Mental health: Dramatizing everyday life

Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Four: Association of Maya Ixil Women (ADMI) – New Dawn

4. Mental health: Dramatizing everyday life

This group of women role-played being at the market so that they could see their needs more clearly. Some of the women are shopping with only a little money and others are selling to make a living and buy the things they need. These worries are very real in Chajul since many women now find themselves living in poverty.

Through the mental health training workshops, we women of ADMI have succeeded in developing new skills, building on those we already had. Gradually, we are learning to participate in all kinds of activities and are playing a leadership role in other groups. There are others who haven’t participated in the mental health workshops, but those that have, encourage these others. This is the way the work grows, not only with groups here in the Association, but also with other groups we have outside of the Association. So this is how we see the changing role of women in the town.

Before the women weren’t able to take part in any activity because the war had sown so much fear among the townspeople that it made them afraid to participate in meetings. They didn’t want to organize. The very mention of human rights would frighten them very much because they knew that the guerilla used to talk about things having to do with rights and that the government was against these ideas.