They advise and accompany survivors of violence

BY EMMA GÓMEZ

TRANSLATED BY MAYA GREENBERG

Starting from the year 2020, the Mancomunidad Tzolojya in Sololá, realizes work efforts related to the rights of women, citizen participation, suppression of violence and healing processes; promoting the legacy of the ancestral techniques and practices of the fabric as a tool for the economic generation.

Weaving and challenges:

The strategy used involved working with weaving schools and boarding schools, where a total of 300 women are attended annually and trained for economic, social and political exploitation is promoted. These environments are constituted as safe spaces for conversation and dialogue, where women can discuss and analyse common problems in their communities, where they have the security of being able to address the issue of violence that each of them experiences, allowing them to be identified as female victims and survivors of violence.

When in these spaces women are identified with specific care needs, the mechanisms for the derivation of the cases are put in place, which is why strategic coordination has been achieved with the Women's House and pay tribute to the necessary care in legal areas, social and psychological, promoting the same healing processes. It is also important to mention that clothing is considered occupational therapy practices for female victims and survivors of male violence.

Added to the strategies of prevention of violence and training of human rights for the participants, the impact of the techniques of weaving is conceived as a form of reclamation of the peoples, the representation of their thousand-year-old culture, history of ancestral tradition that the young women with the passing of the years have lost it, so they expect to continue the legacy of clothing through training and generate benefits of these techniques.

In the follow-up process, the mayors of the three municipalities that conform to the lack of community have declared in a verbal and written manner on economic and material contributions, valuing the function of the municipal weaving schools and the boarding schools. For its part, the Mancomunidad Tzolojya takes care of the construction and equipment of an intermunicipal centre for the care and business training of women in the territory in terms of ancestral practices and techniques of fabric and the compromise of guaranteeing sustainability, i.e., decide to ensure operations and functions after the projectperiod.

This project is carried out through training modules in detail, encouraging economic growth and allowing many of the students to begin their learning and sales of products at the highest point of the processes, which promotes improvement in the quality of life of each participant.

Mention that in these implementations, the Municipal Directorate of Women, the Municipal of Agriculture and Alimentation(MAGA), and the General Directorate of Extracurricular Education (DIGEEX) of Ministry of Education, have played an important role in the identification of the actions.

As part of the “Weaving lives free of violence” project and in accordance with the promotion of community tourism, for this year 2024 the creation of a mural festival in public spaces in San José Chacayá will be organized. It is hoped that these artistic expressions represent the identity of the community with significant elements specific to the municipality and that they are also a suitable tourist attraction that sends messages and narratives about the eradication of male violence and the creation of free environments of
violence.

game began a few years ago, and as a result, currently there is greater participation of women in the territory from interventions, training and awareness. This year, we have seen advances on the topic of citizen participation, mainly in terms of decisions, since women can participate in one of the Municipal Councils, which leads to governance and impact processes.

The festival called “Kaq´omaj Chacayá” which means “Painting Chacayá”, in the Kaqchiqel language, invites us to use its slogan to create “free environments of violence”, harmonious environments for coexistence and the reflection of identity. The festival prioritizes the participation of female artists who reflect the memory of the people and their knowledge, as well as the prevention of violence against their gender, highlighting the messages through art.

This year, alliances and intervention proposals have been resumed in relation to community tourism in the territory, for which the weaving route will be launched and the offer will be specialized in agrotourism to guarantee the stay of visitors, within the framework of the sustainable tourism addressing issues related to gender equity and positive masculinities.

The weaving and the identity tour

For June of this year, it is planned to implement the tourist tour of places where weaving is promoted, with this not only will alliances be strengthened to keep weaving work alive, but the identities of indigenous peoples will be strengthened.
The Weaving Route was born as a main idea of connecting the weaving schools that have been established in the three municipalitiess. These weaving schools are municipal spaces where they are provided with tools and supplies to promote participation.
The main objective is for the route to be managed and developed by the women of the territory. The idea is to have a tourist package with attractions and services that link the entire issue of agricultural production, medicinal plants and vegetables; so, it is expected.

that this will also be part of the visitors experiences. For example, you can participate in the weaving route, but you can also opt for the honey tour where a beekeeper's suit will be used to extract honey.

The 10 murals will be part of the Weaving Route that will promote community tourism through cultural expressions reflected in the main streets of the municipality of San José Chacayá, along with embroidery schools in which experiential experiences will be promoted with local tourists and foreign. With these strategies, the economic growth of the municipality is sought, together with Santa Lucía Utatlán, which will also be part of the Weaving Route.

In addition, it is planned to build a Municipal Tourism Policy so that it can be the anchor and then invest in infrastructure and training. What will be offered as community tourism will include the Scenic Route which seeks the cultural and natural revaluation of the resources in the upper valley of Lake Atitlán. The murals will be related to culture and mainly, to the topic of fabrics and Human Rights of the municipality. In short, the weaving route complements a strong link to the cultural identity of the community, which will undoubtedly make this tourist product unique and, above all, community representative.

The goal is to motivate women so that they can have economic independence, maintain and promote the weaving culture, and live a life free of violence.

Since 2019, we have worked with more than 300 women in the department to promote and publicize this weaving and embroidery technique, which is necessary to reaffirm all identity knowledge, as well as support the generation of economic income within the department.

At the same time, training will continue to be carried out in relation to Human Rights, citizen participation and healing processes, which has definitely changed the way many women see life, mainly generating growth opportunities for each one.”

This article is produced thanks to the support of the association La Agencia Vasca de Cooperación and the partnership Entreamigos-Lagun Artean which promotes the human rights of women in regions of Guatemala and in the Basque Country.