MuJER

We met two amazing girls, Ana and Tania, in Guatemala City who started an organization called MuJER. They were introduced to us through a friend that met them at Manav Sadhna in India where they were all volunteering.

Sidenote - We took the bus from the Marriott to meet them. I (tried) to tell the bus driver to let us know when we got to Palacio Nacional (National Palace) where we were meeting them. We got off the bus when he told us to, walked the two blocks he told us to and found ourselves in front of the Policia Nacional (National Police) building. Umm..not exactly where we wanted to go, but we got lucky and the Palace was within walking distance. Gotta practice pronunciation!

Ana and Tania studied abroad in India and volunteered once a week at Manav Sadhna. After they graduated college, they wanted to do something meaningful. They had heard some news about these women in Guatemala on NPR and decided to come down and see if they could do something. So for two years, they have been working with women of ¨La Linea¨(the railrood tracks) in Guatemala City. The women there are marginalized sex workers, they charge among the lowest rates in Guatemala. Ana and Tania are teaching a group of 25-30 of these women how to read and write so they can empower themselves. Their motive is not to get these women out of their line of work, becuase for many of them it is their means of survival, but to educate, empower, and increase their self-esteem. If they do get out of the work, it is a bonus. They educated us on the grotesque murders of over 2,800 women in Guatemala since 2001. None of these stories make the news. They are organizing a conference on the Guatemalan Femicide in Los Angeles in March.

They were also nice enough to show us around a little. We took a tour of the National Palace. We saw the room where President Bush will be sitting with other delegates when he comes to visit Guatemala on March 10th. We walked around the central market, which is a maze of shops selling textiles, paintings, hammocks, clothes, etc., as well as fruits, veggies, spices, all types of food. Extremely colorful. Before we parted, they wanted to show us ¨La Linea¨. It is comprised of three blocks along the railroad tracks and they work with just one block (since it is only the two of them, they don´t have the resources to meet all of the women). We walked by one of the other blocks, so the women they work with would not feel like they were being exploited. It was a very unexpected site for us. Basically, it´s continuous one-story buildings on both sides of the tracks with open doors at every 5-6 meters that lead into rooms which these women work and sometimes live in.

We wish Ana and Tania all the best in their work. They are very inspiring and spirited young women.