Visiting the Women Workers’ Committee in Guatemala

Hello again, blog readers! The last time I wrote, I let you know that after leaving my staff position at MADRE, I would have the opportunity to travel to visit our partners in Guatemala. And though mudslides prevented me from traveling to visit Muixil, I did have the chance to meet with our sister organization in Barcenas, the Women Workers’ Committee. The Women Workers’ Committee was founded in Barcenas, a neighborhood of Guatemala City, to fight for the human rights of women working in maquilas (sweatshops).

My first day in Barcenas, I met with Sandra Gonzalez and other program directors from the organization, and we had a chance to chat for a while. One of the young women took pictures of Sandra and me as we went through the bag of donations I had brought with me:

Sandra spoke about how important MADRE's support is to the organization. At one point, she pulled out a photo that we had sent to her of the MADRE staff, a picture taken two years ago at MADRE’s 25^th anniversary celebration. I named everyone in the picture, and she was surprised to learn that mine was one of the faces pictured. It was wonderful to connect in person with someone we had only seen before in photos.

The next day, I arrived in the morning to attend a workshop organized by the Women Workers’ Committee on violence against women. Women in Guatemala have faced appallingly high levels of violence, with nearly 4,000 murdered in the past decade and with little police protection available.

Sandra started the class with a positive energy exercise, and a young woman spoke about the various types of violence that exist and how to confront them. This was followed by a discussion on roots of violence, and workshop participants shared their own ideas and experiences on the topic.

All around, I was delighted to meet Sandra – she's incredibly friendly and obviously highly motivated and committed to the work of the Women Workers’ Committee.  I’m glad to have the chance to share my thoughts and my pictures and to try to paint a picture of their great work for other MADRE members.