The roots of PTE can be traced back to the windswept savannah of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It was there that I ventured out as a naïve 20 year-old with the hopes of bringing life saving information about HIV/AIDS to a rural South African village called Qokolweni. Jutting out on top of a small ridge of earth about 45 minutes from the nearest paved road, I roamed that village for half a year armed with an unending supply of condoms, brochures and role playing exercises to help teach the youth of the village what HIV was and how they could prevent its spread.
It did not take me a long time in Qokolweni to realize that lack of access to condoms and information was not at the root cause of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. In fact I would say that on the whole South African youth were better educated and more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS than their similarly aged counterparts in America. The issue at hand was not getting them information and resources, it was in how the information and resources were packaged and delivered.
While on the whole, the time spent in Qokoloweni was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, I could not help from feeling regret that my time there was not better spent. I wanted to give education that not just placated the ideals of HIV/AIDS education, but actually helped stop the spread of the virus and helped improve the lives of those already infected.
After South Africa I returned to America to finish my studies at University and then moved on to China to spend a year in a small Chinese town in Zhejiang province called Quzhou, getting to know the local Chinese culture. The next year I was in Beijing working at a local University and as I prepared to finish a two-year stint in China I wanted to do something to “give back” to the wonderful people of Quzhou. I set out to organize a week long HIV/AIDS education seminar for local teachers. I wanted to leave China on a high note and leave a legacy of something that I was very passionate about.
I started to work on gathering available resources to help better understand the current state of HIV education in China. As I searched I quickly realized that the available pool of resources was small and concentrated to teaching universities around Beijing. In terms of available resources in school districts in towns like Quzhou, there was nothing.
The idea of PTE began to form from this original search for HIV education materials into something bigger, an organization dedicated specifically to the promotion of effective HIV/AIDS education programs in China. With HIV infections rising by double digits and a staggering lack of knowledge among the general public, it was the perfect time and place for an organization like PTE.
In the ensuing years PTE has grown and changed much in our outputs and expectations, but the general drive has remained the same. PTE exists to use education to stem the spread of the HIV virus in China and to improve the lives of those already infected.
Gabriel Suk, Founder