the woman I have become

That’s the title of a powerful film given to me by Notisha Massaquoi, Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands—the *only* health center in all of Canada to focus on the particular needs of women of color.  The Woman I Have Become (directed by Alison Duke) follows several African and Caribbean women in Toronto who are HIV-positive; I hope you’ll look for it in your community and/or encourage others to talk about the impact HIV/AIDS is having on black women, their partners, and their families.  I’m just back from Toronto and this visit gave me so much to think about…I spent my first morning meeting with Notisha; she gave me a tour of her beautiful clinic and introduced me to members of her staff, including Wangari Tharao (who heads the African Black Diaspora Global Network, and is featured in the film).  Notisha introduced me as an author, and after Wangari and I discussed the alarming statistics for black women and AIDS she said, “You should write a story about this.”  And I said, “I have!”  That middle grade novel is called An Angel for Mariqua; my agent is sending it out right now, but I felt such an urge to self-publish it in that moment so that it could be available immediately.  I wrote the book in 2000, I think, and the spread of AIDS and HIV in our community has only accelerated since then.  Not talking (or writing) about it doesn’t make it go away.  Notisha and I went for coffee afterward and talked about the struggles facing black artists in Canada.  I’ll write more about that tomorrow; right now I’m still sniffling from watching the film, and can’t reasonably start whining about my petty problems when so many women are fighting this disease every day.  One woman, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, insisted on speaking publicly about her status so that she could defeat the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and continue the work of those whose voices were claimed by the disease.  I hoped my novel could do the same…but it’s been ten years.  Time to take action, I think…