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The Incomplete Story of Promotoras: Who They Are The group of Los Niños promotoras includes stay-at-home mothers, business owners, entrepreneurs, divorced women, widowed women, single mothers, retired women, grandmothers, factory workers, professionals, and women with no more than an elementary school education. Though seemingly an eclectic mix of people -- which it no doubt is -- these women all have three things in common: they live in the complex and dynamic border region, they share a desire to reach out to their communities, and, they have all been personally positively affected by Los Niños. How It All Began When Los Niños started 32 years ago, it was no more than a “direct-aid” organization. Run only by U.S. volunteers, the “team” of young men and women drove across the U.S. - Mexico border every weekend to bring food donations to the needy of Tijuana. Now, with three offices and four major programs and counting, the focus of the organization has turned to that of sustainable development using educators, not food hand-outs, as its most valuable donation. The most poignant and convincing proof of the success of this focus lays in the promotora program. Starting some 20 years ago, Los Niños staff-members began to teach men and women from Tijuana and Mexicali about nutrition and ecology. More specifically, they taught them about well-rounded food choices for adults and children, gave them healthy recipes using inexpensive alternatives to meat, taught them about organic family vegetable and fruit gardens as well as the importance of recycling and reusing water. The people born of this endeavor became educators themselves -- “promotoras comunitarias” (community promoters) -- and began to teach both adult and kids nutrition and ecology classes in their own neighborhoods.
In 2000, Los Niños, in conjunction with Simon Frasier University of Vancouver and the Ibero-Americana University of Tijuana, designed a two-year capacitation program for its promotoras as well as those from other Tijuanan organizations. Called “Women, Poverty, and Education in Mexico”, the promotoras involved in this project were educated on ecology, nutrition, computation, English, social management, social and investigative methodology, communication, spirituality, problem solving, and disaster prevention, among others. In accordance with these classes, if a promotora had never completed elementary or junior high school, she was able to finish that education as well. As a result, in December 2003, the “first generation” of women (and one man) involved in the project graduated, enriching the legacy of the Los Niños promotoras. As aforementioned, many of the Los Niños promotoras had only an elementary or middle school education. Because of labor needs, tight budgets, and a traditional Mexican belief of women staying at home, they had lacked valuable educational opportunities when younger. When finished with the capacitation program, each received government certified credentials in community development. These credentials, albeit immensely important in the realms of employment and respect, is in no way a demonstration of the magnitude in which many of these promotoras changed personally. Brigida of Mexicali, for example, was involved in an abusive marriage and was very timid. Earning her degree and proving to herself that she was capable of learning and teaching helped her self-esteem immensely. She has now been a promotora for 8 years, has since divorced her husband, and works as a secretary in the Mexicali office in addition to giving nutri-ecology classes. Dona Mari, a widowed mother of 7 children, moved to Tijuana from Puebla, a state 40+ hours from the Tijuana – San Ysidro border. Never having finished elementary school, she began teaching nutri-ecology classes and later studied in the capacitation program. With 13 years with Los Niños, 6 of these years have been as a coordinator of a group of promotoras. A petite and older woman, Dona Mari is always on her feet whether it be meeting with the other coordinators, leading children through an ecological park, or observing promotora classes. Tere H., a divorced single mother, Los Niños promotora, and co-coordinator of the micro-credit program comments, “Before I entered Los Niños, I had no idea my life was going to change this much. I didn’t realize my potential and thought I had reached an age without more opportunities.” Proving this common assumption wrong, the “first generation” of promotoras who graduated from the program successfully published a book, Complices de Sueños (“Dreams Come True”). In this book, each one of the graduates tells their own personal story of how this opportunity gave them a new outlook on life and increased their motivation to educate themselves and their communities. Nutri-Ecology Classes, Problems Confronted, and the Promotor Response
As of Fall 2006, there are 27 promotoras in Tijuana and 14 in Mexicali, a city two hours east of Tijuana on the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of the promotoras teach both an adult nutri-ecology class as well as one for children. The adult nutrition classes can be formed in several ways; usually, a promotora identifies a neighborhood in need and speaks to either a friend there, a community leader, or a school director. Whether it be through word of mouth, a paper sign on a school entrance, or the promotora herself going door-to-door, women in the community are made aware of the future class and are invited to an orientation session. The majority of the women who participate have children in local public schools and attend the nutri-ecology classes in the morning while waiting for their kids. An immense benefit of teaching mothers is the indirect, yet undeniable results it has on their children. When asked what motivated them to participate in the course, a common response is, “To learn how to better feed my children.” While working with mothers is fruitful in various ways, the promotoras also confront many problems with respect to the situations of their participants and the communities in which they work. In most of Baja California (the state where both Tijuana and Mexicali are situated), the public school schedule is full of vacation days. In addition to 2 weeks of vacation for the Easter holiday, events such as Mother’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Teacher’s Day, Children’s Day, Worker’s Day, and many more are seen as “reasons” to cancel classes (and the aforementioned five days all fall in the month of May!). If their children are not in school on the day of the class, participants usually will not come so as to be home for their kids. Longer vacations also pose a problem as many families leave the city to visit relatives. As a new city made popular by the bracero program, the prospect of immigration to the U.S., and jobs in foreign-owned factories along the border , half of Tijuana’s residents are not originally from the city. As a result, families are constantly leaving to visit relatives throughout Mexico. Weather also creates an attendance impediment. In many communities around both Tijuana and Mexicali, school is cancelled due to even mild weather fluctuations. As the promotoras strive to teach in needy communities, many of these communities lack pavement on the roads. Consequentially, one night of rain could turn dusty streets into mud pits, resulting in school cancellations for a number of days as well as limited access in and out of the community itself. Due to planned “vacation” days as well as the unplanned ones, promotoras find themselves constantly battling which scheduling riffs and make-up classes.
Difficulties encountered by the promotoras do not stop at class scheduling, however. Unsupportive school principals, tardiness of participants (a self-proclaimed “bad habit” in Mexican culture), long and bumpy rides on public transport, thieves stealing stoves and gardening materials, stray dogs digging into class gardens, toddlers of the participants in the classes, and spouses not supporting their wives in taking the class are all situations which the Los Niños promotoras are used to. “Así es la vida de una promotora,” “This is the life of a promotora” is commonly muttered from the corners of their mouths and followed by a smile. Though no more than a phrase, this acknowledgement and acceptance of difficulties is a testament to the amazing tenacity of every one of these special women. Dona Olivia is the perfect example of promotora perseverance. About 8 years ago, an accident severely damaged her legs. Though doctors said she may never walk again, Olivia set out to prove them wrong. Using physical therapy and reflexology practices that she herself had studied, she slowly began to walk.
As further incentive to practice walking, she intentionally formed a number of Los Niños nutri-ecology classes in very hilly Tijuana neighborhoods. During Winter 2006, she taught six classes, walking up and down large hills to each one. One of these classes took place in a Montessori school in a very populated area of the city. Within a two month period in the Winter of 2006, the school was robbed three times. Each time the participants, with the help of the community, replaced the items only to have them robbed again soon afterwards. As if ignoring these unfortunate incidents, Dona Olivia’s class remained in session and the participants successfully graduated from the course in spring 2006. Promotora Solidarity Though these difficulties are no doubt common and frustrating, the solidarity found amongst the promotoras is a prime factor in keeping them motivated. There is one group of promotoras in Mexicali and three groups of promotoras in Tijuana based on living location within the city. Each of the three Tijuana groups has its own coordinator (a former promotora) and meets once a month in their respective neighborhoods. In addition, every three weeks all the Tijuana promotoras and coordinators get together to share announcements, refresh their teaching methodology, share ideas, and learn about recent findings in nutrition and ecology. The same happens in Mexicali. At these meetings, the promotoras also give money to the micro-credit coordinator in order to “save” money. While being a sort of “money safety net” in case of an emergency amongst the women, this money also helps the promotoras learn the habit of saving resources, not usually a common practice on the border when one lives day-to-day. In conjunction with the micro-credit program, each promotora has the opportunity to take out a small loan from Los Niños to use under their personal discretion. These small loans are paid back in full with a 12% interest rate. While the technical aspects of the meetings give the promotora program a professional air, the promotoras also view them as a meeting time between friends. Many of the women have been with Los Niños for more than ten years and have lived in the same neighborhood, thus formally reuniting with each other twice a month for years on end. If they have not been “compañeras” or coworkers for 10+ years, each promotora has either been taught by or taught another. Many of the promotoras are good friends and celebrate birthdays, weddings, quinceañeras, and holidays together. There are also a number of relatives within the promotora group. Dona Margarita entered Los Niños through Edith, her daughter-in-law. Two of Margarita’s own daughters as well as a second daughter-in-law are all now promotoras. In a self-proclaimed “machista” or “macho” society, this female bonding and encouragement time is usually hard to find. The Los Niños promotoras, however, have successfully made it a priority. EcoParque 3000: An Extra Effort in Ecology Education
As a more recent expansion to the Nutri-Ecology classes, many Los Niños promotoras are also active in planning school field-trips to a nearby nature park. “EcoParque 3000,” or “Eco-Park 3000” is a green oasis in the middle of the bustling and constantly growing city of Tijuana and was built with the idea of educating the city’s inhabitants on the environment. The promotoras visit elementary schools in pairs before their trips to Eco-Parque 3000 in order to educate the children on issues including food chains, water cycles, recycling, etc. With the goal of bringing 3000 youths to Eco-Parque every year (hence the name), Los Niños has been successful in bringing over 900 youths here since January 2006 (January – May 2006) with 12 promotoras active in the specific program. While at the park, promotoras move the children through “nature stations,” showing them how worms compost dirt, how water can be recycled to nourish vegetation, how to make recycled paper, and how the food chain functions within the park using the animals and plants they see. Following the visit, the same pair of promotoras makes a post-visit to the class, reinforcing the knowledge gained and helping the children brainstorm how to put this knowledge to productive and responsible day-to-day use. Conclusion From Los Niños’s simple beginnings to its present state, the general vision has remained the same: to help people. Yet, as the organization has changed from that of a direct aid agency run by U.S. volunteers to a sustainable community development education program run by community members themselves, the vision has expanded to one of “help people help themselves.” In giving these intelligent and natural leaders the opportunity to learn and see what treasures they hold within themselves, the promotoras are now capable of helping others do the same. Little by little, neighborhoods in Tijuana and Mexicali are changing for the better as little by little, women realize what power and luminosity they have had all along. |
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