RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir ServiceAn interesting photography exhibition has opened in Kazan, in Russia's republic of Tatarstan, devoted to children at risk, many of them born with HIV. (More photos on our Tatar-Bashkir Service's website.)
Every photo, taken by prominent Kazan photographers Yevgeniy Kanayev, Andrey Shlykov and Georgiy Kozlov, is followed by a "letter" from the child subject.
The exhibition is organized by Svetlana Izambayeva, who won Russia's first beauty contest for women with HIV.
What's especially sad is that she had to leave her hometown of Cheboksary, in central Russia, after the public humiliation she received after admitting to being HIV positive. She now lives in Kazan and her foundation is devoted to fighting for the rights of those with HIV. In Russia, where HIV is still a huge stigma, her work is solely needed.
-- RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service
