"We’re turning the tortilla over"

“Training has opened our eyes. When we elect people, we don’t focus on their political affiliation but rather on their capacities and principles”

“I began in the first organization when I was in fifth grade, but I didn’t learn about so many topics back then.

Since then, a lot of people have put their trust in me to occupy certain leadership positions, because I’ve been able to educate myself and share knowledge regarding, for example, political advocacy.

Now, having learned about legal documents and the articles of the law, we have gained confidence and security. By knowing our rights, we can demand the things that we want or need.

Training has opened our eyes. When we elect people, we don’t focus on their political affiliation but rather on their capacities and principles.

It’s important to emphasize that there are women within the structures and in elected positions, who participate fully and completely. They know what they want and what they have to do, as well as where, how and when to make decisions. This process has taken time, but they’re making certain progress. People see that times are changing and that we have a right to change.

In this sense, COPRODEDPIY’s role has been important in terms of organization and formation. In addition to keeping us informed and enabling us to analyze what’s happening at local, municipal, regional and national levels, COPRODEDPIY has motivated us and allowed us to learn many things.

Before, decisions were made from the top down, but now we’re turning the tortilla over. Now it’s from the bottom up, and that’s how it should be. We believe that this aspect will continue to improve little by little, even though there are a lot of interests behind the scenes and they may tell us that we don’t know anything. That’s when we have to make our voices heard.

We recognize the error of focusing our actions almost exclusively on the local level. Sometimes we move beyond the local area, and this wields a positive influence on the results achieved for our towns and villages. When we took steps to establish the “teachers’ plaza,” for example, we had to travel to Tegucigalpa. We spent five days there and had an opportunity to meet the Minister of Education, who approved the plaza. This filled us with satisfaction. We believe that the time and effort we committed was not spent in vain. It was for the children, who deserve it. And that doesn’t mean that we’re finished; we still have to take steps to obtain a dignified roof for the classroom. If we can’t finish these efforts ourselves, then others will have to do so.

Some projects achieved through our actions result in negative experiences. They may seem nice at the start, but many things happen along the way. But this shouldn’t discourage us. We must never think that we’ve fallen and can’t get back up again. I believe the opposite: bad experiences show us where we have failed and how to accomplish our goals with better planning.”