Equip 200 women in Managua with life & job skills

As Christmas lights begin to decorate the zinc roofs of Batahola and paper snowflakes flutter in the blistering sun, at the Cultural Center we are beginning to wind down our activities ahead of our December break. It is a time to reflect on all we have achieved this year for and with the women of our community, thanks to friends and supporters like you!

Last Saturday youth promoters Massiel and Mario worked with dozens of other young people and staff from our Gender-based Violence Prevention program to organize a big celebration of this year’s accomplishments: the Cultural Center’s third-annual “Carnaval for Women’s Physical and Emotional Integrity”.

This annual neighborhood spectacle is a “visualization of all of the work that the Cultural Center has been doing to prevent gender-based violence,” explained Alberto Mayorga, the program Facilitator. “We bring together three groups: the young women and men whom we have trained as community promoters against domestic violence; the young women and men who graduated from this year’s workshops on identifying controlling behaviors in dating relationships; and the group of adult women who receive counseling and accompaniment from our psychologist, Ivania.”

These three groups band together and take to the streets. They parade through the neighborhood, equipped with signs, chants, dances, games to play with the onlookers and, most importantly, information.

“We march so that the community can see that Center is here, so they can later come and talk to us about this issue that they have to deal with daily. We also march to show that you have to denounce violence. Lastly, we march so the community can begin to understand what their basic rights are,” elaborated Alberto.

Thanks to your support, it’s working. The Center is the place where women turn to when they need assistance to face or leave a violent situation. Just recently, a woman from the neighborhood came to the Center looking for support as she tries to leave her abusive husband. Ivania now provides psychological counseling to María (name changed to protect her identity) and follows up on her progress. María’s not alone, either. Daily, women come to the Center because they know we provide a place of refuge, a safe space where they can get out of their homes and connect with others for a bit.

“People see the Center as a pillar for women within this community. They know we support survivors of violence,” Alberto proudly related.

Not only do we support women like María, but we also help them become the protagonists of the Center’s educational strategies. During Carnaval, the young women and men who were students this year in the Program took on the role of accompanying and teaching others in their neighborhood. Young community promoters, such as Massiel, explain to their friends what it means to be holders of rights, instead of objects of control or display. Mario, standing beside her, reinforces that their right to moral, mental, and physical integrity is among the most important.

In the midst of the sobering reality of the violence women face here every day, through the Carnaval María, Massiel, Mario, Alberto and countless others have found a way to celebrate women’s power to resist, grow and make positive changes for themselves and their community. Together we dance, sing and most of all, inspire those that will surely take part in the program and in the Carnaval in years to come.