Hear Their Voices | Domestic Violence Awareness
Creamos women from the community surrounding the Guatemala City Garbage Dump confront a variety of systemic barriers, such as gender inequality, intimate partner violence, and economic and workforce exclusion. Gender inequality is so deeply entrenched in the community that women earn an average of 50% less than men. “Despite the fact that [men] earn more,” explains a Creamos participant, Anabela, “they give us very little…When you don't understand it, you don't realize that this is violence that we are enduring...it is a type of violence, it’s just a little more difficult to identify.”
This reality is the motivation behind our Emotional Support Program, Creamos Voces, which translates to “We Create Voices.” “There are cases of women who, out of fear, will endure and endure,” says Anabela. “I believe that the time to endure has come to an end. It is time to say: I have value.” Since its inception in 2012, this program has provided individual and group therapy to hundreds of women from the community surrounding the garbage dump. But the past year has brought unique challenges as the ongoing pandemic has exacerbated incidences of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. As Creamos participants are spending more time in their homes with abusive partners due to stringent restrictions and curfews implemented to combat the spread of Covid-19, we’ve received increasing reports of violence.
“I believe that the time to endure has come to an end. It is time to say: I have value.”
The urgency to further increase support for women in these circumstances as well as develop a network of resources within the community became overwhelmingly apparent. With community-identified needs at the core of its design, this year we implemented a therapeutic and psychoeducational domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) treatment program for 138 women of Creamos in an effort to decrease the instances of intimate partner violence within the community. [Creamos] gave us an opportunity and taught us to value ourselves as women," says Anabela. “As women in a society that has taken away our say, we seek help. We look and we look, and when we find it--a true opportunity--we grab it, and when we grasp it, we learn to defend ourselves and value ourselves.”
Joining us in making this opportunity possible is Together Women Rise, a powerful community of women and allies dedicated to achieving global gender equality. In the spirit of Domestic Violence Awareness month, we lift up their support, our Creamos Voces staff, and the strong voices of Creamos participants who are actively working to defend themselves and the women in their community. Speak up, speak out, and be an ally.
