My final visit was to see the women’s empowerment group, who had a set up in one of the classrooms. The original group of 24 women has now expanded to over 40, and they continue to do training in different areas such as interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence, and understanding domestic and social violence. These women have been able to move to a place of greater independence and self-awareness, ability to identify and recognize their emotions, and improve their communication skills for greater self-confidence. They also do workshops that help them identify their skills and interests, and many have taken a liking to sewing for income-generation. Among sewing, other career paths women take are baking, cooking, jewelry making, hair and beauty, and pinata making.
From the success of the program, the women’s group has voiced a need for their own space to be able to continue to do these workshops, as they are currently working out of one of the classrooms in the San Antonio Vocational School. With students returning to in-class learning, the women are in need of a dedicated centre. This has resulted in our next project, the San Antonio Women’s Income-Generation Centre.
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