Supporting indigenous mentors to reach more girls

Four youth leaders from three different regions of Guatemala were today at the office in Antigua editing some videos they filmed to document changes in girls' lives from participating in our program.  We asked them to thank all of our donors and friends in their native languages (K'iche', Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel) as well as in Spanish and English! Each one also shared why they think it is important to support the girl clubs. Each of these young women lead clubs of up to 75 girls each!

Cuatro lideresas juveniles de tres regiones de Guatemala estuvieron hoy en la oficina de Antigua editando unos videos que han filmado ellas mismas para documentar los cambios en las niñas a partir de su participación en el programa.  Les pedimos que nos ayudaran a dar las gracias a nuestros colaboradores y amigos en sus idiomas maternos (K'iche', Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel), además de decirlo en español e inglés.  Cada una también compartió su opinión sobre porqué es importante apoyar a los grupos de niñas en sus comunidades. ¡Cada una de estas jóvenes lidera grupos de hasta 75 niñas!

Please check our new video!

Por favor vean nuestro nuevo video!

We are finally getting back on track after the constant rains of this past month.  Last week was very eventful:

Monday: Abriendo Oportunidades and the Population Council co-hosted a forum on domestic violence with the Journalism School of Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala.  Partners from Defensoría de la Mujer Indígena and mentors from our program participated along the head of criminal investigations from the Public Ministry (the equivalent of the District Attorney) and Fundación Sobrevivientes (the lead civil society organization addressing violence against women). 

Tuesday: the United Nations Population Fund visited our headquarters with a group of representatives of the media to learn more about the work carried out with indigenous girls and adolescents as part of the events to conmemorate reaching a world population of 7 billion people.  Several of our participants were interviewed for television, radio and print media about their community work and the changes they hope to make concerning reproductive rights, education and prevention of gender-based violence.

Wednesday: the Population Council, along with 10 other organizations and individuals, were awarded the UNFPA medal for the work carried out with rural adolescents and girls in Guatemala.  It was a very exciting event for everyone and encouragement to continue working with more communities in rural Guatemala.

On Wednesday, too, girl leaders were finally able to travel to their training events (postponed because of rains and flooding in Oct.)  Girl leaders learning participatory video worked with their peers to learn about their most important stories and changes in their lives.  The workshop lasted until Friday, but on Sunday, part of the team traveled to Valparaíso, Santa Cruz, Alta Verapaz, to continue the work with participatory video with girl groups in that area.

We will post new pictures and video soon!

Six days into the Girl Effect Challenge we have raised a total of $1,373 thanks to 38 unique donors!  We really appreciate everyone's contributions to Abriendo Oportunidades (Creating Opportunities) participation in the Girl Effect Challenge.  Competition is tough so your support is very much appreciated!

These past two weeks have been plagued with emergencies related to the non-stop rains we had until yesterday.  So far, we have not heard of any victims among club members, but all field activities planned for this week were cancelled because most roads were damaged by the rains and floods. Families will surely suffer from lost crops and this will affect households' capacity to support their daughters' education. For two weekends, university classes were cancelled and our mentors could not go home because of risks along the roads.  We are hoping for some dry days ahead so that we can resume our activities including the last two workshops of the year, wrapping up 3 internships and beginning our annual cycle of meetings with community leaders to confirm their commitment to girl clubs for 2012.

We will soon be posting new pictures and videos of recent activities. Stay tuned!

Llevamos seis días participando en el reto de el Efecto Niña y hemos logrado recaudar un total de $1373 dólares grácias a 38 donantes individuales.  Apreciamos muchísimo el apoyo de todos y todas a la participación de Abriendo Oportunidades en este reto.  ¡La competencia es alta y su apoyo es invaluable!

Estas últimas dos semanas han estado plagadas de emergencias relacionadas a las lluvias incesantes que tuvimos hasta ayer. Hasta ahora, no sabemos de víctimas entre las participantes de los grupos, pero todas las actividades de campo del programa fueron canceladas esta semana por los daños a las carreteras provocados por la lluvia y los deslaves.  Muchas familias sufrieron pérdidas en sus cultivos y esto limitará su capacidad para apoyar la educación de sus hijas.  Los dos últimos fines de semana, las clases en la universidad fueron canceladas y nuestras mentoras no pudieron volver a sus casas debido a los riesgos en las carreteras.  Estamos deseando días secos para poder retomar las actividades, incluyendo los dos últimos talleres del año, la graduación de 3 pasantes y el inicio de la ronda anual de visitas a líderes comunitarios para confirmar su compromiso con los grupos de niñas para el 2012.

Pronto estaremos publicando fotos y videos de actividades recientes, ¡estén pendientes!