Women with HIV and their allies started the Catwalk4Power project, because we wanted to create actions to address the silence around women and HIV. We created a platform to communicate about our lives; one that celebrates our achievements to our communities and the world.
The creative workshops we have developed involve writing, performance, spoken word, crafting, sewing, strutting, and prop-building. We wear the costumes and accessories we have designed and made at a catwalk main event that we also create. It is a skills sharing, stigma-busting, educational, and transformative process for all who become involved.
After diagnosis, I lost my confidence and self-esteem. I couldnt get myself to think I deserved the best in life. Being part of the Catwalk for Power was transformative, it was organic; it was us, women living with HIV, everyday women who can often be overwhelmed with social inequalities and intersections that can make us underestimate our abilities, who lead and created the event. Everyday women who sometimes forget how much skills and resources we have as individuals and as a community.
So far, we have taken our grass-roots project to London, Brighton, Manchester, and Amsterdam.
We have also come up with a Catwalk4Power Toolkit so that the Catwalk4Power model can be shared and adapted in communities anywhere.
With funding support, we hope to continue this valuable empowerment project.
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