Longreads, founded in 2009, is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling in the world. They feature nonfiction and fiction over 1,500 words, and many of the stories come from their community’s recommendations. In an exclusive collaboration with TMI Project, Longreads will
(she/her)
I was 20 years old when I discovered I was HIV positive. I was pregnant and had little knowledge about the condition. I was scared, shocked and wondering, “Why me?” I remember saying,”I will never be normal again. I had five close relatives who passed away due to AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses, two of whom had been taken care of by my mother. There was no medication available to them in Zimbabwe. There wasn’t adequate information, just high levels of stigma, causing people to keep their diagnosis to themselves. They wouldn’t seek help or advice because HIV was associated with promiscuity and immorality.
A short while after I was diagnosed, I was lucky enough to get information from the local clinic, and it helped me regain my confidence. Having experienced such intense anxiety and confusion, I started to think about the many young women who could be in the same situation; women who may not have adequate knowledge or the skills to ask for services, communicate with a healthcare worker, or have adequate family support like I did.
I felt compelled to do something to help other young women. I started to inquire about support groups within my community and sought out those who would be interested in being part of one. It turned out taking this action and being surrounded by others was therapeutic for me, too. From there, I became involved in different activities and started to discover activism. I had the opportunity to meet other young women and discovered a world of mentors and friends who helped me come to terms with my new condition.
At first, I thought it wouldn’t be possible to have an HIV negative child, but once the process of PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) was explained to me, I wanted to educate and support my peers. I continued to seek out knowledge and learn more about the condition. So much had changed since my relatives passed away. Back then, as soon as you were diagnosed with AIDS, as it was popularly known, people started awaiting your death.There was no hope and no future, only misery. It was a dark and challenging time.
I learned that now, those of us who are HIV+ can lead long, healthy, fulfilled lives. We have access to medication and have hope for the future. There are strong systems in place for support. By speaking out and being heard, we’re getting rid of the stigma attached to the disease.
I have enormous gratitude appreciation for the activists who struggled, marched, chanted and some who died, so that we could we could have access to medication and services, and have HIV-free babies. I’m now the mother of two, and both of my children are negative.
For my relatives and the activists who’ve come before me, I will continue to do this work, to ensure diverse people — regardless of age, gender, race or social status — will have what they need to thrive with HIV.
TMI Project is thrilled to join nonprofits across the Hudson Valley to participate in Hudson Valley Gives, our region’s second annual Day of Giving, to be held Wednesday, May 17, 2017. Fueled by the power of social media, Hudson Valley Gives united nonprofits in a call to action to raise critical funds we need to make our communities better places to live, work, play and serve.
We are working in partnership with Cronin Contemporary on a truly unique #HVGives Day Campaign that will include live-streaming of artist Ryan Cronin painting a mural in NewPaltz. We’ll also be featuring five TMI Project Storytellers who will be sharing their stories via Facebook Live from 11am-3pm.
Cronin Contemporary, at Water Street Market, is pleased to announce their new initiative, 12 Months of Giving, to support the work of Go Doc Go and TMI Project, two separate local not-for-profits with a common mission to be agents of change.
Go Doc Go (GDG) is a global women’s health care initiative based in the Hudson Valley that establishes and maintains cervical cancer screening programs around the globe. GDG’s founder, Dr. Maggie Carpenter, and her team have successfully established five programs in Ethiopia, Senegal and Haiti since 2014.
TMI Project offers transformative memoir workshops and performances that invite storytellers and audience members to explore new perspectives. TMI Project envisions a world where true storytelling is an agent of change; where, through the sharing of radically candid, true, personal narratives, everyone—storytellers and listeners alike—can become empowered, release shame and stigma, and replace old understandings with new ones. They aim to incite social, legal, and political change by arming activists with the skills needed to be captivating storytellers, and by amplifying the voices of populations whose stories often go unheard.
Artist Ryan Cronin, of Cronin Contemporary, has established this 12 Months of Giving Campaign as a charitable arm of his gallery, to give back to community causes close to his heart. Each year, different charities will be chosen to be beneficiaries of the gallery’s fundraising campaigns. “Giving is a cornerstone of our programming and we don’t want our outreach to be a one-off. We are committing to both projects over the next twelve months to be their champions,” said Cronin. “We are invested in doing business in a different way, one that is not just about our profitability, but in a way that supports other organizations who are working toward the greater good. We also want to partner with organizations that are headed-up by people we believe in. We have watched both programs grow from the early stages and have witnessed their drive, passion, and commitment. Their dedication is nothing less than contagious.”
12 Months of Giving will officially kick off on May 17th, as part of Hudson Valley Gives, a 24-hour online fundraiser with HUNDREDS of nonprofit participants in seven Hudson Valley counties. #HVGives is a day of giving fueled by passion, collaboration and the power of social media, spear-headed by the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan. From 12:01 am to 11:59 pm on May 17, our audience will be able to experience live streaming of the artist painting a mural on Schatzi’s Pub in New Paltz, live readings from TMI Project’s storytellers and founders, and a feed from Go Doc Go who will be on the ground working in Senegal. “Our audience will be able to be in the moment with us,” said Cronin, “We want to use the platform to immerse our audience in our process and to give them insight into why we do what we do. #HVGives is a digital telethon experience. It is an easy way to bring out the champion in each of us because we all have the potential to be agents of change when we stand alongside one another.”
For more information about 12 Months of Giving, visit
http://www.cronincontemporary.com
For more information about Go Doc Go, visit http://www.GoDocGo.org
