For the Women's International Day, on the 8th of March, we participated in different events both in Popayán and Cali as we have been doing the last couple of years.
#8M in Popayán
Nori has been a part of several activities in Popayán this year, she even participated with a group of women in organizing the events in the city this year.
The activities started on March 6th, and on the 8th there was a demonstration with music and a performance at a mall. You might ask yourself, why a mall? Well this year the International Women's Day was on a Sunday, which means a lot of Colombians spend the day at the mall. Therefore, by doing the demonstration at the mall, more people would see the message, reflect and realize that this message of this day is not to celebrate with flowers.
Knitting together
Together with the group "Teje Popayán", in which Nori forms part, there has been meetings with women to knit and talk about the violence women are facing in the world. They met once a week for 3 weeks to knit and talk. Everyone was knitting something similar, a mandala, but you were free to put your own touch on it.
The result from these meetings were shared at Universidad Autónoma del Cauca on March 9th accompanied by a presentation to close the events for #8M. Nori talked about the experience in the knitting meetings, but also about her participation in the 2nd gathering of women who fight while in Mexico in the end of last year.
Last but not least, Nori also participated in a workshop about sexual and reproductive rights that was presented by a local group (photo above to the right).
#8M in Cali
Salka participated in an event at ICESI, a private university located in the South of the city. On March 10th there was an event about women living with hiv. The special guest was Yaneth from Lila Mujer, a local foundation that helps women who live with hiv.
Photos: Lila Mujer
Yanet is a very inspiring woman, who has been fighting to put hiv on the political agenda. She openly shares her personal story, even though that also means that she lives a life full of stigma and discrimination on a daily basis. She spread some light on what it means to live with hiv in a country like Colombia, all he myths and also the fact that this area in Colombia has very high numbers of hiv, actually the highest in the country.
After the presentation, Salka and Yaneth had a good talk and shared experiences. Yaneth was pleased to hear about our work too, and we might gather forces in the future, if we can find a good way to work together. One thing is for sure, huge respect to Yaneth, she is a very strong and inspiring woman!!
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