{"id":2218,"date":"2011-11-21T09:21:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-21T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/?p=2218"},"modified":"2014-05-14T15:28:57","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T22:28:57","slug":"violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in “Safescaping” Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire comes to you from Guatemala where our team is producing a documentary about how\u00a0Population Council Guatemala<\/a>\u00a0is preventing violence against Mayan women. \u00a0STF team member Kara Marnell reports from the field below.<\/em><\/p>\n

As I knelt down and searched the bright brown eyes of a little Mayan girl, I saw a future far different than what her eyes might see today.\u00a0 I predict a future, filled with hope and opportunity, a girl who would know confidence and self-determination.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Young Mayan Girl<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The town of Maya Kaqchikel is an indigenous community on the outskirts of the bustling city of Solol\u00e1.\u00a0 Though it is a mere 20 minutes from Solol\u00e1, Maya Kaqchikel is free of tourists and shops.\u00a0 Instead, its dirt roads wind between the ribbons of corn and working women with babies sashed to their backs decorate the landscape.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Maya Kaqchikel<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Stirring the Fire team had the pleasure of visiting this remote community on Saturday and meeting its warm and welcoming people.\u00a0 The men and women stood side-by-side smiling as their young, excited children ran to greet us, some barefoot, others with clean but threadbare clothing.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the community of Maya Kaqchikel became Population Council\u2019s pilot community for its \u2018Safescaping\u2019 initiative, an effort to engage young female leaders to actively help determine what constitutes a \u201csafe community\u201d in answer to gender based violence and to help identify local paradigms that constitute various threats to girls\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Girls Who Participate in Safescaping Programing<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As in many communities, the men here didn\u2019t view themselves as the perpetrators of violence.\u00a0 We\u2019ve noticed time and time again that violence is so normal in these communities that it seems simply the way of life, the culture.\u00a0 The community was reluctant to make changes fearing the admission that violence was a real problem.\u00a0 Like so many issues, admitting there is a problem is the first step toward fixing it.\u00a0 \u00c1ngel del Valle, the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for Abriendo Oportunidades, explained how the community underwent 40+ hours of training and development to expose the common, everyday violence that women endure.\u00a0 During the training, a powerful activity helped bring these issues to light and sparked an incredible change in the community.\u00a0 First, the men and women were divided into two separate groups and given a tree.\u00a0 Then, each group was asked to identify the \u201croots of violence.\u201d\u00a0 After completing their trees, the men and women came together and shared their differing perspectives.\u00a0 The men saw violence (the little they perceived), as stemming from financial burdens and alcohol abuse.\u00a0 The women, on the other hand, stood up for the first time, and declared that the females of the community worked twice as hard as the men and simply were not appreciated.\u00a0 In response, a community leader, a man, rose and admitted that he had never realized that the women worked so hard.\u00a0 Each day he returned home expecting dinner after a long day\u2019s labor in the fields.\u00a0 Yet, never before had he realized that the women were also working all day in and around the house, tending to the children and, even though they too were tired after a long day, they continued working to serve their husbands.
\nIt was a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

So simple, but so real.<\/p>\n

All of this occurred a year ago.\u00a0 Already, there has been a transformation and the community was proud to share their progress born of this understanding with our team. So, on this day, the community had prepared a series of reenactments to illustrate the violence that commonly occurred in the household and how the community had learned to tackle these tough issues.\u00a0 How incredibly generous of this community to allow foreigners to see such a raw, open and rare view of itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Community Leaders in Traditional Dress for Reenactment<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Violence against women is still a continuous battle here. \u00c1ngel thinks that domestic abuse still continues but an evolution, a revolution is beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s not enough, he says, to simply create \u2018noise among the girls\u2019, but community focus and mobilization must occur for enduring change to take place.\u00a0 This has been a community problem.\u00a0\u00a0 It takes a village to change the culture.<\/p>\n

As we pulled away in the van, the men and women stood side-by-side thanking us earnestly for our visit.\u00a0 It was then I realized that the men and women standing together was a symbol of their newfound sense of equality.\u00a0 I waved goodbye to the little girl with bright brown eyes and thought that she now has a support group that many before her did not, the seed for a promising future.\u00a0 A future taken for granted now in so many places far from here.\u00a0 There\u2019s hope for her.<\/p>\n

Indigenous young women as change agents against violence in Guatemala<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The high prevalence of gender-based violence in Guatemala leaves Mayan women and girls living in poor and isolated communities particularly exposed to risk. In a powerful approach to empower indigenous young women as agents of change in their communities,\u00a0Population Council Guatemala<\/a>, with support from the\u00a0UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women<\/a>, is pairing them with mentors from local organizations, to engage them in a range of prevention activities.<\/p>\n

Among other things, the girls undertake GPS-based community mapping, plotting every household, building and route to produce maps that show where girls and women feel safe or at risk. The maps are making young women and their safety concerns visible for the first time, catalyzing community-wide discussion about violence against women and girls and ways the community could come together to prevent it. In addition, Population Council is training a cadre of girl leaders in participatory video to highlight issues of gender and violence in their communities.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women<\/a>, administered by\u00a0UN Women<\/a>, is a leading source of support for efforts to end violence against women and girls across the world. You can join this vital work by donating to the\u00a0UN Trust Fund<\/a>\u00a0and by taking action at\u00a0Say No \u2013 UNiTE to End Violence against Women<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire comes to you from Guatemala where our team is producing a documentary about how\u00a0Population Council Guatemala\u00a0is preventing violence against Mayan women. \u00a0STF team member Kara Marnell reports from the field below. As I knelt down and searched the bright brown eyes of a little Mayan girl, I saw a future… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,22],"tags":[124,266,137,116,321,322,122,261],"class_list":["post-2218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-documentary-training","category-stirring-the-fire","tag-community","tag-domestic-violence","tag-from-the-field","tag-guatemala","tag-kara-marnell","tag-population-council","tag-violence-against-women","tag-violence-against-women-and-girls"],"yoast_head":"\nViolence No Longer a Social Norm in "Safescaping" Communities - Phil Borges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in "Safescaping" Communities - Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire comes to you from Guatemala where our team is producing a documentary about how\u00a0Population Council Guatemala\u00a0is preventing violence against Mayan women. \u00a0STF team member Kara Marnell reports from the field below. As I knelt down and searched the bright brown eyes of a little Mayan girl, I saw a future... Read more »\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhilBorgesStudio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PhilPort_JeffGima-square.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phil_borges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phil_borges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in “Safescaping” Communities\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\"},\"wordCount\":1023,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Community\",\"Domestic Violence\",\"From the Field\",\"Guatemala\",\"Kara Marnell\",\"Population Council\",\"Violence against Women\",\"Violence against Women and Girls\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Field Apprenticeships\",\"Stirring The Fire\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\",\"name\":\"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in \\\"Safescaping\\\" Communities - Phil Borges\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in “Safescaping” Communities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Phil Borges\",\"description\":\"Social Documentary Photography and Film\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in \"Safescaping\" Communities - Phil Borges","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in \"Safescaping\" Communities - Phil Borges","og_description":"Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire comes to you from Guatemala where our team is producing a documentary about how\u00a0Population Council Guatemala\u00a0is preventing violence against Mayan women. \u00a0STF team member Kara Marnell reports from the field below. As I knelt down and searched the bright brown eyes of a little Mayan girl, I saw a future... Read more »","og_url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/","og_site_name":"Phil Borges","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhilBorgesStudio","article_published_time":"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PhilPort_JeffGima-square.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@phil_borges","twitter_site":"@phil_borges","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in “Safescaping” Communities","datePublished":"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/"},"wordCount":1023,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg","keywords":["Community","Domestic Violence","From the Field","Guatemala","Kara Marnell","Population Council","Violence against Women","Violence against Women and Girls"],"articleSection":["Field Apprenticeships","Stirring The Fire"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/","url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/","name":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in \"Safescaping\" Communities - Phil Borges","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-21T16:21:17+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-14T22:28:57+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/IMG_8682.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/21\/violence-no-longer-a-social-norm-in-safescaping-communities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Violence No Longer a Social Norm in “Safescaping” Communities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/","name":"Phil Borges","description":"Social Documentary Photography and Film","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5010,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions\/5010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}