Digital Storytelling Program Fights Stigma in Asian & Pacific Islander Communities

In celebration of 10th annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day the organization that started the day (The Banyan Tree Project)  has launched a national digital storytelling initiative, "Taking Root: Our Stories, Our Community" to engage Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in ending HIV stigma.

The campaign aims to fight stigma by sharing video-taped stories from Asians and Pacific Islanders living with or affected by HIV.

In one, Ron H., a Filipino American gay man shares how self-medicating for his depression led to a drug addiction, homelessness, and an HIV diagnosis. In another, Stacia Ohira calls herself “predestined” to becoming poz as a trans woman family rejection, drugs, homelessness, sex work and incarceration.

Banyan Tree said in a press release, that these stories expose “the link between mental illness, drug addiction, and HIV risk. Untreated mental health issues, drug addiction, and stigma have a devastating impact on everyone in the community—people living with HIV and their friends, family members, and allies. Silence, shame, and fear isolate individuals, cause family members to reject loved ones. Fear of these consequences can cause people living with HIV to avoid getting tested or accessing life-saving treatment services.”

Sapna Mysoor, associate director of community development at Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, added in the statement, “As a community, we must fight HIV stigma in order to achieve the U.S. goal of an AIDS-free generation. These storytellers are like our friends and family members, telling us how shame and fear hurts us all.”

According to the Banyan Tree, “It's been said that it takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.” The Taking Root project is grounded in the power of individuals sharing their stories. “We are a multitude of voices: there is no singular Asian-American or Pacific Islander experience, and the face of HIV is as diverse as the people affected by it. Through the connections forged by these individual experiences, we are able to tell a story about the ways we are affected by HIV. Together, these stories heal."

“Asians and Pacific Islanders rarely talk openly about HIV,” Mysoor added. “But these brave storytellers show us how to have thoughtful, honest conversations about the disease. They show us how to speak up and stand together.”

The stories were developed during a 3-day workshop facilitated by Center for Digital Storytelling  and Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center. Storytellers were trained to produce their own story, doing the entire job themselves--from developing the narrative, creating the video and producing the voiceover. The project is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Minority Health Resource Center.