Chiva’s 2025 F2B Camp Empowers Young People Living with HIV Through Creativity, Connection and Adventure

Chiva hosted another successful Freedom to Be (F2B) camp from Monday 28 July – Saturday 2 August 2025.

This was the 16th year of our annual support camp which brings together children and young people growing up with HIV. F2B has always accepted people between 11–17 years-old but this was the first year that 10-year-olds were accepted too. 89 young people attended from all around the UK and Ireland.

The theme of this year’s camp was ‘the digital era’ which ran throughout the week. The young people were split into three teams which were named after three pioneers: Bill Gates; Mary Jackson and Alan Turing. Each team won points based on their achievements during the week and everyone learned a bit about the achievements of the people that the teams were named after.

The children and young people took part in creative arts sessions to explore their journeys of HIV. In line with the digital theme of camp this year, one of the creative workshops challenged the young people come up with a t-shirt design with the brief: My t-shirt as my digital platform. Their t-shirt designs included some really inspiring messages that they would like to say to the world about living with HIV. See them on our Instagram page.

There was a varied programme of outdoor activities such as ziplining, archery, climbing, canoeing, forest adventure, abseiling and ‘leap of faith’ – all of which help them to build resilience, teamwork, and self-confidence.

They also took part in HIV and sexual health workshops to help them learn how to live well with HIV and improve their understanding of terms such as U=U.

Free time allowed them to catch up with friends from previous years (for those who had attended previously) or make new friends.

The Chiva team was so impressed by the young people for their bravery, creativity, engagement and talents. It was a week filled with growth, fun, and connection and the campers accomplished so much during their time.

Chiva would like to thank everyone who attended, especially the team of volunteers who lent us their time and expertise to help run camp this year.

At the end of the week, young people were asked what being at F2B had meant to them.

“A lot as I’ve made many friends who also have HIV making me feel less lonely about it.”
“I have learnt more about HIV without being judged and feel respected when sharing my questions.”
“I can experience peace around those that understand me most.”