By Yvonne Tran
Last weekend I was asked to do a workshop on reproductive justice for Young People For, an organization that works with college-aged and recent college graduates in developing their social and political consciousness and set them up to do community-centered projects in their communities or have them intern in non-profits around the nation.
They were definitely a diverse and energetic group of 18-21 year old students. The workshop went great but the real gems were the stories I collected before and after the workshop.
Stories like Sophia from San Diego, whose mom survived a violent assault and was told she could not have children and had 3 instead. Now, Sophia and the rest of her sisters are not able to have children and have had serious surgery around their reproductive system since they were young. But yet, through it all, these experiences have made their family stronger, more feminist-minded, and a lifelong passion for reproductive justice.
That is just one of the stories I’ve collected. There are a dozen others, detailing with poverty, displacement, immigration, dreams, hopes, love, and faith.
It is renewing every time I go and collect stories to be able to be in the presence of such strength of every story teller.
Hear Joseph’s story below:
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Blog posts represent the opinion of the author, not necessarily Forward Together or Strong Families.