Educate and Empower Girls in Mexico

Dear GlobalGivers,

After three years following the 4th, 5th and 6th grade girls in rural Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo, we want to take you to Mexico City, and introduce you to high school girls. In Sandra´s school- in the Tlalpan neighborhood at the south end of Mexico City – more than half of her peers didn´t use any form of contraception the first time they had sex, and a quarter of them never use any form of contraception. Which explains why many of her friends have gotten pregnant and had to drop out of school before finishing. How their bodies work and how to be safe isn´t something they talk about often. 

Sandra and her friends also frequently find themselves face to face with violence. School, for example, is one of the spaces where violence is not only suffered but also reproduced. A national survey of public schools shows that violence is a common phenomenon within the educational spaces and is seen as normal. Some days, Sandra prefers to stay home than to face bullying and get jeered at by some of her classmates. They don´t do it out of meanness, it is just how they have learned to interact with girls.

But change is coming. Sandra came forward when we gave a talk at her school, and volunteered to be a youth peer educator. Over the coming year, we will be training her and 119 of her classmates through a 40 hour workshop, so that they can first understand these dynamics in their school and community, and then become agents of change. We will also be involving Sandra’s parents and teachers, because we know that change comes most sustainably when it comes to an entire community. 

Thank you for helping Sandra become an agent of change. We can´t wait to keep you updated over the coming year.

With grattitude,

Shoshana and Yo quiero Yo puedo