You are my other me

Much like the super highs and intensely rough lows of living here, there are some intense dichotomies that exist in this community. I work in a women's co-op, with 72 amazing and talented women.  Within these walls they are independent, strong, hilarious, loud and empowered.  Through their crafts, teaching and advocacy they fight for a better life for themselves and their community.  They have faced more challenges than any people I have ever met, and in the face of genocide, machismo husbands and abusive gangs, they still have been able to stand strong.

Outside this building?  Nightly gunshots ring through the air.  Drunken men cat call us as we walk by, and sixth grade boys mimic their fathers, yelling obscenities at us and other women.  One of our volunteers has been inappropriately groped by men on the road. And the women go home (not all, but the vast majority) and are beaten by their husbands.

This women's cooperative does not open it's doors to the men.  Men can't work here, and there is no place for boys to volunteer or positively spend time after leaving 6th grade.  Through the absence of men in this building, we are telling these boys that there is no place for them here.  We are telling them that they are just going to end up drunk and in a gang, and we don't approve.  And so, I feel as though we pre-destine them to this life cycle.  What other choices are we showing them?  Before even coming here, I knew the community needed positive male role models in the community. I told people that it would be my mission to tackle that "small" task.  Now, being here, I hear the words of the woman that interviewed me "Courtney, if you want to, that would be great.  We just haven't figured out how to implement something like that yet."  And here I am, wondering the same thing. When I went on my cross country volunteer trip last year, I met a police woman who volunteered at a community center in Dallas.  She said to me "These people here, they contradict the attraction to gang violence."  That's what this place desperately needs.  A safe place that pulls kids in, turning their attention away from the only option they currently see.

And so, as I haven't yet figured out yet how to do that for the boys. . . I'll keep fostering an empowered fight in the girls. I've started a Chicas Poderosas (Powerful Girl's) Club with my friend Meagan.  Every Friday we hang out.  These girls have so much to say - about their roles in their house, about the violence they see, about the reasons why they need a safe and sacred space to be girls.

This week as a school, we also went to a city wide speech competition.  The theme of the speeches was "Why is education important and how can we make it better?"  Our 6th grade UPAVIM girl got first place.  She spoke about violence, about demanding more from this life and about education being the opportunity for "una vida mejor." I got goosebumps seeing this little activist storm the stage.

And while it isn't perfect, and while I will still continue searching for ways a white girl can come to Guatemala and empower a group of boys, I will keep being inspired by the amazing mujeres and chicas poderosas of this community.

Here is a poem - from Luis Valdez's poem "Piensimientos Serpentino" - that we start and end each day with the Chicas.

"Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.
Si te hago daño a ti,
If I do harm to you,
Me hago daño a mi mismo.
I do harm to myself.
Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,
Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself."

Here are the Chicas, making a banner for our group

Here's Michelle and her proud class-mates