Ana Maria: A Rising Voice for Healing, Dignity, and Justice for Women and Children

BOSTON - Dec. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- When you are introduced to Ana Maria, her fiery, clear eyes see through you. They are eyes that have seen much and are not easily deceived. Those eyes are much older than her young face. Yet she laughs easily, contagiously.  You cannot help but feel her inspiring dignity, her outstanding strength.

Ana Maria was the 8th of 9 children from a family of impoverished Maya farmers in Chiapas, Mexico.  Her mother was sickly and died when she was barely 2 years old. Her father was alcoholic, one of the terrible, widespread diseases of the conquered and oppressed indigenous people in this southern-most state of Mexico. She was raised with abuse, fear and hunger.

In her early years, the machismo and poverty of the community prevented much intervention by her extended family. Her aunts tried to offer support. There was no possibility of government aid, no schooling.

She married at 13 years of age to get away, but her husband’s family was also deeply traumatized and impoverished. Despite her attempts to grow corn and care for her new in-laws, her husband became verbally and physically abusive. She starved during her first pregnancy; her newborn son was sickly and died when only 5 weeks old of preventable diarrhea. Ana Maria also nearly died, and while recovering, too weak to even help in the house, her husband forced her out of their home, calling her useless.

Homeless, Ana says that this is when the fortune of her life changed. She was then welcomed into the home of one of her aunts. This aunt’s community has declared themselves in resistance against governmental abuses joining with many other Mayas who are seeking to regain their dignity and autonomy after 500 years of brutal conquest and extreme marginalization. In the face of constant low-intensity warfare from the government, this community, like so many others, has made a clear stand to refuse government handouts and control.

Close to death from illness and grief, Ana Maria discovered with great interest a profound inspiration in the community meetings. There she learned about human rights, indigenous and women's dignity, and the basic laws of women’s and children's protection that the rebel Maya women had written into their constitution in 1994. She learned that, at last, she is of vital worth as a woman, and that she can have a strong voice that can directly change the lives of others.

When she understood that her small story is a part of the greater society’s illness and that her healing is not just for herself, but for her people and the coming generations, she irrevocably chose then to live and struggle until the end to improve the lives of other women, men and children of her community.

Like all rural women, she is rarely without something to do. During her long recovery, she improved her embroidery skills. When it became apparent to her family that she was a gifted artist, her work was shown to a crafts cooperative supported by the non-profit organization, Red Wind Councils.  Eventually, Ana Maria became a main coordinator of craft cooperatives, whose sales of the beautiful pieces the talented crafters make support many families in the resistance communities.

But Ana Maria's connection to Red Wind Councils proved life-saving not only because it gave her the opportunity to support herself and her community. She had never fully healed from the difficult birth of her child, and at age 19, she developed a severe abdominal abscess. She would have died without surgery paid for by the emergency medical fund, and lodging provided at the Red Wind Medicine Center. After recovering, she chose to receive training as a lay health promoter, and now works tirelessly to advance and protect the health of her community through teaching sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and acting as an increasingly skilled healer.

Today, she also remains a strong voice in her community for women's rights, speaking to both men and women, confronting some of the difficult, machismo customs entrenched in the society. She encourages the young women to become educated and to learn skills.

Ana Maria has a vision of the future of her people, and knows the road to it requires the courage of all people around the world to now change to a common vision for humanity. She receives this motivating vision from the Earth, and shares it so generously with all.

She, like so many like her in this new indigenous movement to transform and heal the first wound of the Americas, the wound of invasion and colonization, needs our help. In support of Ana Maria’s world-changing work, and the efforts of many like her, Red Wind Councils receives donations, 100% of which go to Maya people in resistance. Over the past 30 years, Red Wind Councils has, through generous contributions from ordinary people in the U.S., helped Ana Maria and others weave a web of powerful changes, re-creating together the sacred Earth's dream for a better world - here, now, on this planet.

Red Wind Councils fosters spiritual consciousness and a restoration of social justice through awakening into the promised return of indigenous Council Ways. For more information, and to make secure donations, visit: www.redwindcouncils.org