Constructing a better future for ALL the women of the Highlands so that they may be free of violence and discrimination
Written by Rosa Arellano
In the upcoming weeks, HSP will start giving recurring updates on AMA, its programs, and its activities while highlighting some of our sister organization’s team members and what they do.
The Association of Women of the Highlands (Asociación de Mujeres del Altiplano or AMA), located in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, was founded in 1993 following Guatemala's brutal civil war to help the victims and widows forced to live with constant discrimination, isolation, and harassment. Its goal is to help empower and make Highland women resilient by providing them with a network of support that promotes self-esteem, cultural identity, entrepreneurship, and self-determination.
There are various projects that AMA carries out that help with building classrooms and community centers, constructing sanitation systems, and providing educational training to foster leaders and entrepreneurs.
Women’s Circles
The goal of Women's Circles is to improve both mental and spiritual health. Serving as a group therapy, indigenous women can voice their concerns and process the historical trauma they faced. It's fundamental for AMA to help women find their identity and meaning in their lives through their connections to the community and promote citizen participation so that they can eradicate the culture of dependency. Small groups of women meet to empower one another and follow an organizational model that allows them to learn and promote leadership and adaptation to societal changes, the economy, politics, technology, and the environment.
Marchante en Linea (Virtual Merchant)
Marchante en Linea culminates the process of training women in administration, business, and behavioral health. By learning to become confident entrepreneurs, the women of Marchante in Linea can transform themselves and society. They produce textiles, traditional items and clothing, pure honey, cosmetics, floral arrangements, and jewelry.
Project Q’anill
To contribute to creating an economically stable and ecologically healthy system, the women's circles participate in Project Q’anill and receive an income for helping package different organically made sauces, peanut butter, and marmalades. By doing this, AMA hopes they can face local challenges with their knowledge of business and preventative care.
Casa De Diseños Pixan
Funded by the Inter-American Foundation and HSP, Casa de Disenos Pixan helps support indigenous women, proud of their Mayan identity, who are artisans and experts in weaving. They run their businesses in their community to avoid immigrating to new places and being victims of exploitation, discrimination, and harassment.
Proyectos de Campañas de Educación y Salud
AMA conducts workshops where the Indigenous community can learn about hygiene and nutrition. They also have workshops where they can learn how to prevent diabetes and high blood pressure and how to know if water is clean to drink. In these workshops, they learn about food they can make with ingredients they have at home while preventing the chances of getting any diseases. They learn about harmful foods that raise their chances of developing diabetes and high blood pressure and see what foods are healthy to eat while pregnant to ensure their pregnancy goes smoothly.
Fortalecimiento de Matronas
The program started by AMA to train midwives was to help pregnant indigenous women if they happen to come with pregnancy difficulties or any problems that might come after pregnancy. Indigenous women, like many other women, face many complications during pregnancy. By helping these women who already have the gift to treat pregnant women and give them more preparation, they empower the midwives and have more healthcare resources for expecting mothers.
Project Clean Stoves
Project Clean Stoves’ purpose is to better the lives of women and children. By building stoves in the homes of Indigenous women, the community can protect their environment and use less firewood while making their firewood last longer. Many women rely on open-fire stoves, but they contribute to indoor air pollution and are harmful to their health, so HSP helps make new stoves to help reduce the effects of cooking with open-flame stoves.
Environmental Project
The Environmental Project encourages the community to take care of their land and educate others with activities that help our environment. They focus on reforestation, installing greenhouses, trash recollection, and educating younger generations so that they can be more environmentally conscious.
Sanitation Project
Through the Sanitation Project, AMA has installed stations with portable water and areas where people can decontaminate water. Many communities have been forced to relocate because of extractive industries and changes in the climate. They suspect that the cause of this violent force of movement is because of the companies want to mine their ancestral lands. Since their towns have become increasingly crowded, installing these sanitation stations can decontaminate their water to prevent any sickness that will allow kids to develop normally.
Mayan Art Program
AMA has an art program called MAP (Mayan Art Program), where the community can connect and express their creativity. Through this program, children can learn about their culture and identity through art passed down from generations and enhance their art skills. MAP allows everyone to express their feelings and thoughts through art, promotes creativity and discipline, and encourages more participation in the community.
How to be More involved
AMA always accepts donations to help with the different projects to help the indigenous communities. You can donate directly at the AMA website: https://amaguate.org/donatetoday.
If you have any questions, contact HSP at hello@highlandsupportproject.org.
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