GENDER
A library empowers girls and women in Manabí, Ecuador
Don Juan is a small fishing village on the coast of Ecuador, still untouched by mass tourism, its simple lifestyle balances time to the rhythm of the tide. Children, especially boys, run along the beach along with birds and stray dogs; while their mothers and sisters stay at home. Behind the surface of this idyllic landscape there are two things that are not expected to be seen: an ominous current of patriarchal domination that manifests itself in domestic violence; teenage pregnancy and child abuse; and its counterpart: a bamboo building that houses the Children's Library with 5,000 books, computers, games and resources to empower girls and women so that they can destabilize the conditions of subjection in this traditional environment.
The Children's Library is run by the A mano manaba Foundation, a registered NGO that strives to improve the lives of girls and women on the north coast of Ecuador. The main purpose of all our programs is to empower young women aged 10 to 12. We believe they are the engine to change the gender inequality that marginalized their mothers. With your monthly contribution, we can continue programs such as reading remediation, a day at the Library, sports, art, environmental sciences.
Our bodies, our house
Your support allows us to sustain Performative Arts and sports for girls: "Our bodies; our house". Through dance, acting, soccer, basketball, girls will shape their identity, acquiring agency over their silhouettes, controlling their body boundaries and channeling their power to decide what kind of life they want to lead.
Physical and performative activities offer girls and boys the opportunity to appropriate their bodies, set their own limits and exercise their right to decide on it.
The Library offers activities like Tae Won Do, soccer for girls, Theater, Bailoterapia and ... with your help Dance.
The Library in Don Juan, with all its formal and informal educational programs, opens alternatives for adult neighbors and children who are learning, through example and experience, how to grow together in a respectful, kind and encouraging way.