Irapuato y la familia de PLAMAC

I arrived in Irapuato two days ago and was greeted by the Lopez family, an incredibly hospitable family who are the foundation of PLAMAC, the organization that promotes women´s savings groups, microfinance projects, rights, and education in the state of Guanujato. I am fortunate enough to spend the next six weeks with this incredibly kind family.

El Centro de Irapuato

El Mercado Hidalgo

Un mural magnifica

I am living in Guillermina and her son Francisco´s home. Francisco is the president of PLAMAC and Guillermina has been a part of the organization since the beginning. They both have full time jobs outside of their responsibilities at PLAMAC.

Mì habitacion en la casa de Guillermina y Francisco

Guillermina´s sister, Silvia, lives right next door and is another big part of the organization. Last week Silvia, her husband, and their son Carlos opened a restaurant in front of their house to provide income for the family and for PLAMAC. Both families are incredibly patient with my sub-par Spanish, however I can tell in just a matter of two days my Spanish has gotten a bit better...

Silvia en su cocina y la cocina de su restaurante

El restaurante de la familia de Silivia, La Casa del Buen Cafe

Silvia cocina comida para la familia. Mì almuerzo, tacos fritos con frijoles y queso. ¿Que rico!

When I arrived Francisco, Silvia, and I dicussed what kind of work I could help out with despite my short short time here. I am going to be setting up english classes in two communities for young men and women interested in learning english relevent to their certain trade or that is of interest to them. I am also going to set up a system for tracking the money saved in the dozens of svaings groups PLAMAC supports. I say I´m going to but what I really mean is that I am hoping in my short month I can make these things happen. We´ll see!

I have visited two communties so far, one called Guadalupe Pase Blanco and the other Violentia. They are both about thirty mintues outside of the city. In both of the communities I have met utterly incredible women. In Violentia, Chuncho had nothing more than a roof and a sheet of plastic that served as a bed for her children. However after taking out a small loan twenty years ago and learning how to read, write, and do basic math Chuncho now owns the largest store in Violentia and hosts the weekly savings meetings and any other functions in the communtiy.

Guillermina, Silvia, una joven de la comunidad, y Chuncho

Silvia told me how important these womens groups have been for these communities. They provide a forum for women to discuss their shared problems and develop solutions as a group. Further they promote education in the pursuit of bettering not only the women´s lives, but the lives of their children and husbands. This has had a profound impact on the way women are treated in the communties PLAMAC serves. Women are being treated with respect by not only their husbands, but by the other men in the community. These groups are stamping out the Machismo stigma that has sadly been such a strong part of Latin American culture.

Mì coche por el mes y una vista de Irapuato

I am very happy to be here in Irapuato with such a kind family. I truly hope that in the short time I am here I can do what I can to help this utterly important organization.