in myself right now.

00:24:35.916 --> 00:24:39.875
I can say, “like
many countries...

00:24:39.875 --> 00:24:44.083
Many countries like Russia are only
interested in promoting family values

00:24:44.083 --> 00:24:48.458
than ending AIDS. This is
why the role of young people...

00:24:48.458 --> 00:24:50.333
that young people
and civil society,

00:24:50.333 --> 00:24:52.000
especially young people with HIV

00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.666
and young key populations are

00:24:53.666 --> 00:24:55.041
under the greatest attack.”

00:24:55.041 --> 00:24:56.708
If I print my speech there.

00:24:56.708 --> 00:24:58.375
Is it possible or not?

00:25:00.291 --> 00:25:01.958
Yeah, yeah.

00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:04.666
Ah good, thank you so much.

00:25:06.291 --> 00:25:07.291
We need to make

00:25:07.291 --> 00:25:09.625
radical changes.

00:25:09.791 --> 00:25:11.458
Many HIV people,

00:25:11.458 --> 00:25:12.916
they live under

00:25:12.916 --> 00:25:14.583
the huge stigma.

00:25:15.041 --> 00:25:18.000
We are dying of
pandemic of mental health,

00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.166
and also we die
from discrimination.

00:25:20.750 --> 00:25:23.625
And HIV people
are more vulnerable.

00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:31.166
I met Mariia in April.

00:25:31.166 --> 00:25:32.250
It was first time

00:25:32.250 --> 00:25:33.750
when she wanted

00:25:33.750 --> 00:25:36.500
to talk about her HIV status.

00:25:37.791 --> 00:25:40.666
I have had HIV since birth,

00:25:40.666 --> 00:25:42.791
and I learned about it

00:25:42.791 --> 00:25:47.208
from a psychologist
in a group session.

00:25:47.208 --> 00:25:50.791
My mother is positive and
she does not tell our relatives

00:25:50.791 --> 00:25:53.375
because she does
not want them to know.

00:25:53.833 --> 00:25:55.958
I don't mind telling people.

00:25:55.958 --> 00:26:00.583
You just need to know
the right place and time.

00:26:00.583 --> 00:26:04.791
We often went to
doctors and hospitals,

00:26:04.791 --> 00:26:09.083
and when they heard
about our HIV status,

00:26:09.083 --> 00:26:12.416
they said, "Oh, that’s scary,"

00:26:12.416 --> 00:26:17.000
as if I had some kind
of infection that can

00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.166
be transmitted by touch,

00:26:19.166 --> 00:26:22.375
or as if it was
some kind of plague.

00:26:22.375 --> 00:26:24.500
These are doctors.
They should know,

00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:27.458
but they treated it that way.

00:26:27.458 --> 00:26:31.166
Even in the hospital,
when my mother was

00:26:31.166 --> 00:26:33.916
in the 7th month of pregnancy,

00:26:33.916 --> 00:26:35.500
when it wasn't possible,

00:26:35.500 --> 00:26:40.916
the doctor offered to
perform an abortion.

00:26:43.458 --> 00:26:45.500
She faced so much.

00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:48.583
Her house destroyed by Russians.

00:26:48.583 --> 00:26:51.208
I think she definitely
need to tell the world

00:26:51.208 --> 00:26:53.583
what's really, what's going on.

00:26:56.166 --> 00:26:59.208
I could hear the tanks.

00:26:59.208 --> 00:27:03.166
You could hear
a shell being fired,

00:27:03.166 --> 00:27:04.916
then a whistle, and then a shell

00:27:04.916 --> 00:27:07.375
falling somewhere in the garden.

00:27:07.375 --> 00:27:09.833
A barn was hit

00:27:09.833 --> 00:27:12.500
and set a neighbor's
house on fire

00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:15.375
as well as another building.

00:27:19.083 --> 00:27:21.708
I don’t think they were
aiming, but it happened.

00:27:26.416 --> 00:27:28.416
We were here until
the last moment,

00:27:28.416 --> 00:27:30.541
leaving from the burning house.

00:27:30.541 --> 00:27:32.541
This used to be the house,

00:27:32.541 --> 00:27:34.541
and there was a
kitchen right here.

00:27:34.541 --> 00:27:36.541
Here was my
grandmother’s bedroom.

00:27:36.541 --> 00:27:39.958
Here was a hallway,

00:27:39.958 --> 00:27:44.458
and a living room
and a dining room.

00:27:49.041 --> 00:27:53.250
The house seemed so big, and
now that we are looking at it,

00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:55.750
it seems small.

00:27:58.833 --> 00:28:02.000
The house was hit. We
went out, and we didn't

00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.125
find another option
besides hiding in the barn,

00:28:05.125 --> 00:28:07.125
which is next to the
house and still intact.

00:28:07.125 --> 00:28:09.750
It could have also been hit.

00:28:10.666 --> 00:28:13.375
We probably sat
there for, I don’t know,

00:28:13.375 --> 00:28:16.083
half an hour, and the
barn doors don't close

00:28:16.083 --> 00:28:20.291
so I had to hold them
shut with my hands.

00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.000
And that is probably my laptop.

00:28:33.625 --> 00:28:35.583
Yeah.

00:28:35.916 --> 00:28:39.375
If you have several
air raid alarms a day,

00:28:39.375 --> 00:28:42.541
and that over years,

00:28:42.541 --> 00:28:45.416
I think everyone is tired.

00:28:45.416 --> 00:28:50.625
Everyone is concerned
about the future.

00:28:54.333 --> 00:28:58.583
I think that although this war
was not started by young people,

00:28:58.583 --> 00:29:02.000
we will be the
generation that will end it,

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:04.500
and we will remember this war.

00:29:04.500 --> 00:29:08.875
Unfortunately, the war is having

00:29:08.875 --> 00:29:12.625
a very strong impact on
the younger generation,

00:29:12.625 --> 00:29:15.500
especially in terms of
mental health problems.

00:29:18.333 --> 00:29:21.791
MODERATOR: Yana
Panfilova, you are from Ukraine.

00:29:21.791 --> 00:29:23.583
I know you're not
living in Ukraine

00:29:23.583 --> 00:29:24.541
at the moment.

00:29:24.541 --> 00:29:26.375
Nevertheless,
you are still active.

00:29:26.375 --> 00:29:30.125
The HIV response
is still working.

00:29:30.125 --> 00:29:31.875
For the last 16 months,

00:29:31.875 --> 00:29:34.000
Ukraine has been
attacked by Russia.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:35.208
A big part of Ukraine

00:29:35.208 --> 00:29:38.125
are still under
Russian occupation.

00:29:38.125 --> 00:29:40.000
Today, we are way off track

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:42.375
and HIV response
is under attack.

00:29:42.375 --> 00:29:47.375
Ukraine is now diagnosed
21% more new HIV cases

00:29:47.375 --> 00:29:48.583
than last year.

00:29:48.583 --> 00:29:51.666
Because when people
are under a rocket attack

00:29:51.666 --> 00:29:53.333
or must defend their homeland,

00:29:53.333 --> 00:29:56.708
access to condom and PrEP
are not your top priorities.

00:29:56.708 --> 00:29:58.625
People living with
HIV in occupied

00:29:58.625 --> 00:30:00.291
Donetsk are now forced

00:30:00.291 --> 00:30:01.916
to get the Russian passport

00:30:01.916 --> 00:30:04.250
in exchange for
access to HIV treatment.

00:30:04.250 --> 00:30:08.750
I think we need to operate
and mobilize all resources

00:30:08.750 --> 00:30:10.291
and to help our region.

00:30:10.291 --> 00:30:13.125
Because now our region
is burned in the fire.

00:30:15.375 --> 00:30:17.833
We have here the medicine

00:30:17.833 --> 00:30:19.500
for other hospitals.

00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:23.250
Sometimes we have
here the explosion

00:30:23.250 --> 00:30:24.958
and every medical center,

00:30:24.958 --> 00:30:30.500
every building have
to have a shelter.

00:30:31.250 --> 00:30:32.916
If ballistic rockets

00:30:32.916 --> 00:30:35.875
they directly make explosion,

00:30:35.875 --> 00:30:37.250
this is shelter

00:30:37.250 --> 00:30:39.208
not helping.

00:30:43.375 --> 00:30:47.958
We’re back to the problem
with the virus in Ukraine,

00:30:47.958 --> 00:30:54.916
just when support for
HIV-positive people was beginning.

00:30:54.916 --> 00:31:00.666
This war is turning
everything back in time

00:31:00.666 --> 00:31:03.958
and now we need
to work even harder.

00:31:06.125 --> 00:31:09.708
I really hope we can
get these stories out.

00:31:09.708 --> 00:31:12.458
Particularly at this point,
the world is losing interest.

00:31:12.458 --> 00:31:15.666
It's becoming an endless
war that's dragging on.

00:31:15.666 --> 00:31:17.541
It has also been
a real challenge

00:31:17.541 --> 00:31:18.541
to keep

00:31:18.541 --> 00:31:20.166
Ukraine in the headlines,

00:31:20.166 --> 00:31:22.500
to keep support
for Ukraine strong,

00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:25.208
to make sure that
people continue

00:31:25.208 --> 00:31:26.458
to understand

00:31:26.458 --> 00:31:29.250
that there are
millions of Ukrainians

00:31:29.250 --> 00:31:31.583
who are still living outside
of Ukraine's borders

00:31:31.583 --> 00:31:33.041
as temporary or long-term

00:31:33.041 --> 00:31:34.583
refugees in other countries.

00:31:37.208 --> 00:31:40.083
Ukraine lost their people.

00:31:40.083 --> 00:31:42.000
Lost because of war.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:44.166
Many people died.

00:31:45.333 --> 00:31:46.625
But we have to,

00:31:46.625 --> 00:31:48.541
not only win the war.

00:31:48.541 --> 00:31:51.125
We have to fight enemy.

00:31:51.125 --> 00:31:53.291
We have to fight corruption.

00:31:53.291 --> 00:31:55.791
And we have to fight infection.

00:31:55.791 --> 00:31:59.416
And this is our world tasks.

00:32:01.375 --> 00:32:04.541
We are not going to
accept the status quo

00:32:04.541 --> 00:32:07.000
because status
quo is killing us.

00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:09.291
I really scared that
our young people,

00:32:09.291 --> 00:32:11.333
especially teenagers

00:32:11.333 --> 00:32:14.333
now at the biggest
risk to have HIV

00:32:14.333 --> 00:32:17.125
because they don't
know how to operate

00:32:17.125 --> 00:32:18.833
with mental health.

00:32:18.833 --> 00:32:21.041
Thank you so much.

00:32:29.500 --> 00:32:32.791
MARIIA: I believe that
since we are young people,

00:32:32.791 --> 00:32:34.791
and there aren’t
many young people

00:32:34.791 --> 00:32:37.916
who are willing to
talk about HIV openly,

00:32:37.916 --> 00:32:41.083
that what we say
will be an example

00:32:41.083 --> 00:32:44.625
for the future, for the
development of the country,

00:32:44.625 --> 00:32:48.875
and for people living with HIV.

00:33:02.375 --> 00:33:03.375
I want to break free.

00:33:03.375 --> 00:33:06.125
It was my first
time, like, first tattoo.

00:33:06.125 --> 00:33:10.791
One day, like all
HIV-positive people, we will,

00:33:10.958 --> 00:33:13.041
like, wake up,
and one day we will

00:33:13.041 --> 00:33:15.916
we have, some vaccine,

00:33:15.916 --> 00:33:17.916
and we will be free.