a Liberatory Love letter from Jo Botelho, ACCESS Reproductive Justice
Dear friends, comrades, loves,
Thank you for challenging me in ways that I did not even know I needed to be. A sweet, compassionate interrogation into my patterns of existence. Tenderly held in community as I was given space and safety to crack myself open and renew my understanding and commitment to collective healing and liberation. Forever changed, softened, strengthened, connected.
I am celebrating my courage to step back into community, step forward toward collective liberation and expanded healing. I’m celebrating the brilliant hearts and minds of the guides and my fellow cohort who have taught me so much about myself and our shared existence. I’m celebrating growth and degrowth. I’m celebrating culture shifts and returning to self.
I've lovingly witnessed community members hold one another in our personal and collective grief. My own reconnecting and remembering - to ancestors, to self, to community, to love, to healing, to freedom. I’ve lovingly witnessed myself and my comrades lean into the discomfort of composting ideas and ways of being that no longer serve us on our path to liberation.
I've intentionally cultivated and practiced being in my power - noticing it, feeling into it, sharing it, and not being afraid of it. I’ve practiced connecting to my ancestors and those around me. I’ve practiced creating and facilitating space for grief and joy. I’ve cultivated confidence and trust in myself to weave containers and build bridges.
I've shed/ released/ let go of shame and self-doubt. The insidious shadow that has followed me for so long, making me believe that I do not belong.
I've grown because I allowed myself to be surrounded by others growing and, in some cases, de-growing through decomposition and transformation.
What feels more possible now is knowing that I have built a foundational practice to continue shifting culture within my community. That I have a practice to hold me when life gets really tough, as it so often does. It feels more possible to dream expansively and create unhindered by doubt and shame.
I am more Free because I am more free. This cohort has liberated me more and more and will continue to do so as I move forward on my path. I feel more Free because I am more resourced with ancestral and community wisdom and knowledge to support me in showing others that they too can be Free. I am more Free because I have returned to love and connection. I have returned to my own humanity and our own oneness.
With Liberatory Love,
Jo Botelho
they/ she/ siya
ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE removes barriers to sexual and reproductive health care and builds the power of Californians to demand health, justice, and dignity
