WE ARE CHILDFREE

I’m childfree by choice. I imagined, before puberty, that I would be some sort of magical fairy princess mom. During my university years, I started to doubt wanting to be a mother. This was especially strengthened by bouts of severe depression and suicide. By the time I moved abroad, to Latin America from the United States, at the age of 22, I was sure I would remain childfree.

While it’s not possible to know exactly which of my life decisions would still have been made had I had children, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been able to learn and grow and transform in ways that would have been nearly impossible with children in tow.

My career as a human and environmental rights activist and educator took me in and out of war zones and precarious living situations throughout my twenties and thirties. I was able to take risks and invest in wider communities, including my own, and learn from people and places and cultures I found interesting.

Most importantly: I could make those decisions for myself and on my own.

I traveled with a street circus and spun fire, I taught in high schools and women’s shelters and community centers. I fostered two teens for five years, during a critical period for their education. I lived in a jungle war zone as an international human rights accompanier, and reported on state sponsored crimes against humanity. I was a journalist covering social movements in Latin America and worked at different grassroots collectives and NGOs.

I lend my time and energy to the greater communities where I live as well as care-take for my family when things are difficult. I stayed with my grandmother for four months to help her transition after her own mother died, and flew to my mother’s side to help her through acute cancer treatment.

Since the age of 35, I’ve made up part of the founding team at La Chispa cultural center in Medellín, Colombia.

We work in cultural education around three pillars: art for social transformation, peace and conflict resolution and agroecology. Being childfree has given me the headspace and heart-space to really invest in tackling the biggest social and environmental issues of our time. I get to decide how I, as an individual, can invest my life in making the world a better place.

I’m an artist, activist and educator and have had my entire adult life to really embody those identities.

At 42 years old, I’m teaching in community integrated arts programs and running an artist residency. I’m also working on my first novel and writing a nonfiction book about international solidarity for human and environmental rights in Colombia.

I’m constantly reaffirmed in my decision to be childfree, and am so grateful to have been born in a time and place that allows me to decide.