Meet the Office of HIV/AIDS (OHA) staff! The "Staff Spotlight" features a member of OHA's staff, allowing readers to gain deeper insights on the amazing people who each day contribute to getting us to an AIDS-free generation. Our featured employee is Kent Klindera, key populations advisor.
Q. How did you get involved in development work?
A. I grew up in “Chicagoland” (e.g., suburban Chicago), and due to an interest in celebrating difference, I gravitated toward hanging out with the international students at my high school. I recognized the need to help these students create community, which has grown into a lifelong passion. This effort continued as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa (Go Hawks!), which led me to the Peace Corps, partially as a means to allow others the opportunity to help me find community.
Originally serving as a community forestry volunteer in Northeast Thailand (Esarn), I witnessed a major transition by the Thai government in response to a growing HIV epidemic. I arrived in 1988, when there was a total denial of HIV, which was related to fears by the Thai government of losing out on a burgeoning tourist industry. However, by the time I left in 1992 (to get my MPH at the University of Minnesota), the Thai government had embraced their epidemic and started taking major action to address it. As a gay man coming of age in the 1980s in the United States, I was quite tuned into HIV, hence, I asked to be part of that transition in Thailand and extended my service to help create the first HIV and AIDS program for Peace Corps. It was an incredible time to be in Thailand, to witness a public health revolution, and see how innovation, hard work, and political will can turn the tide of an epidemic.
Q. If you weren't working in development or public health, what would you be doing? Why?
A. I’m sure I would still be creating community somewhere; however, I think I would have followed another passion and either formalized the healer inside me and become a massage therapist or pursued my talent for baking and opened that little corner bakery in Brooklyn, NY, my current home.
Q. What might someone be surprised to learn about you?
A. I am a big fan of college football and basketball and do not like Broadway musicals or opera, which does not really fit into the stereotype of being a “good gay,” but they still allow me in the club.
Q. What's the hardest thing you've ever done?
A. Rewiring my mother’s old house – not an easy task! My grandfather’s family built homes in Prague, and then moved to the Chicago area to do the same. Hence, my father taught me some of the trade; however, after my father had passed away, my mother had me rewiring several circuits in her house. Although successful, I was a bit scared of the results and decided from then on to honor my ancestors and hire a professional.
Q. If you could witness any event – past, present or future – what would it be and why?
A. I would love to have witnessed the Stonewall Riots in New York City, the birth of the modern LGBT movement in the United States, partially because the riots were led by trans people of color (even though Hollywood would have us believe it was led by gay white men). In my work with LGBT movements throughout the world, I consistently hear activists complain about how challenging their environments are for LGBT rights. I always remind them that the United States had similar struggles only a few years ago, and it was only because of brave activists like themselves, that made the change happen, or maybe being at the NCAA basketball final four games in 1980 – the last year the Iowa Hawkeyes made it that far. #flyoverstatepride
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.