Editor’s note: This article is written by Nathaly Ospino Díaz. Nathaly is one of the leaders in the workshops of the Luchadora program we have launched in Cartagena this month.

From the perspective of a Colombian woman

Resilient, fierce, strong, consistent, intelligent, brave, creative, and daring. These are some of the adjectives that describe us, in a direct relationship with our exotic beauties. Those same beauties which, year after year, in different scenarios of artistic, political, intellectual, and cultural context, have given us recognition.

Being a woman in Colombia is a complex situation. So far this year it can almost be said that there is a femicide commited daily. Yes, they kill the women described above, who are surrounded by machismo and gender violence, which seems to be normalized under the stigmas of private property, family and capital.

There are many strategies and voices that have been raised for our protection, for the prevention of these violent and discriminatory frameworks. We have advanced, but today we have to continue to see the particularities, not just the news events, which in and of themselves in their tabloid notes, reduce stories into violent events, but not to the structural causes that actually cause them.

Who we are as women in Colombia

Being a woman in Colombia walks through the recognition of who we are when we manage to climb in the professional field, for our closeness to the care that we offer to our families and communities, and for the vocation to help in our faith communities, which little by little, have overcome the image of the woman who helps the woman who leads and transforms. Adjectives overwhelm us and sometimes intoxicate us, but, despite the incandescent light that can blind us with its flattery, we have to begin to see behind those who are not able to be illuminated, those who are in the shade, waiting for a flash of that light to be recognized, helped and protected, based on the idea of the Kingdom for all, here and now. It is time for a living gospel.

Our future

Our work will be to advance along the paths of freedom, of recognition, and of elimination of sexist and heteropatriarchal cultures that have established their customs in our homes, schools, communities of faith, public and private settings. We aim to help others recognize that the image of women is not only from the need for protection and vulnerability, or from a romantic vision that continues to put us in the house as a kingdom and the children as subjects. We want to climb, reach the top, share knowledge, transform the world, impact our daughters, the nieces, the cousins, and the daughters of those who can today, through an active and coherent social fight, frame different futures, so we get the opportunities to have other qualifying adjectives and above all, the protection of life.

Editor’s Note: As we launch our Luchadora program this month, we will be hearing the stories of women who have experienced extreme circumstances such as, but not limited to: abuse, rape, abandonment, starvation, discrimination and force of relocation. Our program will provide resources to restore hope, inform of their rights, and teach trade skills so that the women can begin to build a brighter future. A future not just for themselves, but for the young children to come behind them.

The Luchadora program aims to propel the women forward and encourage the next generation of females so they don’t have to face the same dire circumstances of femicide. You can make a difference in the lives of women like Nathaly, the author of this blog, by donating to the Luchadora Program.

The more you contribute financially to this program, the more you are a part of carrying hope to the displaced women in Colombia and empowering them to have a stronger future moving forward.