These past two weeks I
have had the opportunity to be involved in CASM’s women’s project. Essentially
we are trying to organize women in each community we work with, train them in
issues such as human rights and local development, and ultimately empower them to
be leaders and a voice for positive change in their communities. CASM is
working in partnership with the OMM (Women’s Municipal Office), and the idea is
that although CASM does not have funds to support development projects for
these women, we can offer training/organization assistance, which will empower
women to be able to better petition for and access the funds allotted to them
by the municipality (most communities do not even know that these funds exist
for their benefit).
Organizational meeting with the women of Trascerros |
Self-esteem may seem
like a basic idea and perhaps not the most pressing or important one to raise
with the women (at least, this was my first reaction to the plan). But in
further discussing with Dinora (the CASM technical staff coordinating this
project) it appears that the majority of women in these communities have very
low self-esteem.
How would you define
self-esteem?
At CASM we consider
self-esteem as something more than just an opinion about ourselves. Self-esteem
is a vital force that allows us to develop the capacity to appreciate ourselves
and our self-worth, to have self-respect, to protect ourselves, and defend our
rights. It is manifest in all spaces and spheres of our life, allowing us to
accept who we are, what we do and feel, motivating certain behaviors,
determining our relationships with others, and influencing our appreciation of
life in general. So you see self-esteem is more than what we see in the mirror
(which actually seems somewhat of a commodity in Honduras…I have noticed that
many bathrooms here do not have mirrors). Our self-esteem is not just our
appearance, but also our self-perception of our abilities, and how that makes
us feel about ourselves in general. But we don’t always have as much control
over self-esteem as we may like to think, due to outside influences.
Self-esteem also encompasses what value society gives us according to our
social class, ethnicity, culture, age, sexual orientation, and gender. It is
the worth that our family gives us since our birth and throughout our childhood
and adolescence. It is evident in the relationships that we establish with others
and in the possibilities that we have available to develop our abilities and
potential as human beings.
Talking about
self-esteem and feminine identity is an entry point for countering the machismo
(aggressive/exaggerated display of masculinity) evident in these communities
and Honduran society. During several house visits, women responded to our organized
group proposal by saying that they would need to ask their husbands for
permission first! Many women are at the beck and call of their spouse, with
minimal, if any, autonomy. It is a harsh reality to encounter as a person who
grew up with so many strong, independent female mentors.
There were also a
couple houses in which we met with the husbands, and had a discussion with both
man and woman present. In these cases, I found the discussion with the husband
to be very positive…he was supportive of the women’s group idea, agreed with
the idea of self-esteem, and happy for his spouse to participate. Yet what I
found concerning in these situations was that as unmachismo the husband
may have seemed, during these conversations the woman remained completely
silent. Later, I asked the Trascerros women what they made of that situation, and
their response was that some men have already received training regarding
machismo/women’s rights. However, just because a man has been trained, does not
mean that a woman has as well, which makes these organized women groups all the
more important! Admittedly, I found it very disappointing that a man’s training
in this area would not subsequently empower his spouse...doesn’t seem like a
very effective result, right? But I must also consider that I am only just
scraping the surface of what these domestic relationships are like, and how
cultural tradition and historical power structures have reinforced those
relationships – in short, there is still a lot for me to learn and to
understand! For now I am finding that the current task at hand is to first simply
create a space for women to share with one another about themselves and their
experiences. To give them the opportunity to reflect and to have an opinion…and
eventually act as a result!
Share+Solidarity is the
theme for this post. Along with the women in these communities, I too am
learning to share more about myself. This sharing is an important part of
solidarity work, because it opens up our minds to new possibilities, of
different ways of viewing the world. For instance, in addition to my work with
the women this past week, I have encountered another gender inequality
issue…that of homophobia. If you can imagine how difficult it is for a woman
here because of machismo, you can imagine how difficult it would be for someone
who is homosexual, being completely countercultural to machismo. There have
been a couple instances recently where I have had the opportunity to share with
others in Honduras my thoughts on homosexuality, and I think my liberal
perspective has been somewhat of a shocker to others at times. While fighting
for LGBQT rights is not my purpose for being here, I hope that simply being
able to share a different mindset (just as I would in the United States) will
contribute to the overall progress being made for human equality. As a wise
friend of mine recently advised, progress takes a long time, and may never even
be realized in our lifetime. Whether with women’s empowerment, gay rights,
poverty, or any other social problem, we can’t judge our success by the
problems that remain, but rather by the people who we know we’ve touched. While
I know that the results of my current work may not be visible until much later
(and this will continue to frustrate me nonetheless!), I look forward to the
small daily triumphs during my time here that I will be able to look back on
and say, YES, I did make a difference.
Enjoying the beach in Tela with my adopted family |
So far I have not been
very good at remembering stories to share with you all, and I promise I will
try to do better in the future! For now, I’ll leave you with a short story my
counterpart Orfelina shared with me this morning.
First, some background
information - The other day, my coworker Orfelina and I went to the home of a
man named Alberto where we were going to install a new biodigestor (he was having problems with his old one). While
there, I was served coffee and cooked plantain, which I enjoyed while we
chatted with Alberto family. Unfortunately, we were not able to install the
biodigestor that day, as it seems that the plastic nylon that had been cut for
the project was too short (this was the largest biodigestor I had seen so
far…approximately 11 meters).
While disappointed that our visit was in vain, we simply agreed to return another day to install it, and Alberto wasn’t fazed one bit by the delay (this patience is something I am definitely going to miss when I return to the States!!). However, last week I was unable to return to the site for installation, due to other commitments with the women’s project.
While disappointed that our visit was in vain, we simply agreed to return another day to install it, and Alberto wasn’t fazed one bit by the delay (this patience is something I am definitely going to miss when I return to the States!!). However, last week I was unable to return to the site for installation, due to other commitments with the women’s project.
This morning, before
our Monday devotional, Orfelina told me that Alberto had missed me when she
returned to install the biodigestor. When I asked her why, she said that he was
so pleased when I had accepted and eaten all that his family had offered, as
apparently they had received visitors before who had declined such gifts. At
the time I didn’t realize it, but finishing that cup of coffee and plantain
meant a lot to Alberto and his family that day. The ability to give,
especially despite poverty, is a great source of happiness.
Sometimes, it is in the
simplest things that we share that make the biggest impressions, and
demonstrate the most solidarity. Day by day, I am learning to notice and
appreciate these things more, and I hope you will too!
In Solidarity,
Malinda
The part about being able to give, despite poverty, being a great source of happiness was heartbreaking!
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