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USAID Information:
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Guatemala
USAID Helps At-Risk Women In Guatemala
Seek New Options in this 'Casa de la Mujer'
No one envisions a life on the street. But sometimes it happens.
For numerous Central American women whose lives too often
lead to lost dead-ends, the “Casa de la Mujer”
has provided a welcoming refuge… and transformation.
With funding from USAID, the Casa de la Mujer (House of the
Woman) in Guatemala provides a temporary roof as well as vocational
training and direction for many at-risk women who find themselves
suddenly homeless, in danger, or without options. The shelter
is run by two Oblate Sisters of the Holy Redeemer who work
with sex workers and other at-risk women in the Guatemala-Mexican
border town of Tecún Umán and the surrounding
department of San Marcos.
Take for instance the case of Rina, originally from El Salvador.
Rina is an orphan who was told by a faith healer when she
was a teen that her birth mother was living in Guatemala.
Rina was determined to find her mother and made her way on
foot across the border into Guatemala. En route, she met a
woman in Escuintla who lured her into a life on the street.
At 16, Rina was arrested for prostitution and spent the next
five years in jail in Puerto Barrios.
When she was 21, she was released from prison, but having
few work skills or employment options, Rina quickly resumed
her teen life of prostitution and alcoholism. Four years later,
she made the decision to find a life that was less risky and
took on a series of part-time jobs, including cutting cotton
and waitressing. This did not “cure” her alcoholism
as she expected. Then she found herself pregnant in Tecún
Umán, Guatemala.
With little money and jobless, Rina went to La Casa de la
Mujer where the Oblate Sisters provided her with shelter as
well as medical assistance. In addition, Rina was placed in
a vocational training class in which she learned how to make,
package and sell beauty products.
The Casa takes in the many “Rina’s” who
fall into similar unfortunate circumstances, provides them
not only with a roof and nourishment, but, importantly, the
vocational training they so desperately need as well as the
incentive to become self-sustaining and the hope for a better
life.
Through a partner, the PASCA Project, a local organization
that provides assistance to HIV/AIDS victims, USAID has played
an important role to help Casa de la Mujer grow as a shelter-based
organization that successfully incorporates community volunteers,
who now provide support – from a friendly neighborhood
security watch over the center to financial and material donations.
They have been instrumental in expanding the center’s
role into a significant training institution.
“The Casa de la Mujer has grown to become a resource
and support system for any number of women and their children
who are victims of trafficking, as well as women who became
prostitutes to keep their children off the street,”
said Dr. Lucrecia Castillo, USAID project officer. “More
and more, it is a refuge for women and their children -- providing
them with legal aid services, psychosocial support, medical
attention, vocational training, and, most importantly, hope,
self-respect and potential avenues to escape from their status
as victims.”
Since USAID’s involvement in the Casa in November,
2002, the Casa has successfully trained 150 women in areas
as diverse as the preparation and sale of cleaning goods,
hair styling and advanced sewing skills. Of the 150 participants,
48 were victims of trafficking and the remaining were prostitutes,
daughters of prostitutes, and direct or indirect victims of
gangs or narco-traffickers. Most were indigent.
“Members of the local community have not only welcomed
the Casa de la Mujer’s new center since it opened last
fall but see the center as a place where they come for beauty
related advice as well as to purchase household cleaning products
– even clothes,” said Dr. Castillo.
USAID is optimistic the Casa will grow as evidenced in the
current situation with Rina and so many other women like her.
Rina now works full time in work directly related to her beauty
products training.
“Casa de la Mujer offers an opportunity for woman at
risk of prostitution and trafficking to break the cycle in
Tecún Umán and elsewhere in countries like Guatemala
and to vastly improve their lives – restoring their
dignity as women,” said Dr. Castillo.
Last fall the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Bruce Wharton
spoke at the formal inauguration of the Casa’s new vocational
training center. USAID’s role is implemented through
the Central America regional program that has established
a Trafficking in Persons division with trained personnel.
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