Intro note from Evelyn:
Across our beautiful community, there are so many people with so many unique experiences, and from time to time, I’d like to use this blog to share some of those diverse stories with you. Today I’d like to share one such voice, that is very personal to me.
Please enjoy! – Evelyn
My name, for now, can remain hidden. You may call me “Handsome”. I am a gay man from a small country in Africa, and in my country, being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is treated almost like a crime against society. Living openly is dangerous. Existing authentically can feel like a death sentence. On top of that, I live with HIV, another layer of stigma that follows people like me across borders.
Despite these challenges, I worked hard. I pursued my education, became an educator, and saved all the money I could. With determination and academic achievement, I secured a Canadian visa to continue my studies and to teach. I thought Canada would be the beginning of freedom, and in many ways it was, but the journey was not simple.
When I first arrived, I lived with family members who were deeply homophobic. My femininity was constantly questioned. I was asked why I wasn’t married, why I wasn’t dating women, why I couldn’t just be “normal”. The pressure and judgment were suffocating until I finally moved out and found a space of my own.
Even then, I lived with the fear of being sent back home, the fear of being treated differently because of my HIV status, and the fear of running out of medication. At one point, my supply was dangerously low, and I truly believed I might die.
Then someone connected me to Evelyn Mom Serwaa. From the moment she entered my life, everything changed.
She stepped in immediately. She tried to help me get medication through MOYO Canada, and when that wasn’t possible because of my location, she helped me find alternate options and a resource that successfully secured a six-month supply for me. Because of Evelyn, my viral load is now undetectable. Because of her, I am alive.
But she didn’t stop there. She continued to find ways to go above and beyond to help me. She welcomed me into her family. She and her wife invite me to gatherings, take me out when I’m in town, and treat me with a level of love and dignity I had never experienced from a parent figure. She supports many 2SLGBTQIA+ youth like me visiting those in shelters, helping people escape homelessness, guiding us through immigration struggles, and offering the kind of care that saves lives.
For me, she is the mother I hold dearly. She is the reason I am still here, living freely, building a future, and believing in myself again.
My name remains Handsome and this is my truth.