What is A Girl Like Me?
A Girl Like Me (AGLM)
is a pilot program of The Well Project with initial funding provided by the
YWCA. It is an online “blog” where women of all ages can share their stories
and promote understanding of HIV through online storytelling. There are
literally millions of women around the globe who are living with HIV and AIDS,
yet many feel they are alone in their disease and isolated in the experiences
they go through each day. The goals of AGLM are to help normalize HIV and AIDS
in women and girls, and to create a space for women living with HIV from around
the world to speak out and share their experience of what it is to live life
with HIV.
Click below to view the introductory posts from some of our bloggers:
- Mano (aka Sharon), a 29 year old mom of 2 boys from Durban, South Africa
- Jae Martin, a 39 year old mom of 3, HIV+ for 18 years who lives in Southern California
- Dikeledi Mahlangu, a 25 year old single mom who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa
- Katie, a 29 year old mom, who discovered she and her husband were both HIV+ when she was pregnant with her first child (who is HIV-negative)
- Waheedah Shabazz-El, a 56 year old Muslim mother and activist who lives in Philadelphia and is a founding member of the Positive Women's Network
- Dawn Averitt Bridge, a 40 year old mom of 2 girls, the Founder of The Well Project and long time advocate for HIV+ women.
What is a blog?
A blog is an online journal or diary where individuals regularly post their
thoughts and comments on events and experiences. Some blogs include several
individuals who post under one website, such as AGLM. Readers can leave
comments on the posts, which is an important part of many blogs. Bloggers (the
individuals contributing to a blog) can also post images or links to other Web
pages that are related to the topic. AGLM utilizes social networking
sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) to enhance traffic of
a national and global audience.
How can you be a part of A Girl Like Me?
If you are a woman living with HIV and interested in participating in
the pilot phase of AGLM, please send an email to update@thewellproject.org
that includes the following:
- Brief biography (200 words or less)
- Sample first blog (100+ words)
- 2-3 sentences explaining why you would like to be a part of "A Girl Like Me"
What's in it for you?
If you are interested in contributing to AGLM, you will become a voice for
women around the world and will likely help thousands of others by sharing your
story. The Well Project will provide the website and platform for you to
participate in this online community, and will also provide support in setting
up your account to link to the blog. The Well Project also hopes to provide
online and/or in-person training focused on storytelling and media in the
future.
If you are selected, what will be expected of you?
If you are selected, we will send you an agreement to review and sign for your
participation. You will be asked to contribute a brief blog (blog entries are
often 200-400 words or even less) every 2-3 weeks for a period of approximately
6 months (or longer if you so choose). If you receive numerous comments to your
blogs by readers, we ask that you also periodically check in and post responses
if necessary. The blogs will be monitored and we will not allow any content
that is offensive or graphically inappropriate to readers. The Well
Project will also offer copyediting support for grammar/spelling if you so
choose.
What are the technical requirements?
All you need is an internet connection and an email address. We will work with
you to create a username and account, as well as connect you to the AGLM
blog. After set-up is complete, you can you can simply email your blogs to The
Well Project to post.
Will this be viewed by the public?
Yes. We will be promoting this blog in many ways (including The Well Project website, Facebook, Twitter and
other networks) in hopes of reaching as many women as possible. We
encourage women to apply who are open about their HIV status, however we will
consider entries who would prefer to remain anonymous and post under an alias
as well.
