Ada's transition fund -- https://www.gofundme.com/f/adas-transition-fund ❤ please donate + reblog
I've been on tumblr for like 10 years, mostly posting art. I pretty much grew up with a lot of you on this site, sharing all the messiness along the way. You probs know me better by my tumblr url raveneuse, but my name is Ada Maricia Patterson. I’m a trans woman from Barbados, living and working as an artist and writer in The Netherlands.
I started medically transitioning 2 years ago in my native Barbados. Returning to The Netherlands, I continued HRT (hormone replacement therapy) with the help of my doctor in Barbados and my GP in NL. Over these past two years, I’ve felt so much closer to myself than I ever have. Change continues to wash over my body in ways that I feel so at home in. I've smiled and cried so much at how meaningful and affirming these changes can feel. I don’t know how else to say it: things continue to make more and more sense, and this sense feels so good and grounding to me.
That being said, I continue to deal with ongoing experiences of transphobia in my day-to-day life. As my body has changed, I have become more visibly trans, and the world—with its growing stigma against trans people—makes it very difficult to live safely as a visibly trans person. I have been publicly harassed, yelled at, slurred, chased, stalked, spat on, and I continue to live in fear of everything worse that could very well happen to me at any given moment.
These experiences make me feel like my body isn’t mine, like I have no agency or choice in how I should be seen or treated by others. They make me question my confidence in who I am and the vision I have of myself. Of greatest concern, they make me question my place in the world and my right to be alive and trans.
Because of all of this, I’ve decided to pursue FFS (facial feminisation surgery), so that I can feel safer and so that I might reclaim some agency over my body in my day-to-day life. These procedures are costly, and out of my reach, so I need your help.
Most of the money will go to the procedure, including the costs of the clinic, anaesthesia, assistance and the pre- and post-operative consultations, while the rest of the money will go towards travel to and from the clinic, accommodation, supplies, medication and groceries for the recovery period.
A few dreams I want to share with you:
I want to be able to live safely and quietly.
I want to be able to leave the house without fear of harassment or violence.
I want to be able to visit my homeland Barbados and my friends and family there and not feel like my life is in danger.
This series of procedures won’t necessarily guarantee me all these dreams, but it will certainly help me get significantly closer to them. If nothing else, I might be able to breathe easier and live a calmer life, where my basic survival is not a luxury but a given.
Please help me get closer to my dreams by donating. Every bit of support matters and is so appreciated. Please also feel free to reblog this post, and share my campaign with your friends, family and loved ones.
Thank you for your time, generosity and support.
gamechangershow
vaporwave
kianamaiart
dailybridgerton
