Paul Brown's summer made it apparent that his passion for stopping the effects of HIV/AIDS will be lifelong.

Brown, a 2006 MSU graduate, helped conduct a case study dealing with HIV/AIDS orphans in South Africa this summer. He said the experience changed the way he views his privileges and energized his already active participation with the epidemic.

"They were just born into it," he said. "We could have been born into this situation."

Brown and seven other MSU students, who are members of the Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience at MSU, or MRULE, will be hosting a workshop at the 16th International AIDS Conference, Aug. 10-19 in Toronto.

The workshop, Making Connections and Creating Coalitions, will be offered several times throughout the weeklong conference.

The conference will host about 20,000 people, and attendees will include former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Bill and Melinda Gates, according to a press release.

Although it is aimed at young adults, the workshop is open to everyone at the conference, said Tim Hillman, a student leader of MRULE.

The group decided to get involved with the conference in March after it hosted a two-day event — No Place to Hide: Student Activism and the Fight Against the Global AIDS Pandemic — at MSU.

After the event, several members of the group wanted to continue educating people about the epidemic and applied to host a workshop at the International AIDS Conference, Hillman said.

"I think the epidemic has become a little less provocative in the news, fallen out of the hot topic of things," he said, adding that there are cities in the U.S., such as Washington, D.C., that have large problems with the disease that simply aren't publicized anymore.

Hillman said the workshop will focus on teaching effective ways to inspire and educate young people about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as show them how they can get involved with the fight against the disease.

MRULE Director Jeanne Gazel said the experience the students have gained through MRULE will help them with the workshop.

"It's really the same issues we deal with," said Gazel, who will also be attending the conference with the students. "The MRULE training they have helps them work through issues of global race, class and gender."

Brown said fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic will take teamwork, a point he really wants to emphasize at the workshop.

"Working together is my key thing I would want them to get out of it — that everyone can play a part in their own unique way," he said. "We have to work together as human beings so that people don't die needlessly."