The Community Network: Topic Social Violence

The Community Network is a collective space that the CIS has created for the communities where leaders of the Small Businesses forWomen, Scholarship Committees, Clean Water Communities, and other local organizations, share all of their community work.  The community network is coordinated by the team of grassroots organizers.

We meet once every 2 months, where we share as well as analyze our reality. In the last meeting which took place on August 10th we analyzed the topic of social violence.

   The Community Network Agenda

August 10^th 2012

1. As participants arrive sign up and have a small snack

2. Welcome and introductions

3. Small introduction to explain the day’s objective on the topic of social violence, its roots and its impact

4. Start to talk about the topic through a brain storm, taking a brief poll with the opening question, how do you see violence in your community?

5. Presentation of Father Antonio Rodriquez’s analysis where he explains, in detail, the origin, the causes and the impact of violence

6. Space to listen to the opinions of the participants about the presentation

7. Lunch

8. Turn in written reports from each community about the most relevant activities

9. Reminded of the date of the next meeting

With a brain storm we asked- how does violence manifest itself in your communities? The testimonies that were shared were very powerful One woman from the group Pájaro Flor from Suchitoto shared that her daughter was pregnant and she was brutally assassinated after she as well as her entire family was threatened. This violent event was committed by a subject that is a family member of the victim and according to what was shared it was because the victim did not want to cede to his romantic feelings for her. Fortunately the guilty party is in jail.

In the community Llano Largo one of the women in the group of milk products-La Vaquita shared that in her community a man brutally assaulted his wife while she was pregnant.  Due to the blows she received the baby was born early and they had to hospitalize both the mother and the child.  The group of woman went to visit the woman after this happened.  Everyone in the community wanted to see the man go to jail.  When the police talked with the woman, she said that she did not hold a grudge against him.  Because the victim would not accuse him it is just another case of impunity.  However, according to the information that was shared with us the police warned that if the baby died the man will go to jail.