15 Mar Gender Equality in Agua Blanca, Bolivia
A bumpy road with lots of llamas and alpacas along the way with breathtaking views. After a 12 hour drive from La Paz we arrived at a small village called Agua Blanca (named after the rivers and waterfalls over here) near the border of Peru. Together with Yolanda and a priest of the organization ISEAT we visited the local village people and lived with them for 3 days. Around 100 families live in this village, nestled between snow-capped mountains. 1300 ft above sea level without any mobile and internet connection. But is that important when you have your friends and families around you and views like these? I was here to talk to the men and women about gender equality.
The workshops
The leaders of the village get monthly workshops by ISEAT – an organization of theologians supported by ‘Mensen met een Missie’- . An important topic here is also gender equality and gender-based violence between men and women. Almost half of the women in this village are single, they don’t have faith in men or left their men. The leaders tell us that violence against women is thankfully getting less and that you already see the difference. Men help out in householding and take over some of the tasks from their wives.
The leaders of Agua Blanca
Even more happy together after the workshops
The Future of Women in Agua Blanca
Some of the women and men here, follow the workshops of ISEAT and Mensen Met een Missie. According to them you will find not as much violence in their village like in the bigger cities. There’s still some physical and psychological violence against women but you won’t see that 0ut in the open. Things are getting better.
An interview with the people of the village in their church
The people in Agua Blanca are sincerely and unbelievable friendly
Lama’s welcoming us upon arrival
Now it’s time to head back to La Paz where me and my reporters team will have a day to rest before saying goodbye and heading to the salt lakes of Bolivia!
Love,
Sarah
*All pictures are shot by Ilsoo van Dijk
Steven
Posted at 11:15h, 09 FebruaryPlaces like the Andes region of South America, give me the same feeling as I get when I look at the ancient hills of Ireland,..a sense of a place time forgot, that holds vast secrets that could change everything we think we know about world history.
I get a sense of longing. For what, I don’t know. I do envy you the traveler. If I knew I’d have easy access to doctors, I’d love to backpack across South America. Crohn’s disease sux.