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Off To Africa

For a third year in a row a Nipissing University student has been selected to take part in a six-week workshop on HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
For a third year in a row a Nipissing University student has been selected to take part in a six-week workshop on HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

Jean-Marc Raymond a 22-year-old Nipissing student is one of only 20 Canadian students selected to attend the seminar in Botswana in May.

Full details contained in the following release.

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Originally launched in 1948 by World University Service of Canada (WUSC), the International Seminar is delivered through Uniterra, a joint program of WUSC and the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation. Each year, 20 Seminar participants are selected from a field of about 100 applicants from across Canada.

Students are evaluated on the basis of academic excellence, community leadership and demonstrated commitment to international understanding.

Raymond, 22, is originally from Corbeil, Ontario, near North Bay. He is currently in his third year at Nipissing University, where he is completing an undergraduate degree in visual arts. He grew up with an interest in international development, and says the natural disasters
that have affected so many people in the world's poorest countries recently have cemented that interest.

While in Botswana, Raymond will be paired with a local student and will volunteer with a local organization focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and care. He is thrilled about the opportunity to gain first-hand experience that could launch his career in international development, and says he hopes to learn more about the ways in which HIV/AIDS victims experience social integration and family life.

"I hope to explore concerns surrounding the idea of identity, such as whether or not the virus changes people's self-image or causes them to approach integration with anxiety," says Raymond, whose views on humanitarianism and human rights colour most of the art work and academic essays he produces at school.

Active on over 50 university and college campuses across Canada, WUSC is a leading development agency whose mission is to foster human development and global understanding through education and training.

Through our Uniterra program, we mobilize people and organizations in Canada and the developing world to reduce poverty through the achievement of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

Visit the following link for more information.

www.uniterra.ca