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2001
Grants
Asociación
de la Mujer Maya Ixil
Chajul, Guatemala.  Since
the founding of the Association of Maya Ixil Women, more than 100 women
have been involved in organizing community-based educational, economic
development, and psychosocial projects for the women and children of
their community. The Martín-Baró Fund supported one of their first projects,
a community corn mill. More recently, twenty ADMI members collaborated
on producing the photo-essay, Voces
e imágenes: Mujeres Maya Ixiles de Chajul, which describes the
community's experiences of more than three decades of war and state-sponsored
violence, as well as their response to these violations and their efforts
to build toward the future.
Based
on connections made during the PhotoVoice project, this year's grant
will be used to extend the mental health work to women living in four
villages surrounding Chajul.  ADMI
will establish five centers where workshops will be conducted to enable
women and children to 1) discuss the origins of the war, 2) understand
the impact of the war on mental health, and 3) analyze the condition
of women in Guatemala, in order to develop ideas to meet their mental
health needs. Some of our funds will also be used to produce pamphlets
about the mental health impact of the war and of current economic and
social conditions. Thus, ADMI will be engaged both in the work of psychological
recovery and in wider education about state-sponsored violence and mental
health.
Asociación de Mujeres en Apoyo Para
la Salud Mental Comunitaria El Salvador. El Salvador
endured a violent civil war from 1979 to 1992 that took the lives of
some 70 to 75 thousand people, most quite poor. Most of the country's
wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of a few families,
and right-wing forces still predominate politically. Early this year
the country was devastated by earthquakes that took the lives of about
1,250 people, and left thousands more injured or homeless. Poor communities
continue to struggle to come to terms with the dramatic loss of life,
forced displacement, and desperate living and working conditions. For
the women in such communities, the entrenched machismo in the country
limits educational and work opportunities, and negatively affects their
self-esteem, while the violence and hardship of recent years have led
to increased domestic violence.
MUSAMECO,
a grassroots group funded once before by the Martín-Baró Fund, has designed
a project of weekly meetings with women in poor and marginalized communities
around San Salvador. Trained mental health workers will facilitate these
meetings, where the women will participate in group dynamics, learn
relaxation techniques, and take part in discussions about their experiences
of loss; about basic human rights such as healthcare, education, employment
and housing; and about women's issues such as gender equality, self-esteem
and the right to protection against violence. The well-designed program
aims to empower these women to become protagonists in bettering their
lives. MUSAMECO's nuanced appreciation of the links among community
mental health, human rights, social consciousness, and activism place
it squarely within the philosophy of the Martín-Baró Fund.
Children's
Rehabilitation Center
Quezon City, Philippines. The military campaign of the government
of former-President Joseph Estrada against the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front in Mindanao has displaced nearly 300,000 people and intensified
both rural and urban poverty in the region. Hundreds of houses and shacks
of relocated families had sprung up around the Payatas garbage dump
near Quezon City when the enormous pile of garbage collapsed after heavy
rains in June 2000. More than 400 houses were destroyed and 242 people
perished in the avalanche of trash. Though Estrada was replaced by Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, through the efforts of "People Power II," the need
for economic, political, and social reform in the Philippines continues.
Children
Braving the Storm, a project of The Children's Rehabilitation Center,
addresses the psychological trauma of children who have witnessed the
violence of militarization and suffered the loss of family and friends
in Payatas. It also aims to teach the children advocacy skills,  while
building a network of public support for meeting their needs. This year,
the Fund will support a follow-up rehabilitation program for twenty
priority children directly affected by the Payatas tragedy, as well
as initial outreach to an additional fifty Payatas children. The program
includes individual and group therapy, visual arts, public speaking
workshops, and theater arts workshops. The participating children will
create a presentation for the celebration of Human Rights Day, which
will then tour in schools and communities to raise awareness and gain
support around issues affecting children in this area. Visit
the website of the Children's Rehabilitation Center.
Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México.  Since
the Colonial era, the indigenous communities of Chiapas have been isolated,
and have suffered from slavery, racial discrimination, land seizures,
and lack of education and health services. Those who have protested
have often been persecuted or killed, giving rise to the popular Zapatista
movement. These conditions in the highlands have also led to depression,
family conflict, and alcoholism, which in turn contribute to the high
incidence of rape and domestic violence.
FOMMA works with Mayan women who have been forced by such conditions
to migrate to the city, where they try to support themselves and their
children as servants or street vendors. They frequently live on the
street, without access to public assistance or education, and some may
be trapped in a vicious circle of alcoholism, drug addiction, exploitation,
and poverty. Founded by women who had experienced this life themselves,
FOMMA provides food, education, and basic skills-building, so that the
women may find better paying jobs, build self esteem, and adapt more
easily to city life. Participants learn to write in their own languages,
and stage theater performances that enable them to analyze their reality
and work to improve their lives. There are also creative workshops and
meals programs for the preschool children of participants. The Martín-Baró
Fund's award this year will continue to support production of the plays
through which the women and children share their concerns with their
communities, make connections between their problems and widespread
human rights issues, and explore creative means for addressing their
needs.
Instituto Acción
Para El Progreso
Huancavelica, Peru. Rural pueblos in the Peruvian Andes were
greatly affected by sociopolitical turmoil and violence during the 1980s.
Entire towns were destroyed during the political battles between the
leftist "Sendero Luminoso" (Shining Path) and the forces of the state.
Many families had to abandon their homes; men disappeared; and women,
children, and the elderly were often left in the villages alone. Today,
these communities are struggling to rebuild themselves and their cultural
identity.
Now
entering its second year of funding, INAPRO focuses on the psychosocial
development of women, children, families, and the community as a whole.
For adults, there will be workshops and "pláticas," or talks, intended
to build self esteem, promote resiliency, learn about human rights,
and heal the community. With children, the overarching goal is to foster
the development of cultural identity through workshops and activities
including the creation of traditional costumes and artwork, traditional
dances, and learning indigenous stories and history. A second component
of the work is an agricultural project where members of the community
will learn together how to work the land. Aside from enabling them to
supplement their diets and feed malnourished children, this aspect of
the project will empower people, teach them valuable skills, and help
to rebuild a sense of community.
K'inal Antzetik
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México. Chiapas is one
of the poorest states in Mexico, despite being one of the richest in
natural resources. Its indigenous people, 35% of the total population,
suffer political abandonment, poverty, and abuse by the military. The
1994 Zapatista uprising was a response to centuries of such oppression.
In response, the federal government militarized the state of Chiapas.
Government tactics have included threats, withholding of basic services,
disappearances and arbitrary detentions, massacres, isolation of communities
in the conflict zones, and the sponsorship of paramilitary groups. This
ongoing low-intensity warfare against the indigenous communities has
led to enormous psychological distress.
K'inal
Antzetik is a grass roots organization which has been working with the
indigenous populations of Chiapas for about ten years, promoting human
rights and economic justice. Since 1998, their work has incorporated
a mental health component. This year's grant from the Martín-Baró Fund
will help K'inal Antzetik to train 325 indigenous mental health and
education promoters who will reach approximately 10,000 people from
the Altamirano-Ocosingo-Comitan region of Chiapas. Specifically, the
award will help to support one community psychologist, six training
workshops in different regions of Chiapas, and the production of training
materials including pamphlets and videos. The workshops will enable
participants to share experiences, acquire basic support skills, and
begin to form networks to maintain connections among their communities.
Consequently, they will serve to break the barriers of isolation erected
by the state as a form of psychological warfare against the indigenous
population. Visit the website
of K'inal Antzetik.
 Solidarité
des Femmes de Fizi pour le Bien-Etre Familial Tanzania
/ Democratic Republic of the Congo. SOFIBEF is based in Tanzania
but working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since 1998, the
DRC has been torn by civil conflict exacerbated by alliances between
warring groups and factions in neighboring counties. Current estimates
are that as many as 3 million people have died in the conflict, which
has no end in sight, though the new president, Joseph Kabila has responded
to overtures for a UN peace keeping force. Women, predictably, have
been especially vulnerable to the violence, suffering arbitrary exposure
to torture, rape, enslavement, and displacement.
The
Martín-Baró Fund is supporting an ongoing program called "Women's Human
Rights and Mental Health of Survivors in Fizi Territory." Over thirty
volunteer advocates have  been
trained to work with women affected not only by war-related brutality,
but also by sexual harassment and domestic violence. This project supports
these women through public education about, and advocacy for, human
rights. It offers programs including art therapy, hospital visits, counseling,
and post traumatic stress disorder management, as well as training in
basic survival skills. The women are also producing a newsletter featuring
historical figures of women who have experienced mental health problems.
Of particular interest is the project's work with families, to help
them understand the multiple assaults and hardships faced by the women
and to offer ways that family members can help. Its ultimate goal is
to enable women to recover from assaults on their mental health and
to develop the skills necessary to achieve greater self reliance. Visit
SOFIBEF's website.
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English
to Spanish translations
courtesy
of Melisa Flores
©
2007, Ignacio Martín-Baró Fund for Mental Health & Human Rights
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