SFAF and The Reunion Project Launch National HIV Long-Term Survivor Anthology Project
SAN FRANCISCO, December 1, 2024–In honor of World AIDS Day (December 1), San Francisco AIDS Foundation and The Reunion Project are delighted to announce the launch of a storytelling anthology project with HIV long-term survivors. This ambitious project, titled, “We Live: Voices of the First Generation to Survive HIV/AIDS,” aims to capture and preserve the untold and unheard stories of long-term survivors across the nation and including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
“This project was borne out of a series of writing workshops SFAF conducted with long-term survivors in collaboration with activist and long-term survivor Cleve Jones,” said Vince Crisostomo, director of Aging Services at SFAF and the founder of the anthology project. “The stories that emerged in the workshops were insightful and incredibly moving–and Cleve observed that many accounts of how people survived and what they experienced during the height of the AIDS epidemic are oftentimes overlooked or left out of HIV and AIDS history and discussion. Each and every long-term survivor has their own story and experience, and they all deserve to be remembered, documented, and preserved for future generations.”
It is anticipated that the anthology will include stories that touch on a wide range of themes, including: diagnosis and disclosure; illness, loss, and fear; treatment, care, and hope; love, intimacy, and family; faith, spirituality, and recovery; education, work, and careers; activism, organizing, and representation; aging, purpose, and dignity; and, the future and a possibility of a world without HIV and AIDS.
“Sharing our stories helps to not only preserve a history that might otherwise be lost, but it can also be healing to know that you are not alone, and that your survival has meaning and purpose,” says Jeff Berry, executive director of The Reunion Project, the alliance of HIV long-term survivors. “Through this anthology we hope to achieve both, while easing the burden of survivor’s guilt that so many of us still carry with us to this day.”
The project aims to be inclusive of long-term survivors of all races and ethnicities, gender identities and sexual orientations, and geographies. For the purpose of this project, the team is defining HIV long term survivors as those who were diagnosed with HIV prior to 1996–in other words, before the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
The project welcomes long-term survivors to get involved and join the anthology. To learn more or join the project, visit SFAF’s website or email AnthologyLTS@gmail.com.
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