By Teresa Schwarz and Claire Naughton | HOOP Co-founder and Volunteer
Celestina is a pillar of the HOOP community. A member since 2013, her kindness and strength exemplify a life both literally and metaphorically scarred by experience. However, Celestina’s resilience is not unique to her; it is representative of all the HOOP women.
Co-founder Teresa Schwarz is one of Celestina’s close friends. They met during HOOP’s first year, when Teresa taught one of Celestina’s three sons, and bonded over their shared abilities to bring people together and make them laugh. Over the years, the women have shared in one another’s joys and challenges, and they make a point of catching up when Teresa is back in town. Celestina’s growth into a community leader is evident in her frank answers to her friend’s queries: “[Us moms] are learning about things that we didn’t know before, about rights we didn’t know we had”.
Machismo culture, which sometimes manifests itself in the verbal and physical mistreatment of women, continues to run deep in Peru, particularly in Celestina’s community. To combat this, HOOP implemented psychological, economic, and health workshops geared towards educating and supporting the moms. For Celestina, their addition has been critical to both her personal development as well as to the mom’s sense of community: “I see that the moms have a different mindset now and that things are changing.”
Like many mothers, Celestina aspires to build a better life for her children than the one she had, but she is also actively working to prioritize herself and encouraging other HOOP moms to do the same: “We have grown together like a family. Before, I didn’t really have friends, but now, it’s different. We have gone out dancing together twice […] We feel like we have a life again, which wasn’t the case before.”
Celestina’s personal growth and newfound confidence are a source of inspiration to everyone in the HOOP community. Last year, she was voted onto the Board of Directors [of the HOOP Moms] and actively asserted herself in the new role: “I tried to enforce more structure for the moms so that the NGO could grow with our help. You can’t do it alone; it’s always better with the help of the moms.”
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