Wine and Cheese for Change

This page has been constructed as a photo-journal and is a work in progress, mainly developed by Karen Smith Rotabi. Abida Dini is also contributing to areas of this site.  The site as well as the photo-journal is a work in progress...

As is the form of human rights delegations, we took testimony from many individuals, in this photo (below) you see women's labor organizers who work in on the large multinational banana plantations. They told us of the work conditions, including packing at least 45 boxes of bananas per hour. They also reminded us that they are pleased to have jobs...
 

Photographed above are Amanda Martin, Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) who carried out simultaneous translation. Also, Dr. Denise Gammonley of the University of Central Florida Department of Social Work takes notes as our group tries to document testimony from our indigenous women labor organizers.

Hearing from women leaders of the labor movement in Guatemala was a great way to begin our process of learning about the conditions of women and work in Guatemala. We learned not only about work in agricultural areas, but we also heard about labor organizing in the context of globalization and the power of multinational corporations like Chiquita Banana. We were reminded by the skillful work of labor organizers and the challenges they face in negotiating with multinational companies which are often more powerful than the nation-state of Guatemala. If you want to know more about this historical struggle and the idea of a "banana republic" read Bitter Fruit and learn about the US involvement in the nation's political and economic instability.

Pictured above was our meeting with Dr. Gladys Montorosso (center left in purple) who met with our group and gave testimony as to her own assault, rape, and torture which took place in Guatemala during the Spring of '08. Dr. Montorosso, a law professor in Guatemala, has experienced the ineffective criminal justice/legal system in Guatemala which as failed to bring her kidnappers/rapists to justice. We heard about a bungled rape investigation, including a poorly handled emergency room visit in which evidence was not collected in full. Now, this lack of evidence is one of the excuses being used by authorities for their lack of follow-through in the investigational and prosecution process. Additionally, Dr. Montoroso talked about her treatment in the Guatemalan press, in which she was treated with suspicion (if not contempt). Her integrity was questioned as if she was not a credible witness. As a result, she has struggled with being "heard" and being treated with respect. She is only one of thousands of women and families who will be treated poorly by the Guatemalan police and prosecutorial authorities if and when they should come forward to demand and investigation of and justice for rape, assault, and homicide/femicide cases.

Notice Priscilla Witwer  (left) of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. As a Bachelor of Social Work Student, Priscilla has researched femicide and this delegation was an up close and personal way to hear the stories of the continuum of violence against women.

Dr. Montorosso will be visiting the Virginia Commonwealth University Campus on 20 November  2009 to give testimony as to this act of violence and the problems of impunity in Guatemala. This presentation will be one of a number of speaking events on the East Coast in November, organized by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission.

The photo above was taken at Foundacion Sobrevivientes (Survivors Foundation) directed by Norma Cruz, a recipient of the U.S. Secretary of State's 2009 International Women of Courage Award. Photographed above is Claudia Maria Hernandez, the daughter of Normal Cruz, who told us about the nongovernmental organization's (NGOs) work to support survivors of violence (i.e. psychogical care) in addition to important advocacy work. One of their very important areas of work has been in the advocacy of several women who allege that their children were stolen for intercountry adoption. For more information about this go to: http://www.socmag.net/?p=540.

Photographed above is Mirah Riben, author and advocate, who was particularly interested in the Survivors Foundation work on behalf of women who have experiened kidnapping and adoption fraud. Currently, at least three women are asking for their adoptions to be nullified and the NGO has been the agency from which their voices are heard. Because Mirah has worked tirelessly as a voice for women who have lost their children to adoption, this particular agency visit was a real highlight for her. In this photo, she is presenting the organization with a t-shirt from the Origins-USA group for which she is a member and the shirt celebrates sisterhood and solidarity. You can learn more about "origins" and the work Mirah is involved with at  http://originsusa.memberlodge.org/ also Mirah's publications can be found at www.advocatepublications.com

Helen Mack, Director of the Myrna Mack Foundation http://servidor.myrnamack.org.gt/index.php, told us about the organization's important work to end violence against women. As an advocacy organization, they recently released a report about the circumstances in Guatemala, including an analysis of the impunity that women experience in the criminal justice/law enforcement system as well as the larger social climate in Guatemala. This particular testimony was particularly important because it helped us contextualize the helplessness that many women of Guatemala experience as they seek Justice, further underscoring impunity.

Photographed laughing, Helen Mack was recounting her memories of her sister Myrna Mack and their school days. Helen is a tireless advocate to end violence against women and seeking of truth in a nation notorious for violence. Helen's sister, Myrna Mack, was murdered during the war years because at the time of her death she was uncovering truths about the displacement of peoples and genocide. This human rights work was a threat to the war criminals who ordered her death. Gunned down on the streets of Guatemala City, Myrna Mack left a legacy of social advocacy work which is now carried on by the NGO named in her honor. Her sister, Helen Mack, is just one of the organization's committed and capable staff who are outspoken and clear about the need for social justice in Guatemala. In Helen and her capable staff, we are reminded that some of the most vocal human rights workers are dedicated to spreading the information through good research and strong voices. We left the organization more clearly committed to using our own voices in this battle to end violence against women.

This social marketing poster, which we found at the Myrna Mack Foundation, is indicative of the very good and provocative outreach strategies. Notice "Salva Tu Vida" or SAVE YOUR LIFE!  Such a graphic and agressive approach is critical in a nation that has major illiteracy problems, especially women who have often been denied a complete education. As a result, health education strategies such as very graphic posters are important interventions in an overall approach for awareness raising and change.

Above, Amanda Martin translates for Rosa Franco as she describes the murder of her adolescent daughter Maria while the young girl walked to work in Guatemala City. Helping us understand the circumstances of her daughter's murder, Ms. Franco told of the young girl's refusal to become romantically involved with one of the neighborhood narco-traffickers. Eventually, her daughter was killed in reprisal and her body was ritualistically abused. As is typically the case in femicide, her mutilated body was left quite obvious to the community to send a message and ultimately create terror. Her femicide case is the only one to go forward to an international hearing at the Interamerican Human Rights Court. Ms. Franco is awaiting the verdict and while she has been encouraged to collaborate with the Guatemalan government in a friendly agreement--she indicated that this step is not even remotely acceptable, especially given the contempt with which she was treated by Guatemalan government officals during the court proceedings and in the time since.  Ms. Franco remains an outspoken advocate in ending femicide and she again helped us grasp the sadness and pain related to the individual cases--moving us beyond the statistics and embracing the human condition of grief and loss. We all found that meeting Ms. Franco was one of those human moments in which the energy of being present and hearing testimony was a very important part of the process on so many different levels.

We had the opportunity to visit Cafe Artesana where we heard from feminist and community activist Sandra Moran. The cafe serves as a small business where other NGO work is carried out, including offering outreach programming and services to women who are incarcerated in Guatemala.

Sandra Moran describes the advocacy work that is taking place in Guatemala, including addressing violence against women. She provided a strong historical discussion, underscored with facts as well as insight as a woman who was exiled to Canada during the war years. Her return to Guatemala has resulted in progressive advocacy work on behalf of women as well as all people who are marginalized, including gays and lesbians. Photographed on the right is Jill Covert of  University of San Diego who is completing her Masters thesis on femicide within the Peace and Justice Studies program. This photograph underscores the opportunity to hear from key informants and inform knowledge as Jill most certainly will do as she completes her graduate work. We all look forward to having a look at this completed work as Jill was such a good documentarian (see the black audio recorder on the table!)--both as a photographer as well as note-taker of our delegation and testimonies.

The painting below is a result of this work and the artist is herself incarcerated. Notice the eyes looking out beyond a jagged fence and barbed wire with flowers and butterflies.

Our human rights delegates included a large group from Richmond, Virginia. Photographed are Abida Dini, Janett Forte, and of Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance are Beth Leftwich, Debbie Haynes, and Carmen Williams. These Richmond delegates hope to engage the local community in awareness raising and advocacy work on behalf of Latina women in general. These delegates also returned to the USA with commitments for advocacy work. More to come on that activity and the outcomes!

It was really exciting to see that our colleagues in Viriginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance are interested in the global connections and we heard from them about their approach to the problem as a human rights issue. Many interesting conversations emerged about immigrants in Virginia and the entire nation. It is clear that many women are fleeing situations of violence when they cross borders and, in some cases, they maybe saving their lives! Interestingly, the Obama Administration just included domestic violence as grounds for asylum seeking. Inevitably, this will impact the women of Guatemala!

During a visit to a health clinic in Chimaltenango, we learned about the medicines that are available  at a reasonable cost to the local community. Photographed above is an unnamed indigenous woman who explained the traditional medicines available at the clinic in addition to the more "expected" medicines, such as cough and cold products, aspirin, and other remedies that many US citizens take for granted.

At this clinic, we also learned about the Tabita Levante program and how the local sex workers (numbering at least 150 women) receive psycho-social services on the occasions that they are allowed to access health care. This clinic treats the sex workers with respect and dignity and this group of women, who are really human slaves in many cases, so rarely have advocates speaking out on their behalf in Guatemala. From one of their advocates, we were pleased to learn about the emerging services that the women receive and we also learned how the resource system to help these prostituted women escape this "work" is limited and, in many places, non-existent. For example, there is no safe house to retreat to if a woman is trying to escape prostitution. 

One of the stories we heard about sex workers in Guatemala was about intercountry adoption. Apparently, there was a 17 year old girl who became pregnant while she was being prostituted or "working in a bar." The young girl's step father forced the newborn to be sold into adoption for a sum (5,000 quetzales) equal to his desire and cost to have another room built onto the family home. Then, an attorney in Guatemala City arranged for the child to be adopted--adoptions that often cost $25,000+ USD. This story underscores the use of the human body for all forms of exploitation. It is most likely that the young infant was adopted by a loving family and he/she is most certainly living in better conditions than his/her birth mother. It is safe to assume that this young birth mother is likely still living in enslaved and prostituted conditions and her story underscores the complexity of human rights issues in Guatemala. When a young girl cannot look to her own family for protection, but rather is sold into prostitution and her offspring is sold into adoption--how do we intervene? She has been failed by both the State as well as her own family! The answer is very complicated when one considers these forms of human exploitation, child trafficking, and the push and pull factors of large sums of money changing hands for the work of the human body--either sex work or the work of bearing a child. For more information about the problems within the previous intercountry adoption system in Guatemala, go to www.socmag.net/?p=435

One of the real pleasures of this delegation was the collaborative conversations amongst the delegates. Photographed above is a typical scene as we "listened" to testimony and examples of violence and advocacy. Often Roselyn Costantino, a women's studies faculty member at Penn State, would be making videotapes of the presentations so that she can then use these documentary videos in the classroom. Dr. Costantino was also a critical voice as we proceeded, reminding us of the history of the region and how femicide is nested in larger issues. I shall not forget the briefing that our group made at the US Embassy and Dr. Costantino's use of her voice and knowledge as she addressed misunderstandings and biases related to violence against women and the contextual history of opression, violence, war, and the US involvement in all!  We all look forward to her forthcoming book on the subject of femicide and most certainly she will contextualize the issue in a manner that will help us all understand the complex nature of this phenomena.

In this photo above, note our delegate Sandi Thompson-Royer who is an undergraduate student at Evergeen State College in Washington State. Sandi helped keep us all grounded with her knowledge of the domestic violence movement in the US, using her own personal involvement in strategies at all levels for at least 20 years.

The most uplifting experience of all was our visit to AMA and the Highland Support Project women's circle. In this woman-to-woman interchange, we as delegates of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission were able to connect with women in the Highlands and better understand their daily realities. In this photo, you see us quite literally in a woman's circle where we began with an activity similar to "Simon Says", the children's game which transcended language. We laughed and in time, we built a sense of trust from which we really learned about the women, their traditional crafts, tortilla making and other common foods, and more.

To learn more about the Highland Support Project and their various activities including service learning, go to www.HighlandSupportProject.org

One of our testimonies took place at a community radio station which reaches a handful of Highland villages and is a source of information, ranging from general announcements to messaging about health, culture, and other critical areas for human growth and development. For more information about this, click on our "actions" information and read about Abby Dini's specific commitment to community radio stations and how you can help!

 One of the "fun" things about the community radio station visit was the opportunity to see my friends and colleagues make an improvised on-the-spot radio announcement to the community. Our delegates who are fluent in Spanish did a great job, including Carmen Williams who used her eloquence and passion to extend our hope for the radio station survival and a general thanks for hosting the delegation in the community. 

Abida "Abby" Dini received the "wine and cheese scholarship" to participate in the delegation and her post-delegation work includes organizing to advocate for the labor rights of women who work for the banana plantations, a letter writing campaign supporting the community radio stations Congressional bill in Guatemala, and various info sharing sessions.

In Abby's work as a women's advocate, she hopes to use her voice to educate and inform others of the very difficult circumstances of women in Guatemala.

 Karen Smith Rotabi has been involved in Guatemala, in one form or another, since 1992. She is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University and her research focus is families impacted by war, including intercountry adoption. Photographed above while visiting an indigenous family in Santa Cruz, Karen is happily learning more about the culture of Guatemala--an endeavor to which she has been committed for almost 20 years! The human rights delegation was really a powerful way to learn more about the real situation of women in Guatemala, hearing from them about their perspectives and grappling with the violence against women data.

The photos below are from her own collection, many of which were not taken during the delegation.

An example of the infamous and colorful "Chicken Buses" of Guatemala.

Chicken buses parked at market.

A view from the a lakeside village of Lago Atitlan.

One of the volcanoes that makes up Lago Atitlan. This photo captures the beauty of the natural formation and the flora and fauna--see how green it is!

 Life and labor in Guatemala can be hard, see the man with a pack on his back...this is an uphill climb at Lake Atitlan!

Guatemala is a country know for its volcanoes. This photo was taken in the colonial city of Antigua and photographed her is Volcano Fuego.

The colonial charm of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is not only fascinating but also a reminder of the complicated history of the intersection of European "conquest" and indigenous peoples. We were reminded, during our delegation, that the people of Guatemala were not "conquered" but rather were invaded!

More colonial photos...

This is the famous fountain of the Sirenas in Antigua's central park.

Guatemala is a place where color and style are very important. We found this throughout the country.

Here we have the amazing colors of the market with the stalls packed with weavings and other goods which target the many tourists who arrive annually to the nation.

Color is important and present!

Even people living in the most ordinary of conditions will have a sense of color as is seen in this modest bedroom.

Above is a photo of the corn...as we passed by in our vehicle. The bread basket of Guatemala was really an amazing sight!

 A street scene in a small municipality in Guatemala captures so much, including the men riding in the back of a pickup truck--a common mode of transportation.

 Above is a market scene in Guatemala.

Because Guatemala is so very fertile, flowers are an important part of the landscape as well as economic system. Many exotic flowers are sold on the international market.

Even the most basic of homes will often have a rose bush or some other flowers...look closely for the red rose that is along the cement post in the middle of this photo.

 Roses grow plentifully given the environment of Guatemala and there is a massive export of long stemmed roses--destined to places such as the USA, Europe, and Asia.

More flowers...in colonial Antigua.

 After we played "Simon Says" and made tortillas, we were able to purchase weavings from the women, a form of fair trade and micro-enterprise development which is so very important to AMA and the Highland Support Project!