Day 6: El Jicaro Women's Group
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
We were told to eat lightly as the community wants to feed us breakfast. We left the house around 7:45.
I realized somewhere on the road to El Jicaro that I forgot to put on sunscreen and didn't bring the bottle with me. I have my sun hat but I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt so I'm at risk of serious sunburn, what with transportation in the back of an open truck bed and the tropical climate. I have a long sleeve shirt in my bag, so I can wear that but it makes an already hot and humid day that much more oppressive.
We meet at Susana's house. She has a covered space with no walls and a dirt floor that the women's group often uses as a meeting space. They hope to add a concrete floor at some point. There is a "head table" set up for us with a tablecloth and chairs along one side. Facing the table are rows of plastic chairs the women's group sits in. There's also a table along the side with various fruits, vegetables, and cheese and a banner across the front reading "El Jicaro Women's Group."
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| Most of the women in the group |
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| The table showcasing the things the women produce |
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| Banner welcoming the Iowa delegation and Pastoral Team to the women's group. They'd contacted the Team the day before to confirm how to spell "Iowa" and left a lot of space for it, meanwhile |
We sat at the head table and women brought us breakfast plates of 2 fried plantains, 2 french bread rolls, a fried egg, refried beans, crema, and coffee. All the women got food too. When everyone had finished eating, Blanca started the meeting, welcoming everyone and explaining the purpose of the meeting. At all the meetings, she says this is a space to share and learn and encourages everyone to speak and ask questions. Then Susana's daughter Fátima welcomes everyone on behalf of the women's cooperative. There is a prayer and then all the women in the group introduce themselves by name and position, if they are an officer of the group.
Marian (who happens to be Susana's niece) gives a brief history of the group, how and why it came to be. The larger community of El Jicaro has a directive (like a town council) that has a history of marginalizing women or other groups in the community and has a culture of "machismo." Susana had been elected to the directiva but was harassed and not taken seriously or allowed to fully participate. She wanted to form a women's group, primarily to defend their water rights and advocate for women's rights. The directiva refused to allow them to use spaces like the church or community center to meet, which is how they ended up meeting at Susana's house. The group formed in 2004 and over the years have supported each other, had training and education workshops for the women, and advocated for their rights. They met the Pastoral Team in 2009 and continue to work with the Team as well as the municipality (mayor's office and other governmental groups) to advocate for their needs (water, health, electricity, etc) as well as protecting the environment (especially around reforestation and clean water).
Digna spoke about how the women in the group are extremely poor and most have a 9th grade education, at most. They are all subsistence farmers. The biggest thing that has helped them is becoming a legal organization so they are officially recognized and can represent themselves to the Mayor's office, NGOs, or other groups.
Susana spoke again, this time about some of the many needs the group has. Fertilizer, seed, and food during emergencies have been extremely helpful for them. They really miss the medical delegations that used to come. They were really important to not only El Jicaro but the surrounding communities that would also come to take advantage of the assistance. She specifically said that having a health kit and some medical supplies would be very useful. She mentioned a blood pressure cuff so that those with high blood pressure could monitor it without having to go to the clinic in Berlin. A thermometer and glucometer would also be very useful. We asked if they had someone in the community who knew how to use those devices. They have people in the group who have experience, so that is not a problem.
We asked a number of questions...
What is your source for water? Some families have municipal water. They share with neighbors. Others, who live on higher ground, don't have access to municipal water because the system works on gravity. There is a nearby river that people can use to wash clothes in the summer but it's too dirty in the winter because rains make the river too dirty with silt and mud.
What is the biggest health problem? Kidney disease, bronchitis, diarrhea, fever, throat infections, respiratory issues, diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, and now dengue.
Is there a school here? Yes, it has 143 students and goes to 9th grade. Various groups, including the Pastoral Team, help with supplies. Some money was given to the women's group but they decided to give it to the school because it had bigger needs...latrines, chairs, student desks, etc.
Are your fields close? Most are, a 10-15 minute walk. A couple have distant farms, about 90 minutes away. The "winner" was a woman whose field is a 2.5 hour walk.
They showed us the table of produce that they grow or make...plantains, beans, papaya, quisquiles (a type of squash), limes, peppers, jocotes, bananas, chipilin, yuca, and cheese. The cheese is relatively new. There was a project that gave 6 cows to the group. When a calf is born (they borrow the bull), another woman gets a cow. Now, 22 women have a cow to provide milk to their family and make cheese to eat or sell. Male calves are sold to buy a cow.
They showed us a tilapia tank project that some of the younger women are exploring. It has a heavy plastic tank on the bottom that's roughly a 4' x 4' x 4' cube. On top of that is a maybe 10" tall tray made of the same plastic and filled with volcanic rock and dirt. The fish live in the bottom tank. Water from the tank is pumped to the top tray where it fertilizes tomatoes and peppers and is filtered by the rock before dripping back into the tank. The project shows promise but the start up costs are fairly high so it hasn't really taken off yet.
They also showed us a project where they are recycling water bottles to make trash cans. They're hoping to get some larger trash cans to help keep the community cleaner. They would work with the city to have these trash cans emptied.
We did a home visit to Digna's house.
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| A rare house with a window that can be opened and closed. |
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| Where Digna grows some vegetables |
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| The fence of trees around the big tree is to keep cows out of the feed that is stored under the tree. I don't know who owns the cattle or field |
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| Outside Digna's house |
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| The black plastic structure is the latrine, the one to the right of it is the poultry coop |
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| 10 people live in these 2 houses...Digna, her husband, and 10 children. |
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| The chicken coop with a mountain backdrop |
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| The kitchen |
We went back to Susana's house for lunch; bean/cheese pupusas, pickled cabbage slaw (curtido), salsa, and a fresh juice made from tamarind.
Morning school was getting out, so we saw students in their school uniforms walking home. There were some puddles in front of Susana's house where butterflies congregated to drink. As two girls in their skirts, white blouses, and backpacks walked by, a hundreds of bright yellow or white butterflies fluttered up and around them. It was such a lovely moment amid so much that isn't.
I apparently didn't get any good pictures of the final home visits. A lot of my photos came out blurry for some reason.
After lunch, we went to Carla's house.Three people live in her house; her, her partner, and their 1-year-old son. They have chickens and some herbs that they grow around the house. They farm a 1/2 manzana field (about 1.25 acres) that is about an hour walk from their house. They grow only corn. She mentioned that her son has diarrhea right now and Kathy cautioned her that the children's acetaminophen in the health kit we gave them is for children 2-12, so her son is too young for it. The dosage is by weight and you have to be careful with babies. They have lived in this house for 5 years but she was born in the community and has always lived here. They borrow electricity from their neighbor (her brother) and split the bill (about $5/mo each) and have water service for $2.50/mo.
Next, we went to Clelia Emalina's house. She lives there with her spouse and 2 sons, 13 (4th grade) and 7 (1st grade). The boys walk to school (about 30 mintues) by themselves. They have lived in this house for 14 years and share power and water with a neighbor. They did not plant crops this year because they couldn't find land to rent. Her husband works other people's fields to make money for their food and needs. She said it would be better if they could farm their own crops.
Our final stop of the day was Ana Marisol's house. She had a special type of stove (provided by an NGO) that uses less firewood and directs the smoke up and away. The NGO is in Berlin and worked with about 30 families in El Jicaro. The family could choose what they most needed...a stove like Ana Marisol's family got, parts to build a latrine, or lamina. This NGO specifically supports women and the disabled. The house has 8 people living there that make up 3 families...her two daughters have their families here. They have lived here for 24 years. They don't own the land but the landowner let them build and live on the land. He has since died and no one knows where his kids are or where the deed to land is. That makes their situation a bit uncertain. Her field is very close, you can see it from her house. They have another plot of land a little further out. She has diabetes but mostly feels ok. She goes to San Salvador every 3 months for medicine. She gets injections every morning and night that her daughter gives her. She also takes pills. Her medication costs $300 every 3 months.
On the trip back to Berlin, I saw a number of conacaste trees. They are so impressive! The trunks are quite thick...3 or 4 people with outstretched arms could just touch fingertips around one. They aren't super tall but the branches spread horizontally over an area that is wider than the tree is tall from the trunk.
Mike spotted a couple of oriole nests which overwinter here. He also pointed out a couple of impressively large hornet nests.
