Making paths for a leadership with purpose, I believe that another way to help is to generate work for our people.
"My name is Ana Lares, I am an ambassador for SERES in Xecoxol, it is a village in Tecpán, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. In SERES I had a great experience that invited me to leave my comfort zone and be part of the group, I feel very proud of the achievements and projects that we have done with the community youth group, we were able to stop the use of bags and we have reforested different green areas and the authorities have helped us to achieve it".
Ana joined the Seres network in 2019, she's 21 years old, and since then, she has been really an active young woman, participating in all the sustainable leadership programs and activities promoted by the fellows in Tecpán. She leads a youth group of six members in Xecoxol.
Her greatest concern and what motivated her to lead the change is the contamination of the rivers that surround her community and deforestation. Her father has migrated out of the country looking "for a better future for us". She has been debating whether to migrate or to continue studying and working here. Although it has not been easy to decide, she studied tailoring ( cut and confection) and is working to help with the family economy by making aprons and collars for blouses and güipiles in her community. During her childhood, together with her brothers, they worked in maquila-type workshops, sewing clothes and hats. She now is working to transform the country.
“I'm in a church group. I'm the leader of the community youth group and a representative of my student group. It is nice to integrate the other classmates. I'm afraid to speak, but when I give my opinion everyone takes it into account, and SERES have helped me to lose fear and to lead and include everyone.”
The most significant change that the youth group led by Ana has promoted in their community and for which they are proud is "to make garbage cans with eco bricks, the auxiliary mayor promoted this action to the entire community, the population used it, there was no garbage on the street. Currently, the authorities have placed dumpsters, and on a monthly basis, we collect garbage and deposit it in the nearby ravine. This has changed now, due to the coordination achieved with the municipality, who are in charge of collecting garbage in a truck and the process of handling it. We clean the ravine where we deposit this garbage and it is where we plant trees, to protect the river that passes below. Currently the community has established community agreements to fine people who deposit garbage outside the established places.
The most difficult thing has been integrating new members to the youth group and retaining members, some do not give them permission at home because they must use the time to work and study. We also fight to break the paradigm that citizen participation is to expose themselves to that they make fun of you when giving your opinion in a group, that their ideas are never taken into consideration and, also that women should not be on the street, much less working for their community.
I had never left my community, and I knew more people. I also learned that we have rights, not only men but also women. And in SERES there is no such thing as machismo; we all have a voice. Travel inspires me a lot and all the topics we have seen about how we can be a leader and how to carry out projects. Through Seres we gather ideas, and now I can tell my mother that sometimes there are problems that she must deal with, in order to enjoy good health. I also tell her that not only men have a voice, we women too and in my family they have encouraged me to study. But I have aunts who tell my mom that women don't need to study, only men, because women get married. This has led me to talk with my father, making him reflect on this, and he continued to support us in our studies. When I graduated, my father thanked me for making him reflect and for fulfilling my goal. SERES have changed me, and even my family.
In my life plan in ten years, I want to have an embroidery company with a local store aligned with a restaurant, I think that another way to help is to generate work for our people, for this I am looking for a job in a restaurant to generate resources, study english and beauty course, and then i want to travel to know other cultures.
For my country, what I want is for there to be no more environmental pollution, to live and breathe clean air, I want a Xecoxol where basic services are established and it serves everything and everyone from local production.”
