Healing Hope - Afterword

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Illustration by Lena Gacek

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The tradition of storytelling has been a sacred and cathartic practice for women to share experiences and express emotions. The safety of a community creates an atmosphere for mutual exchange in fellowship with other women who have similar lived experiences. At Christie's Place, we frequently witness the transformative impact our clients have on one another as they offer hope, healing, and love, continuing to grow Christie Milton-Torres' legacy even 25 years later. While the stories in this book recount the deep hurt the women have faced, they remain committed to educating and inspiring others who feel alone and hopeless in their diagnosis. This is Healing Hope: A woven tapestry of strength and solace.

In March of 2021, Christie's Place participated in a story collection training by the California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ). The principles and processes for their project, SpeakingStory, were the foundation of Healing Hope. The informative two-day training taught our staff techniques that help honor all storytellers, their experiences, dignity, and power. Additionally, this process included elements of maintaining authenticity and intentionality on diversity and inclusion of stories to be shared.

Once empowered with tools for ethical story collecting, Christie's Place staff reached out to women who had voiced their interest in sharing their stories and then extended the invitation through social media and other forms of recruitment. After identifying interested individuals, the storytellers were paired with a story collector, who maintained their role as the storyteller's point of contact. The story collector supported the storyteller by providing guidance on navigating consent forms and storytelling strategies, discussing modes of sharing their stories, and eventually distributing honorariums for their participation.

The storytellers were presented with a variety of options for story collection, including writing, audio recording, and video. Stories captured through audio recordings and videos were then transcribed by the respective story collectors. To honor the storytellers' confidentiality, privacy, and interest, they had the option to appear in the book with their full name or initials or to remain anonymous. As an agency steadfast in our commitment to highlighting diverse stories, we are proud of the voices represented in this book. Additionally, we were deliberate in our practice of trauma-informed collaboration with the storytellers.

We would be remiss without acknowledging the unique geographical placement of Christie's Place. Located in beautiful Southern California and parallel to the U.S.-Mexico border—commonly known as La Frontera—Christie's Place has historically served people living on either side of the border. Their stories are essential to the picture we aimed to represent when uplifting the voices and experiences of women impacted by HIV/AIDS in this region. With such a rich tapestry of cultures and experiences, we are motivated to represent their voices in their native language to maintain their voice and power.

When it was time to hone the written expressions, we collaborated with CIT, a seasoned translation consulting agency with deep roots in La Frontera and the binational HIV community. CIT approached the project with particular attention to the intention and cultural nuance, identifying three specific goals. 1. Minimally edit the original stories—just enough for the readers' ease of understanding while ensuring that every piece delivers its powerful messages in English and Spanish. 2. Show respect for the hardships and hopes expressed in each story honoring the storytellers' spoken and written style, culture, and idioms. 3. Emulate the tone used by each woman to help convey their backgrounds and the life-affirming renewal that a positive HIV diagnosis afforded each of them.

Just as words offer a point of connection, art can evoke feelings and interpret sentiments. For each story, you will find an illustration that has been thoughtfully personalized by illustrator Lena Gacek. We intentionally sought out an illustrator who identifies as a woman and could connect with the stories as she began to interpret and ultimately create the illustrations. We asked Lena if she could honor certain aspects of the storyteller and keep the illustrations vague enough to maintain the storytellers' confidentiality. However, the reader will also find portraits of Christie's Place legacies, Jay Reed and Martha Robles, who we thank for a decade of dedication to their communities and their role in the stories of many women in this book.

This compilation of stories is just one approach Christie's Place has made toward addressing the visibility of women living with HIV. We aim to encourage a cultural shift in harmful narratives that enable HIV-related stigma to persist. We ask that you utilize these stories to uplift the voices and experiences of the storytellers to inform policy and programming that achieves justice and equity for every woman living with HIV.

Acknowledgements

The dream of Christie Milton-Torres was to create a safe haven for women and families living with HIV. Through the generous contributions of our partners, Christie's Place continues to do her dream justice and encourage more women to join our supportive community. During our 25th Anniversary Virtual Celebration on April 9, 2021, we announced a new pilot project to uplift the voices of women living with HIV and share their unique stories with the world. The sponsors and contributors listed helped us plant the seed for "Healing Hope." We are so proud to present this pilot project to you. We sincerely thank you for reading our first anthology of stories on behalf of Christie's Place and the supporters who made our dream happen. We hope it is the first of many and that these stories will open the hearts and minds of communities wherein our clients exist. Telling a story is the first step toward advocating for a better world, just as Christie Milton-Torres did at the start of the AIDS epidemic and just as we do at Christie's Place today.

Thank you to these amazing sponsors who made "Healing Hope" a reality:

California Department of Public Health, OA: Project Empowerment
ViiV Healthcare 
Gilead Sciences, Inc. 
Vista Community Clinic 
San Diego Human Dignity Foundation and HIV Funding Collaborative 
Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest 
AIDS Healthcare Foundation 
UCSD Anti-Viral Research Center 
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson Company 
Pride Pharmacy 
Sievert Services 
UCSD Mother, Child, Adolescent Program 
Dr. Davey Smith