Girls Find Their Voices – Community Ball Field Gets Built

The afternoon sun poured out of a cloudless blue sky onto the baked, dusty front yard in front of Marta’s house. I made my way to the open-air kitchen where twice a week eight or nine young women from the community meet to learn how to sew. The hum of sewing machines, punctuated with lively voices and bursts of laughter floated through the air. “¡Buenas! ¿Como han estado?” (Hello! How have you been?) I called out to the girls as they looked up from their sewing machines and patterns. Shy smiles, downcast eyes, and quietly spoken greetings met me as I stepped into the breezy, dirt-floor kitchen.

While timidity kept many of the girls from speaking up very much during my first few visits, over the course of the past four and a half months, these barriers seem to have all but disappeared. By mid-October, we were joking easily with one another and were already at work organizing around an issue that had surfaced during one of our charlas (discussions).

My belief in the great importance of supporting women’s and girls’ empowerment was at the origin of my desire to facilitate these charlas. We set aside a specific time each week dedicated solely to talking about issues the young women had identified as important. I wanted to reinforce the idea that their thoughts, concerns, struggles and hopes are important. With an agenda, no more specific than this in mind, we used the time I spent with them in a very free-flowing manner, allowing the conversation to follow its own natural twists and turns.

Our first few charlas included addressing the interests the young women had for themselves and their community: the need for a secondary school, a health center and a playing field. During the discussions, a number of them jumped in with very honest and candid responses. One of the young women said that many girls in El Chague feel as if their only option is to get married once they finish the 6th grade. But, she continued, there is more to life than that, such as getting an education, learning a skill such as sewing and simply having fun. Wouldn’t it be nice, she continued wistfully, if we could form two groups of women to be able to play sports once a week or so? Doña Lucia, the sewing instructor, jumped in and mentioned that there was in fact a space to play next to the primary school, but that it needed to be cleared first. Her observation got the wheels in my head turning. Could the girls advocate for themselves to get a playing field for the community? Could they increase the opportunities available to girls by promoting women’s sports as Maritza had suggested?

Over the next two and a half months, the girls organized themselves, with only minimal guidance on my part, around preparing the land next to the school for use as a playing field. They began by inviting Don Mario, the community leader, to one of their sewing sessions to present their idea. This initial meeting led to a second, at which the entire community board was present, and at which two of the young women, despite their nervousness, presented the proposal with clarity and determination. Presenting their idea to the rest of the youth was the next step. With encouragement from Doña Lucia and from the other young women in the group, three of them, Norma, Marta and Irsa stepped forward to be the spokeswomen at the next youth training. I could see their confidence, leadership skills, and belief in themselves begin to take flight. At the next youth training, they set aside their apprehension and anxiousness and stepped up to the front of the room. Their ease increased as they spoke and spread to the other girls present from the sewing group, one of whom spontaneously stood up to voice her belief that there should be specific days in which the women would have priority in using the field.

The support from the youth for constructing a playing field was unanimous, and one week later, a group of twelve met to begin clearing the terrain.