Our Voices are Stopping Violence!

Author: Paola Yáñez Arias
Video/Photo: Amextra, A.C.

One of the biggest problems Mexico faces is gender violence. Currently, it is classified as one of the most violent countries in the world. A lot of women are attacked, raped, kidnapped and murdered every single day. According to INEGI data, an average of 10 women are murdered daily.

Particularly in the state of Chiapas, in recent years, the State Health Institute (ISECH), has registered an average of 752 cases of domestic violence, being women between the ages of 15 and 29 the ones who reported 41% of those cases.

Gender violence in Chiapas is predominant in 3 categories: physical violence (49%), psychological violence (41%) and sexual violence (10% of cases).

We can clearly see this problem in a recent story that was brought to light at the beginning of this year. Mariana Sánchez Dávalos was a 24-year-old medical student who was doing her residency in a clinic located in Ocosingo, Chiapas. On January 28, 2021, she was found murdered just weeks after she reported an incident of sexual assault and requested her transfer to another hospital.

At Amextra, we have spent 36 years promoting social programs with different purposes as well as projects with a perspective on gender and holistic transformation in indigenous and urban communities. For that reason, we want to put an end to the violence that damages our society.

Faced with this problem, we launched our project: “We heal together” on HipGive. Which opens the issue in the tzeltal communities of Chiapas through the implementation of Community Narrative Practice methodology which aims to: “confront taboo subjects in a culturally relative way”.

Thus, with the help of Dr. Kathleen Cash, who has developed this methodology in other parts of the world since 1991, Amextra is implementing this process for the first time in indigenous communities in Mexico. This process consists of 4 phases: ethnographic research, elaboration of stories, application of the model in the communities, and impact evaluation.

From the ethnograph research we have written 25 stories that contain common problems related to violence in these communities. When the stories are presented, people can identify themselves with the characters allowing reflection and self-analysis on the role they play in this problem and in its possible solution.

After reflection, people collectively look for ways to break these behaviors or what changes can be made to avoid models that validate violence.

Through this project, in the first year we will directly benefit 100 tzeltal women and men, who participate in the process of dialogue, reflection and proposals for change. This will ultimately have an impact on 500 more people, gradually making society in Chiapas aware of gender violence.

Our Voices are Stopping Violence! How about yours? Join this project! Help us with a donation this March 8th, as all donations from $5 to $50 USD will be doubled. Click here!