Manos Activando Manos After many years of working with youth in Brazil, Caramundo has recently decided to start expanding its work and experience to El Salvador. In February 2009, our colleague Marloes travelled to El Salvador to set off with the new project ‘Manos Activando Manos’ (hands that activate hands) in San Salvador. This project is operated by the local organisation Quetzalcoatl.
Quetzalcoatl in Sesuntepeque Prison The Manos Activando Manos program is also operated in the prison of Sesuntepeque. The conditions in this prison are grave. The prison was built to accommodate about 50 women. Currently, over 200 women are imprisoned. Many women have been waiting for over a year for their case to come to trial. Many have not committed any crime, other than ‘agrupación con illicites’, or being gathered in a group where one or more gang members were present.
Quetzalcoatl in Sesuntepeque Prison
These are only a few of many astonishing works created by a group of 11 young female artists in the prison of Sesuntepeque
Sílvia is 24 years old and at the time has done over 18 months in prison. She is mother of three children. During some of the classes she drew her ‘river of life’ including many symbols that represent her life story. The other work that is shown she made when participants decided to make a drawing related to ‘family’.
Another participant is Georgina (24 years old). She has been living in prison since 2005. She decided to dedicate herself to the church and is therefore not an active gang member anymore. Inside the prison she tries to stay away as much as possible from other gang members which is sometimes difficult to her. The drawing below was performed when participants wanted to explore the topic of ‘love’. It shows the break-up with her boyfriend, which had great impact in her life. She dreams about being free and united with her children and family. Georgina is a wonderful storyteller.
Verónica is about 25 years old. She is rather shy but very skilled and open when representing her final result. On some occasions her emotions make it hard for her to explain what she drew. She also shows great respect when others talk about their work. She lived in New York City with her family for some years. The drawings relate to her life back in New York City to her child Bianca. She will wait for her and always be at her side.
Cecilia is 27 years old. She has been a member of the MS gang since she was 14 and has been in prison for over 6 months now. She has two sons. She is a bit reserved, observes quite a lot and is very dedicated to the workshops. Cecilia is particularly talented when it comes to different styles of fonts. She can do tattoos if anyone wants. Her drawing depicts many themes such as dolphins representing pureness and intelligence and leaves falling from the trees turning into tears. The subscription mentions how you should not live in dreams, but rather face reality. The other drawing is an ‘ode’ to friendship.
Wall painting inside the prison
In November 2009, a series of approximately 20 workshops was rounded off by painting the central wall inside the prison. The women could incorporate all the techniques they had learned during the workshops. The picture shows the wall ‘after’. As you can tell, the group in front of the wall painting seems very small……. This is very good news. Some of the women in the group have been released from prison!!
Participants of workshop go to Nicaragua to teach photography!
In March 2009, a group of 10 young boys and girls attended classes of photography performed by Marloes for five weeks. Besides introducing different types of photography, teaching practical skills, such as measuring light and digital editing in Photoshop CS3, photography was used as a tool for self-reflection. A couple of months later, Quetzalcoatl continued the workshops digital editing with this group.
Their enthusiasm for photography has certainly been proven. Recently we received the news that some of the participants took the initiative to travel to Nicaragua in January 2010 by themselves to teach other youths what they have learned. There explanation: “photography is such a wonderful addition to our lives, and we have such great pleasure in doing it, that we wouldn’t like to keep that only for ourselves! Photography opened our eyes!” How fantastic!
Good luck Guajiados and Nomadas!
