By Sally Bahous
This article appeared
in the Ojo del Lago, February 2010
Facing the square in San Juan is an old house painted yellow
and trimmed in blue: during the Revolution it was a hospital and before that it
functioned as the home of the priests who tended the old church whose side wall
forms the back wall of the house’s courtyard and whose decaying tower now
sports a cactus instead of a bell, looming large over the green courtyard.
AMSIF has rented this house for the past five years, using it as a school for
the women of San Juan Cosala.
Here, Mexican women teach Mexican women who want to learn
more about a large variety of subjects from nutrition to language to caring for
the very young and the elderly. In the past year, an oven has been installed
and some of the women who have been trainined in baking pastries now have a
paying job baking for the small café in the building that serves coffee, tea
and desserts every Tuesday through Saturday.
AMSIF is a 36-year-old organization founded by Carmen
Moncayo and Marisa Arroyo in 1973 in Mexico
City in order to help women in poor neighborhoods
recover their dignity through programs that would encourage their
self-realization.Since then, AMSIF has spread through Mexico. Today, there are
thousands of women attending programs in hundreds of centers.
AMSIF is officially recognized by the government as an
organization which has served to strengthen families as well as the women it
educates. San Juan Cosala’s AMSIF project was begun six years ago by Aurora
Jocobo with help from Alicia Salcido. AMSIF (Mexican Association for the
Integral Emplowerment of Women and their Families) seeks to liberate women
through education.
AMSIF stands for Asociacion Mexicana para Superacion y
Integracion de la Familia - The Mexican Association for the Improvement and Integration of the Family. It is a national association founded in Mexico
City in 1973 to help promote gender equity, personal and spiritual development and empowerment of women, and the general advancement of women, youth and families through the process of
improved reproductive health and education.
The mission of AMSIF is to strengthen the family and the community through comprehensive training of women. Volunteer work is the basis of AMSIF. The programs are taught at the "Centers for Overcoming Family", attended
by groups of 6-8 volunteer women who work to educate and empower the women involved. There are currently 209 Centers present in 21 Mexican States. Though its programs, AMSIF reinforces dignity and self-esteem, promotes cultural development, and trains women so that they have the tools to develop their creative abilities and be productive, discover their values, awaken their sense of responsibility, commitment and love for others, thereby improving the
quality of their lives and transforming their environment by being a catalyst for
social change.
The local AMSIF Center is in a large yellow building
directly across from the main plaza in San Juan Cosala. After several months of cooking classes, the AMSIF women recently opened a wonderful coffee and pastry shop, Dulce Tentacion (Sweet Temptation), on the right side of the AMSIF building at Porfirio Diaz #15. Be sure to stop by for a delicious dessert (eat-in or take-out) next time you're in the village. They also do catering for parties, weddings or other types of social functions.
Recently the San Juan Cosala AMSIF has added a program of
English language training for children. At AMSIF, empowering women also
includes strengthening the family by encouraging the training of children. In San Juan, if a woman wants
to attend classes, but have no one to care for their young children, Blanca
Favela takes charge of the children in the courtyard, teaching them songs and
games while their mothers study. Though AMSIF cannot take complete credit for
the increased cleanliness of San Juan,
the women and children are trained in recycling and provide colored ties for
sale used in the area’s recycling of garbage.
“We teach the women and the children what can most help them
and the village,” says Leta Colunga, current director of the program. Alicia
Salcido organized the first AMSIF Pig Bash fundraiser because each AMSIF is
dependent upon the women who run it for funds.
For the past six years, the women of the Raquet Club and San
Juan Cosala have held fundraisers for AMSIF in the Raquet Club palapa. Thanks
to the generosity of Pedro Palmer, this fund raiser has been able to provide
enough money for renting the facility, for improvements, supplies and
equipment, freeing the women who teach to concentrate on giving the village
women the courses they need.
Editor’s Note: Keep
your eyes and ears out for the next fundraiser. This is a wonderful
organization that should be supported.