Hendrix student wants local support for global project

When Dmitriy Nurullayev was 16, the Uzbekistan native came to the United States as an exchange student. 

After completing a year of studies, he and another teen from Uzbekistan returned home to do some community service as required of the exchange students.

“The teens in Uzbekistan sometimes do not make good choices,” Nurullayev said. 

He and the other exchange student created a summer camp to help other teenagers make appropriate choices and provide them with information on topics such as HIV/AIDS, human rights and climate change. The camp was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent.

The camp was popular among the teens, and after Nurullayev had returned to the United States to attend Hendrix College, he returned home to host another summer camp again with his friend.

Nurullayev said after returning to the United States, the decision was made to get more people involved, including Americans and older people. Awareness Projects International was formed. The people involved in the project are from diverse areas in the United States including Conway, Seattle and Chicago.

After getting more students across the country involved, Nurullayev said, “We might as well give it legal frameworks.”

Those who are a part of Awareness Projects International are working to get a Web site up; form a board of directors; and get nonprofit status for the organization. They hope to have five board members. 

“We hope it will happen within a month or so,” Nurullayev said.

The premise behind Awareness Projects International, according to Nurullayev, is to provide small grants for small scale educational projects, such as summer camps in poor countries. 

“The grants will be for small projects in the community. People know what their community needs,” Nurullayev said. 

Some of the projects will be ones created by the organization while others will be granted from applications submitted to the organization. 

The 21-year-old Hendrix junior said he hopes to have older people get involved in the project.

“Get more people interested is our idea,” Nurullayev said.

In addition to board members, Nurullayev said the organization needs more volunteers to become involved and even to travel to other countries.

This summer Nurullayev said the organization hopes to offer three summer camps, one in Uzbekistan, one in Mexico and one in Ghana. 

“I expect the one in Uzbekistan to be the most successful because we have done so many there,” Nurullayev said.

For more information on Awareness Projects International, visit their fan page on Facebook. An organization Web site will be up soon, according to Nurullayev.