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Brenda dreams to sew!

by Patricia Olivet

Growing up as a child wasn’t an easy thing for Brenda. She had 14 siblings and it was very hard for her parents to sustain them all. Her mother was a child herself when she had her first kid. She was only 13 years old. - “My grand parents couldn’t take care of her then, so it was what she had to do: make a family of her own with a man who would give her a better life” - she says. Of course, the term “better life” becomes very relative. It is extremely difficult to find a difference between a life with parents who can’t support you anymore and a life with a man who will probably abuse you and make you take care of him for years to come. Which one is the better life?

When Brenda was little she remembers her three older siblings got very sick to their stomach. They had no access to a hospital since they lived away from the city and one by one they all passed away. What she does remember is that she was afraid she was going to die next. She then became her mother’s oldest child.

By the time she turned 16 she got married and after that she had 4 kids. She tried to take care of them as best as she could since she was very worried they were going to get sick one day the same way her three siblings did. One day she was working out in the field near her house when one of her kids tripped on a bucket full of water. They have no access to water at home, so they collect rainwater in buckets. By the time she came to help him, the baby had already fainted. He had his head in the bucket. She ran to the closest bus stop but it was all in vain. Her son died after a few hours because just like her mother, she didn’t have any access to a hospital. This has been a nightmare for Brenda ever since.

- “If I could make a wish, it would be to have access to a hospital and a school so my children could get an education and a place to come whenever they get sick” - She shares. - “I wasn’t able to go to school but it would be a dream come true to see one of my children graduate high school”

When we asked her if she had a dream of her own she said it would be to own a sewing machine and learn how to make clothes for her children.

It’s ok to love jewelry

by Patricia Olivet

Olga lost her mother when she was only 8 years old. Her father made her move in with her aunt and his decision made a huge impact for her. As soon as she moved in she was told she was not going to attend school anymore because girls don’t go school. Girls stay at home to learn how to take care of children and men. Little by little she forgot letters, numbers and the dream of being anything but a wife and a mother.

She remembers how as a child she loved jewelry but her aunt told her that she wasn’t supposed to like earrings or necklaces, so she never let her have any. This was devastating for her so she started to collect seeds to create her own necklaces and bracelets. Something she was very good at!

When she turned 15 she got married and a year later she had her first child. Today she has 4 children. First she had two boys who are now 14 and 13 and then she had to girls who are now 9 and 3. She had another boy but he died shortly after being born. She doesn’t know what happened to him. All she knows is that he got sick to his stomach and nobody helped her at the nearest clinic. Of course, she has no access to a hospital nearby.

Her husband works at the local dump collecting plastic. He doesn’t know who to read either.

If she could dream of something, it would be of having a store where she could sell the jewelry she makes today. Yes, she is making jewelry now and she is loving our workshops!

Second Chances

by Patricia Olivet

Alicia is a 22 year old girl who dreams of being able to provide her children with education. She had her first kid by the time she was 16 and after years of putting up with an abusive husband she managed to leave him and start a new life.

When I asked her if there was anything she would change in her life she said she hates the fact that she can’t provide her children with a healthier life. She lost two sons out of unknown causes. They got sick to their stomach one day and they were gone soon after that. Living near the dump and having no access to a hospital is probably the main cause. - “Children die everyday out of stomach ache. We try to clean our water and what we eat but they continue to die” - she said.

She wasn’t able to go to school because just like the rest of the girls in her community, she had to take care of her 6 siblings. And then she got pregnant at a very young age, so it never stopped.

After a while of being a single mother, she met her current husband and started a new life. She actually just gave birth to a baby boy this past month! She is very happy about her new life although she is terrified of losing her baby just like she lost two of her children in the past.

- “If i could make a wish it would be to be able to read. I would get a book that would teach me how to live a better life so I could help other people live a better life as well”

Alicia is currently taking workshops with us at Unmarked Streets and is making a wonderful progress.

International Day of the Girls

by Patricia Olivet

Children are celebrated on October 1st in Guatemala. On such day parents take their kids out, they buy them presents and they spoil them while celebrating their innocence. It was until recent that the UN decided to celebrate little girls separately, considering how different it is to be a girl and a boy nowadays. Especially in this country.

It is true that only 1% of children have access to educations in Guatemala. Both boys and girls have little to no access to education and health care. Both struggle to survive everyday in such a hard place to grow up at. But lets talk a little bit about girls. And lets get real, with numbers:

According to UNICEF Guatemala is one of the first 5 countries in the world with the highest numbers for Child Marriage. Yes, more than 50% of the girls in this country get married between 10 and 19 years (INE).

Scary uh? Oh but it doesn’t end there. Let’s talk a little bit about education.

According to PNUD, two out of three people who can’t read are women. Only 17 girls out of 100 will finish Elementary School. And 75% of indigenous women don’t know how to read.

Can you imagine how meaningful this is for a whole nation? Yes, it is very meaningful considering that if if a girl completes at least 9 years of education her income will grow up to at least 20% by the time she starts working. Which of course will increase the GDP. And of course, this will mean she will have more opportunities, she will fight for her rights, she will decide IF she wants to get married and WHEN she wants to do it, and IF she wants to have children and WHEN she wants to have them.

Yes, in the end it all comes to education. That is why we keep on mentioning it. That is why we keep on fighting for it. This is why we continue to educate so we can #EmpowerWomen.

#EmpowerWomen

Meet Elizabeth

by Patricia Olivet

Elizabeth is an adorable 33 year old girl who is very shy. It took her a minute or two to come close to where we were teaching the workshop and it took her a couple of more minutes to share anything about her life. - “I am used to listen. I have children who always have something to say. And when my husband talks to me, I need to pay attention to what he says because he says he doesn’t like to repeat himself” - She says.

Ever since she was a child she dreamed of going to school one day. Unfortunately, she didn’t have access to a school growing up. Her brothers attended school only for a couple of years when they were little but that is only because her parents made a huge effort to send them to the next town so they could go to the school there. - Why her brothers only? Because they were boys. Girls don’t go to school. They take care of her brothers, then her husbands, then her children and after that they take care of their grand children. There is no room for education for girls.

Elizabeth got married when she was 16 and had her first child soon after that. Now she has 4 children: her oldest boy is 16, two girls are 13 and 9, and her baby boy is 2 years old.

Today Elizabeth helps her husband at the dump an collects plastic and paper so they can recycle it and get some money out of it.

- “When I go into town I see letters up on street signs and I wonder what is like to read a book” - She mentions. - “When I’m collecting paper, sometimes I pick up a newspaper or an old magazine to see the pictures there and imagine the wonderful stories that are written below the pictures. It would be a dream come true to be able to read one day” It is 2015. Education cannot be a dream. Education is a RIGHT. Every single little girl in this planet should be able to have access to education. It is only through education that women will set themselves free one day. And this is why we empower women.

NWC Artisan Fair

by Andrea Stachnik

Unmarked Streets was very proud to participate this year in NWC 2015, the largest artisan fair in all of Central America. We presented our line of jewelry and purses to buyers who flew in from all over the world to get to know the work done by the artisans of Guatemala. The fair is sponsored by USAID to promote Guatemalan exports, and improve the economic outlook in Central America. We got to meet a number of companies who focus on selling products which have been ethically produced and pay their artisans a living wage. It was incredibly inspiring to see companies working to create space in the market for products that improve the lives of everyone in the supply chain. Responsible consumerism is vital to improving the living standard of people in third world countries. By supporting brands like Unmarked Streets and other NGOs and conscious companies, you have the power to vote with your wallet every time you go shopping.

Bottle Cap Workshop in Escuintla

por Patricia O.

This past month we had the wonderful experience of having our first workshop at the dump in Escuintla, a small area down the Pacific Coast. We met wonderful women who are part of the Building Guate project that we are partnering with.

There are many families living around the local dump. Most of them start working there since they are kids. They spend day after day collecting plastic, cardboard, cans and whatever they can get to later sell it to recycling companies. They have little to no access to health, education and what is overall a decent life. Women marry at a very young age and they are very convinced that there is nothing to life other than taking care of a husband and the children you had. The majority of them are abused physically, emotionally and psychologically. They have no hope. They have no personal dreams. They are just mothers and wives.

During our first workshop we had a few women who came and shared a little bit about their lives while they learned how to make necklaces and earrings out of bottle caps at the same time. They were blown away to see you can turn trash into beautiful items that can actually wear!

It was beautiful to see that after two hours that this workshop lasted, most women were laughing, smiling and sharing with one another. Something that didn’t seem to happen before. This time it was only a group of women - no husbands, no children -, being women. They didn’t have to be moms or wives. They were free to be themselves!

Women and Politics in Guatemala

by Patricia Olivet

I was getting ready to get off the Transmetro this morning when I over heard a conversation right behind me. The conversation was being held by two women and a man. The topic was politics, of course. Nobody talks about anything else after Election Day on Sunday September 6th.

As we all know Guatemala is going through a very hard moment right now. Over 100,000 people have gathered for the past four months requesting for the President and Vice President to resign after stealing around $27,000,000 during the past three years. One by one most of his ministers resigned. Then it was the Vice President and finally, the President resigned on September 2nd. There were a lot of expectations when former Vice President Roxana Baldetti took charge three years ago, as she was the first woman to occupy this chair. Women were happy to see that a woman had made it that far.

- “I don’t think any woman should be elected as president”, - said one of the women behind me. - “I don’t think women should be part of the new Government now. Look at what Baldetti did!”

- “I agree” - said the man. - “I think a man should be elected president and maybe have some women help him out but if a new president is elected now, it has to be a man”.

The other woman agreed in silence.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It is 2015 and this conversation is happening in Guatemala City. And it is a conversation held by people who are on their way to work. People who had access to education. Two days after election day. Of course, that led to a bit of a research that helped me understand this a little more. Guatemalan women started voting around 1944. But it was only a few of them. It wasn’t until 1985 that it became a Constitutional Right for women to be able to vote. Today Guatemala has a population of 7.4 million women. And out of 7.4 million, only 3.8 came to the polls. That is almost half of the population! Furthermore, according to TSE only ONE FITH of the Government positions are occupied by women. And yes, it gets scarier: Only 1.18 million women know how to read in this country!

We have worked with many women in the past few years. We have seen them come and go. We have seen lives change one by one and we see how little by little women become stronger. We see them become empowered. At Unmarked Streets we believe that it is only through education that women will be able to change this country. That is why we are here. That is why we will continue to empower women. So they have a voice. And so that such voice becomes one. And then this country becomes one.

They Always Come Back Empowered

by Patricia Olivet

One of the things we love the most is see how our girls come and go. There is always excitement when a new girl comes in, tells us her story and shares her dreams, but there is also a beautiful process that leads to something yet more beautiful: the time she says goodbye because she’s strong enough to go into a different direction brought to her by a brand new opportunity.

Nancy came to us a while back after she attended one of our workshops at the Zone 18 Embassy. She had barely graduated high school and couldn’t even dream of continuing her education attending college. - “Nobody has done it in my family, why would it be any different for me? I can’t even get a job because they all want to hire men” - she said in one of our first conversations.

I remember she first came to Unmarked Streets when we were in the middle of moving the office to a different location. We apologized and told her that maybe she could come later on that week because we were moving and she just looked at me without saying a word. I couldn’t tell if she was disappointed or somehow let down. I didn’t know if she was hurting or if she was going through one of those moments when you just need to have somebody there. She had a knot in her throat, that I did know. She continued to look at me and said - “I am staying. I need to be somewhere right now. And I will help you move”. We were complete strangers, but she felt safe hanging out with a group of women she didn’t know. A group of women who knew exactly what she going through and took her in without saying a word. She was part of something. She was not alone.

One morning she showed up and said she had gotten a job. A good one. A solid one. She was very excited and wanted to come and share the good news. The only sad part of it was that she was not going to be able to come anymore. We understood, of course. We were happy for her. We were happy with her.

Time went by and this morning we got a beautiful visit. It was Nancy. She looked beautiful not because she was wearing nice clothes. She looked beautiful because this time she didn’t have a knot in her throat. She was wearing a big smile and her eyes were shinning. She was somebody who was now carrying herself with dignity, with respect, with happiness, with love. She greeted everybody, walked into the workshop room, took a piece of fabric and sat in front of one of the sewing machines to start a making a hand bag. - “I got out of work earlier today”, she said. - “I missed being here. I missed doing things with my hands. I’m happy because I have a job now, but I am also happy when I work with fabric. When I work here with you guys”. After a couple of hours she had finished the hand bag and she said she had to go. She hugged everybody and by the time she came to me she said - “I love coming here. I missed working with you guys. I will work something out with my boss so I can come on saturdays and I continue to be part of this family”

And THIS, is why we #EmpowerWomen.

#EmpoweringWomen UnmarkedStreets GuatemalanWomen

We have new bags!

Meet Shoany!

Building Guate

Doña Lucy and Daniela learn how to read!

We have shared bits and pieces on Doña Lucy in the past but we have never really told you much about her story. She is a 55-year-old woman who came to Unmarked Streets three months ago after her daughter Norma joined the program. Both of them went to one of our workshops at the Zone 18 Embassy and decided to come to our office and check the program out. Norma was the first and then Doña Lucy came over.

Doña Lucy lost one of her sons many years ago due to a stray bullet. She lives in a dangerous neighborhood where she constantly fears she will lose one of her children again. After her son passed away she was very frightened to leave the house and or take public transportation. She is still nervous, but knowing she is coming to a safe place like Unmarked Streets makes her feel strong enough to want to leave her house, walk for half a mile and take two buses to get to our offices.

Daniela is Norma’s five-year-old daughter and Doña Lucy’s granddaughter. She always came to Unmarked Streets with her mom or her grandmother because they had nobody to babysit her. After a couple of days we noticed Daniela had never attended school, so we encouraged Norma to send her to school. The school system in Guatemala is different than in the US - it is very difficult to get a kid signed up in school even if it’s a public school system. This is because of limited funding there aren’t enough schools for the population, or teachers for that matter. We all got together as a team and got her an appointment at a school that is not far away from her home and Dani finally got signed up for school. All of us were very excited and were helping Dani so she could learn how to read. This led to another great thing: encouraging her grandma Doña Lucy to finally learn how to read as well.

Doña Lucy spent most of her childhood living in the streets. She had no home to come to and she promised herself that is she had children one day she would take care of them the best way she could so they wouldn’t have to go through the same situation she had to go through as a child. After having children of her own she focused on working whatever job she could get so she would have them go to school and make sure their needs were covered. This of course, left no time for her to get educated.

Three months have passed and not only is Dani writing her first words, but so is Doña Lucy! In a recent conversation we had with her she said: - “If it wasn’t for Unmarked Streets, I would have never thought that I could create better life for myself, not to mention learning how to read”.

This is exactly what makes us keep going. Stories like Doña Lucy’s and so many others that we will continue to share with you!

#socent #education #womens education #literacy #empoweringwomen

Two of our girls have jobs!

This past month we were very happy to hear that two of our girls got jobs. Leslie got a job at a Jordanian Bakery and Norma is now a customer service representative. We were very excited to hear that they got jobs after such a long time of not finding one, but what really made our day was to hear that both of them looked for schedules that would allow them to continue to come to Unmarked Streets.

This morning Norma came in wearing a smile and we asked her how she was doing at her new job and her answer was - “I think it’s going well but even if things don’t work out at this place I know I will be ok because I have all of you and I know I am not alone”.

This is what Unmarked Streets tries to do for women. We try to empower them and make them feel strong in a world where it is already so hard to be a woman. Our girls are stronger and a more confident version of themselves. This is what we work for. This is what you help us do with your donations and the time you spend helping us. This is what Unmarked Streets does and you are doing it with us!

#socent #economic development #independentwomen #internationalwomensday

We Did it!

This month, because of YOUR generosity, we were able to fund the launch of our new sewing and quilting program. We raised a total of $5,680 - money that will be invested directly into the hardworking participants in our program.

The women in the program are working so hard right now - creating and designing a new line of products has brought out a burst of creativity from everyone. It has been so fun to be a part of, and it is really inspiring to see the women throw themselves into their new designs. We could never do this without your support. So, from all of us here at Unmarked Streets, thank you for donating, for sharing, for getting involved. This campaign was an enormous success, and we are all excited to show you what we can do!

Happy Birthday Patty!

First Workshop at Embajada Zona 18

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