Women's Day Spotlight: Women, X-Ray 7 & Water

It is International Women's Day and we are celebrating women here on Expedition 13A. Today we will publish a series of Women's Day centred blogs from our teams who are spread far and wide across Costa Rica and Nicaragua and are celebrating in their own way. We also though you would be interested to read Marie Staunton's article in the Huffington Post. Marie is the Chair of Raleigh International and is currently visiting Raleigh ICS and Raleigh International's projects in Nicaragua and wrote this article about our project partner's the Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva - click here to read >

PM's Emma, Paul and Cali with their host family Norberto, Sylvia and their children - they will be a beneficiary of X-Ray 7's work.

Furthermore X-Ray 7 and their Comms Officer Josh Arbon have conveyed their feelings about the affect that the new access to clean and safe water that will be provided by their gravity fed water system will have on their community of Matapalo, Achuapa, Nicaragua:

To fully appreciate the impact of our project here in Matapalo we conducted interviews in villages that have benefited from previous Raleigh teams. In particular we focused on the women within the household to tie in with World Women’s Day which we have been discussing over the past week. The results of this have been both uplifting and shocking simultaneously. The projects made huge improvements to the women’s lives, however, these drastic changes highlighted three existing issues which faced the women who haven’t beneffited from the scheme.

The Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva is helping to achieve social justice, equality and basic public services for it's members. The community of Matapalo are a part of this cooperative.

In one case the mother of one family would have to take a 15 minute journey with 20 litres of water five times in the morning and then five times at night. This took a serious portion of her day and left her with serious neck problems. In the four years since Raleigh installed a safe water source in her home medical problems have subsided and she has had far more time to cultivate her vegetable patch and enjoys a markedly improved quality of life.

Senada Lopez is a beneficiary of a previous Raleigh water project in Matapalo. The current project will provide all remaining families in the area with a clean and safe water source.

She also believes that this project, and others like it, has helped to empower women in the local area and given them a louder voice on the community stage. This view is reciprocated throughout the women of the community. Another interviewee noted how 20 years ago women in the village had no rights or opportunities whereas with the implementation of projects such as the one we are currently undertaking women have more opportunity and are pushing for gender equality.

Sylvia, the PM homestay mother in her kitchen

This is why our work here in Matapalo is extremely important and poignantly timed. With World Women’s Day today we can greater appreciate the impact of our work. When asked about World Women’s Day those interviewed said they felt proud and thought the day was important for women such as themselves and particularly those in a worse situation.

This is a value which is also held by us in X-Ray 7 and we can see first-hand the differences made by Raleigh to the very homes who have been extremely welcoming to us.

Spotlight: Why do Raleigh's water projects benefit Women 

Norberto and his wife Sylvia are beneficiaries of the new gravity fed water system in Matapalo

Women are disproportionately affected by lack of access to safe drinking water. Women primarily manage water resources on a local level. In other words women, particularly in developing countries, are tasked with cooking, cleaning, and providing drinking water for the family. This can mean that where water isn’t readily available, women can spend up to 3 hours per day collecting water for their family.

The new feed in Matapalo will supply 30 of the community with safe and clean water

At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development 2005-2015 was named the ‘Water for Life’ international decade for action. This called for women’s participation in water-related development issues.

Women’s lives improved due to:

-        Reduced time, health, and care-giving burdens from improved water services give women more time for productive endeavours

-        Convenient access to water and sanitation facilities increase privacy and  reduce risk to women and girls of sexual harassment/assault while gathering water

-        Community-based organizations for water management can improve social capital of women by giving them leadership and networking opportunities and building solidarity among them.

A study in 88 communities in 15 countries found that water projects are more sustainable and effective when designed with the full participation of women than those that are not.

Happy Women's Day to all of our blog readers and our volunteers family and friends.

International Women's Day, 8 March

Raleigh’s vision is a world where young people feel a sense of belonging to a global community working together to strengthen and improve the world around them. If you have been following our progress you will know that each phase on expedition 13A has considered a theme, in Phase 1 we focused on social justice which culminated in a short video we made (click here to watch >) and Phase 2 has been focused on Women with all of our teams celebrating International Women's Day  on the 8 March.

In a recent UN report on the Millennium Development Goals, it was voiced that despite the global reduction of more than 800 million people living in extreme poverty from 1990 to 2008, women continue to be more likely to live in poverty than men. The focus for this theme was to consider such statistics and gender equality. Every team is coming up with a campaign to highlight women’s issues whether violence, inequality in education, health or one of the many other complex issues that are faced due to gender.

Expedition 13A - X-Ray Women's Day Actions

X-Ray 1,2 & 3 are trekking and will be doing a quiz that the wonderful Clare Evans from Head Office wrote for all of our X-Ray teams. They will also be video-ing clips of their aspirations and their hopes for women of the world.

X-Ray 3: Rising and saying no to gender inequality

X-Ray 4 have been interviewing the woman biologist and ranger that are currently working in the park and are considering how women can positively contribute to environmental conservation. X-Ray 5 & 6 have been working hard on their 13A campaign and X-Ray 5 have come up with a social media campaign which will be using a logo created by X-Ray 6 - all will be revealed after changeover - watch this space!

X-Ray 8 from Siares San Ramon are interviewing and celebrating the women of their community

X-Ray 7,8,9 & 10 are all of our community projects and have been able to interview and undertake case studies of the women in the communities Raleigh are working in. X-Ray 7 are focusing on water in Matapalo, X-Ray 8 are focusing on education and the women in their village of Siares. X-Ray 9 are focusing on women's health particularly maternal health and pre-natal care and have come up with a campaign they are calling 'Born: help to grow and grow to help.' X-Ray 10 are hosting a coffee morning in La Arenilla to celebrate all of the women in their community. 

Every girl should be able to aspire to great things and there should be no barrier to stop them from achieving everything they dreamed of.

All of our teams have been making short video clips asking questions such as those below from X-Ray 10. Whether the young girls who have voiced their dreams, or the women in the community who have shared their lives with our teams - it has made all of our volunteers think about the women in the world and what we can do as global citizens to ensure equality in all things.

Case Study: Neraida from La Arenilla Miraflor
Raleigh are completing a sustainable housing project in La Arenilla, a remote coffee farming community in Nicaragua. They interviewed Neraida whose father Don Rufino will be a beneficiary of one of the 6 new homes that are being completed.

My name is Neraida and I am 20 and live in La Arenila in Nicaragua. I am a single mother, my baby is 15 months old. I work for an organisation that prevents natural disasters and I teach in the community. While I am at work my brother and my grandmother look after my child.

Q: What is your role in the community?

In the morning I take care of my child and in the afternoon I teach adults in the community. The classes are called Nivalacion Eva. It is a pleasure to teach the adults even though it is very difficult and everything seems like a puzzle sometimes, overall I enjoy it a lot.

The women of Miraflor work hard raising their families, working and supporting their communities. 

Q: Do you see a difference between the education of men and women here?

No, because men and women have the same rights even if they are boys and we are girls we feel we are equals.

Q: Have you noticed a change in attitude of women over the generations?

Yes, thank god! In generations before it was difficult for women and we were unable to have the priviledges we have today. While my mother and grandmother finished school in the second grade aged 8, I completed elementary school aged 12.

This blog and the above interview is part of a series of blogs themed around International Women's Day. Celebrate with us and show your support for women.