US-Russia Volunteer Initiative (USRVI)

Stories from the Field

Polina Balyaeva and Arkadiy Gyngazov
Resource Center of Dallas, Dallas, TX

Polina Balyaeva (left) and Arkadiy Gyngazov
(second from right) with staff of the
Resource Center of Dallas.

Polina Balyaeva and Arkadiy Gyngazov are two HIV/AIDS specialists who work with the gay community in Tomsk, Russia. During their tenure with the Resource Center of Dallas, they worked extensively conducting HIV/AIDS outreach and education at gay clubs in Dallas, as well as assisting with administrative support and publicity. While they gained experience with American public health techniques, they were also able to teach the staff about the international aspect of the HIV/AIDS prevention and share their skills. Having seen the strong public support for the Resource Center, Polina said, “I now understand that we should work not only with HIV/AIDS, we should build a community of motivated individuals to help reach our goals and results.”

Now that they returned to Russia, Polina and Arkadiy have put their newly acquired knowledge into practice. They successfully applied for an alumni grant, which they have been using to initiate trainings for the gay community in Tomsk in order to increase knowledge about healthy lifestyle choices. Following the model of the Dallas Resource Center, they have trained 15 volunteers in counseling and education techniques to increase the number of public health educators in the community. They have also used their project funding to establish the first HIV/AIDS and healthy lifestyle crisis hotline targeting the gay population of Tomsk. By participating in USRVI, Polina and Arkadiy not only improved their own professional skills, but were given the tools to strengthen the public health network of their home community.

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