Becoming visible

Susana Klien is WOMANKIND’s Programme Manager for South America. A Peruvian human-rights lawyer, she has also worked with Latin American women immigrants in the UK. In an earlier post, Susana wrote about a visit to Peru. Here she talks about the experiences of WOMANKIND partners in Bolivia.

I arrived in La Paz a few days ago. You always forget how bad the soroche ─ the altitude sickness ─ is and, as soon as I got off the plane, I felt the 13 000 feet above the sea inside my body.

I am very excited to be back in Bolivia. My first visit to WOMANKIND’s work here, and the amazing women and organisations we work with, was last March. I took a cab to the hotel and, as soon as I sat inside, we started talking politics ― something deep-rooted in Bolivians. I asked the taxi driver what he thought about Evo (Evo Morales, the first indigenous Bolivian president). His answer was straightforward: ‘The poorest people are better off, and the ones complaining are the rich people, they don’t like Evo.’

Evo Morales was elected in December 2005 ─ the first indigenous president in a country where almost two-thirds of the population is indigenous. For centuries, indigenous Bolivians were treated as second-class citizens, excluded from decision- making, and exploited.

Evo channelled many expectations and dreams of change for a new Bolivia. To date, opinions are diverse, social demands are huge (inherited from previous governments) and this is a country where everybody has a political opinion on what is happening ─ and everybody is waiting.

Yesterday I visited WOMANKIND’s partner Red Ada, an organisation of community- based communicators. They use the media to change attitudes ─ and to help develop an inclusive and equal society. They provide spaces for women, particularly indigenous women, to raise their voices about their needs and dreams, which have always been invisible.

Red Ada has achieved amazing things by making the most of community radio and the internet — an even greater achievement given there are only six staff, helped by nine local co-ordinators and five regional co-ordinators, with a total annual budget of £30,000!

Personal is political

Teresa, Red Ada’s Director, is Aymara (the biggest, indigenous, ethnic group in Bolivia). She came to La Paz to earn a living as a domestic worker when she was a teenager. She worked during the day, and went to high school at night. Her parents were illiterate, and her sisters still wear polleras, the typical indigenous colourful skirt.After a few years, Teresa started working at a radio station, taking papers from one place to another, and helping with the administration. Some years later, she was producing a cultural programme on which she spoke about Aymara culture. Eventually, she was able to achieve her dream of studying Communications.

Teresa’s commitment to women’s rights and indigenous rights was there from the beginning ― and has grown and developed. In 2003 she was invited by the then-President to become Vice-Minister for Women’s Affairs. I ask her if accepting was a difficult decision. Teresa replies that Meza, the President, had a political position completely different to hers ― indigenous rights were not his priority:

‘However,’ she continues, ‘we as women have fought so many battles and struggles to open spaces for women’s political participation, that I thought I needed to accept and use the space to do something’. Indeed, many people tell me that Teresa was an excellent Vice-Minister.

She doesn’t regret her two years in government: she learned a lot, and helped achieve specific things for women. But she looks sad when she says this; she tells me her children are resentful about her work, as she wasn’t around much when they were growing up: ‘I tried to do my best but, like many indigenous women, I had to fight many battles towards equality.’

I tell her that I am sure her children will understand better when they grow up ― they will appreciate and admire all the sacrifices she made. I certainly hope so.

Protest songs

I also talk to Lidia, who covers news for Red Ada and liaises with the regional co-ordinators. Lidia tells me she inherited her commitment to social causes from her mother, who was a union leader dedicated to improving women’s pay and conditions.

Lidia studied to be a secretary, then found a job on a Catholic radio station. She loved music, and went along to concerts by people singing canciones de protesta against the country’s dictators. She began to record the concerts for broadcasting and was given her own programme, where she played only women singers ― to highlight women’s unrecognised contribution to culture.

Later on, Lidia covered news stories for different radio stations: ‘I was a “feminist without theory”. I had the experience, the commitment, the political analysis of power and discrimination, but I didn’t know much of the theory behind it.’ She more than made up for this with her own reading and research until, like Teresa, she got the chance to study when she was older.

I left Red Ada on air: how lucky I am to work with these women — and learn about their lives, their struggles, and their dreams…