HSP WORK FEATURED ON PBS
Winter 2007
VILLAGE NEWS
The Tzaput Quema family (pictured above), a 2007 stove recipient family, welcomed a new baby boy into their family this year!
MAYA ARTS PROGRAM
The Mayan Art Program (MAP) saw huge success in 2007. 390 students participated in art classes during the school year, an art therapy class was begun for women's circle focusing on photography, one school was radically transformed and five parent teachers associations were started.
MAP uses art education to reinforce the education systems in Guatemala, helping children to develop creative and critical thinking skills. The program reflects ideas concerning gender equality, civic participation, environmental stewardship and Maya culture.
This Fall, Central Virginia Public Television aired a documentary about our collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University's Fashion department. The program, produced by Nick Schapiro, followed the adventures of Professor Linda Lee and a group of students as they worked with the Association of Highland Women's business development program. The fruit of the collaboration is the fashion forward clothing line named Darla Luz.
You can see the first two parts of the documentary here
PROMOTING EQUALITY
ERADICATING VIOLENCE
The Association of Highland Women, founded by Guadalupe Ramirez, took a leading role in organizing a week of major events to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The objective was to raise awareness and change public opinion concerning violence against women.
The 25th of November has been marked for decades in Latin America to remember the assassination of three Miraban sisters by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. The three sister were leading activist in a struggle for Democracy. (continued below)
Members of AMA joined with the other members of the Quetzaltenango Women's Collective to end the violance aginst women
A DREAM PROJECT MADE A REALITY
|
Now I understand why this is a priority! I had been asked to visit Espumpuja in the fall of 2006 to respond to repeated request for funding for a small project dreamed up by the women’s circle. I had been visiting this place for over 15 years and have always been impressed by what I can only describe as this communities high quotient of mirth. My love of the absurd is often met by the goings on in this gracious rural Maya hamlet in the Mam speaking region of San Juan Ostuncalco. After years of frustrating experiences in the region, I have learned to view funding request with a certain level of critical awareness. Milking outsiders is akin to sport in many villages and word travels fast if there is a mark with a certain agenda or soft spot. PIXAN INTRODUCES DARLA LUZ The fair trade clothing company funded by the Highland Support Project has introduced a new line of fashion forward clothing and accessories. The name of the line, Darla Luz, means to give light in Spanish. The idea behind the line is to offer the world the mystical beauty of Maya weaving in contemporary designs and provide Maya women with the liberating opportunities presented by the global market.
Professor Linda Lee, on loan from VCU fashion department, presents a few designs for Spring 2008. My caution bordering on cynical disbelief can be mitigated by a few venerable groups like the women’s circle of Espumpuja. They had approached Claudia Ramirez of the Association of Highland Women (AMA) requesting funds for a patio in the local elementary school. The women were concerned about the high rate of respiratory infections at the school as well as sanitary conditions associated with the dust bowl that encircled the school. During the rainy season, the dust bowl turned into a mud pit that would be tracked by little feet throughout the classrooms. The women are participating in an program designed by the HSP to increase civic participation and improve the quality of education in underserved Maya villages. The Maya Arts Program (MAP) organizes parent teachers associations with the women’s circles. One of the task of the associations is to maintain the schools clean. The women organize weekly cleanings, trash pick up and beautification projects. The women were growing tired of trying to keep the classrooms clean. A nearly impossible task considering the dust bowl that laid outside of every classroom. After spending a few weeks in the school, during the Spring of 2007, my soar throat and runny nose gave me a deeper understanding of the issue. The problem we faced was that neither HSP nor AMA funded such projects. Furthermore, it is our methodology to foster community ownership of programming and not replace local initiative with outside assistance. Understanding the need for a patio and not wishing to foster dependency by providing handouts, I thought about my childhood. My mother was the full time unpaid fundraiser for African American schools in Virginia’s Westmorland county. One of the last holdouts from the days of massive resistance. I spent a good part of my early years in a parade of never ending fundraiser. I remember my mother helping parents to organize to provide for their own kids. In the Spring, we had a great group of students from James Madison University visiting the community to build stoves with the women’s circle. JMU students are always leaders and very generous. They had asked to donate funds to the school or some project in the community. The problem was that a structure had not been established for receiving funds in the community. A little bit of money can do a great deal of damage for small community organizations. This community to date has not demonstrated the negative attributes of communities that have witnessed a great deal of charity. To resolve these two issues a committee was formed with members of the women’s circle, the school’s faculty and the staff of AMA. Together they created a project plan with funding strategy and implementation schedule. One of the funding ideas was to host field days for visitors and sell them weaving, face painting and cultural presentations. Additionally, labor demands was calculated and volunteers from the community were required to eliminate most of the labor cost associated with the project. In September of 2007, the women’s circle of Espumpuja completed their patio and in the process established a model of community empowerment. While they are very appreciative of all the support that international volunteers demonstrated in their fund development activities, they are very proud of themselves for accomplishing their goals. It give meaning to AMA’s slogan that Juntos Si Podemos ( together we can do it). Visit www.amaguate.org to see more photos of the schools transformation. Promoting Equality Continued The week of events began on Tuesday the 20th of November with an art exhibit featuring the works of AMA's women circles. The highlight was from the Photography education project funded by the Highland Support Project. The goal of the photography education project is to cultivate the women’s ability to express themselves through photography and increase their self-confidence, their self-knowledge, and sense of self worth. We designed the class discussions and photo assignments to teach the women to see their world more deeply and artistically, and to become more comfortable expressing themselves in the group. The next event
was on Wednesday the 21st of November. The event
was an awareness-raising dialogues with the Justice of
the Peace, National Police, judicial bodies, attorneys,
and others concerning the bad treatment of women seeking
justice for violence, violations, homicide and other
abuse. A legal
agreement was signed in which the Courts of First
Instance agreed to improve the treatment of women. In a
surprising moment, female judges expressed their
suffering from the violence of their male superiors
while at work. These women united with the Collective in
order to have a greater impact. The 23rd of November was a day of action as women took to the streets of Xela in peaceful demonstrations against the violence. The women of AMA organized and participated in the marches. In the first march, the women of AMA marched with their hands tied, mouths gagged and dressed in black to represented the silence, pain, anguish, and desperation that women have lived for many years.
The next march was with faces painted with tears to demonstrate the sorry for all those who have lost their lives and suffered through violence.
The last march was with signs that stated that women are organized, empowered and are going to change the world!
The week of events culminated on Sunday the 25 of November with a special memorial service held in the Cathedral of Quetzaltenango to remember too many sisters lost to the violence. HSP program for preventative health education is supported by its stove replacement projects. This year HSP built 104 stoves improving the quality of life for 104 families, or 832 men, women and children. |
Anave Colop teachers more than art to the students. She is critical in our efforts to educate Guatemalan teachers and administrators about cultural considerations of working in Maya villages STAN UPDATE In 2005 Hurricane Stan destroyed 87 homes in the Guatemalan communities of AMA´s projects. With the donations received from the Highland Support Project, AMA has been able to give $15,190 to help these families reconstruct their houses and lives SELF ESTEEM By meeting one time every week the women of AMA are practicing a model of participation and organization in their communities. 75 women have learned how to identify their emotions, pinpointing pessimism and depression, and the group support has aided in individual healing. As the sacred Mayan book Pop Vuh says, “All rise together and no one will remain behind.”
A workshop in the offices of AMA for community leaders to foster improved self esteem and healthy visions of the future. The goal of the workshop was working toward a positive vision for the future.
Students of Espumpuja assemble on the dirt patio for a school program.
The PTA organized field days and cultural exchanges with visitors to raise funds for the patio project. Here students take limbo a step farther.
Parents of the school divided the task for the patio project. One elder commented that this was how things used to be done before people started to migrate to the United States.
Final preparations before the inauguration of the patio. The entire community was proud of their new patio
The language of art is particularly useful for investigating and expressing the ideas of themes like mental health, self-esteem, and identity as woman, wife, and mother.
The Women’s Circle was given a space in Xela’s City Hall to exhibit their photography, which was admired by a diversity of people and international organizations.
AMA's Claudia Ramirez explains to a meeting of Quetzaltenango's judicial community issues that confront rural Maya women in obtaining justice. Since 2000, over 3,000 Guatemalan women have been murdered, Violence against women is so widespread that the situation is described as femicide. The atrocities committed against women now in Guatemala stem from the violence committed during the 36-year civil war that officially ended in 1996. During the internal armed conflict, paramilitary groups and government soldiers committed widespread human rights violations against women, including using routine rape as a counterrevolutionary tactic. Certain Guatemalan social and cultural norms that endorse the inferiority and domination of women continue this pattern of violence. For more information visit the Guatemala Human Rights Commission CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN The Women’s Circles are formed in 5 different communities with varying languages, ethnicity, religion and education. This includes education concerning their democratic and human rights as well as their rights as women living in Guatemala. AMA's meetings are encouraging the women to understand their importance as citizens of Guatemala, including encouraging them to vote, educating them about the local and country wide economy and how they can take advantage of their opportunities to get involved in the local and global markets. |
|
Donate Sign Up For Trip More Information |
|
