I Know

The I Know Initiative is an HIV awareness and education program focusing its outreach at young people through social media. The materials focus on the personal stories, photos, videos, messages and artwork from project KINDLE participants; children, adolescents, and families that are infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The I Know Book which can be viewed by clicking here or by copying and pasting this link into your browser to view it in full screen: http://www.projectkindle.org/iknowbook.html is a full-color, 64 page book filled with the personal stories and artwork of Camp Kindle participants. This book (and accompanying video) was originally created for educators to share with their students as a supplemental resource in the classroom. By the end 2008, this book and video reached over 1,000 teachers in Illinois, California, Colorado and Nebraska. Today this book and DVD continues to be a resource to many educators as well as AIDS service organizations, hospitals and families looking for a way to introduce and discuss how HIV impactes youth.

The I Know book focuses in-depth on five youth from Camp Kindle. In addition, 5 topics dealing with HIV/AIDS are explored. These topics are ones that most often came up in writings and artwork of Camp Kindle campers. The topics are: Being a Kid, Relationships, Medication, Stigma, and Education.

I Know: Brryan Jackson is a 14 minute video (included in the back of the I Know Book) that introduces viewers to Brryan Jackson, a very special 17-year-old Camp Kindle participant. Brryan was purposely injected with the HIV virus by his own father when he was just an infant. At five years old he was diagnosed with full blown AIDS and given five months to live. Now, 13 years later, Brryan is an outspoken advocate and dedicates a lot of his time and effort to raise awareness and eradicate stigma.

The video can be viewed on our vimeo page through the vimeo link below.

The I Know Website (ikowhiv.org) is an online resource for young adults looking to learn more about HIV and AIDS in a forum they are very familiar with - social media. The site give users the opportunity to meet and learn about many of the different youth Camp Kindle serves. In addition, the website offers a cutting-edge, dynamic learning experience for students across the country. This website and accompaying social media outlets is unique - it allows young people impacted by HIV/AIDS the opportunity to teach other young people about the disease and how to stay safe. At the same time, the website will help young people build connections with others regardless of their HIV status and together confront the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS.

visit www.iknowhiv.org
follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/iknowhiv
watch us on vimeo at: www.vimeo.com/iknowhiv