By Nicole Rangel, Itauguá, Paraguay, 2003-2005

Blásida arrived at the social service center early one Friday morning.  The previous night, her partner of 10 years and the father of her children, beat her and their 4-year-old son and threatened to kill them both.  Filled with fear and uncertainty, she knew she could not allow herself and her children to go on living with this man.  She came to ask the Sisters, who work specifically for the empowerment of women and children, for assistance and guidance on what legal steps she could take to ensure her and her children’s safety.  The sisters offered Blásida temporary accommodations until more permanent ones could be found.  As they were explaining to her the process of filing a domestic violence charge, I walked by.  The sisters stopped me, introduced me to Blásida, and asked me if I could accompany her to the Centro to file a police report.  I said yes.   She would tell me her story on the way there. 

Blásida and I took the back roads of Itauguá to avoid the noise and diesel fumes of our town’s only paved road, Ruta 2.  As we walked, Blásida told me about the previous night.  She had questioned her partner for coming home with two 40-ounce beers while their kids are malnourished due to their family’s poverty.  He had never allowed her to work outside the home so that she might earn an income, and that years ago he promised her that he would never hit her again.  Last year, she had started attending the Pastoral de la Mujer* meetings at the social service center, but later stopped in order to please her partner, who said she should stay at home.  Blásida began re-attending the meetings this year, which is when her consciousness-raising began.  In hearing the testimonies of other women who have overcome domestic violence and listening to the discussions about human rights and self-respect, she found the courage to come to the Sisters´ that Friday morning.  "Yo estaba dormida, y recién estoy despertándome", I was asleep and I am just now waking up. 

Redeeming her self-worth and making the decision to leave the man that had been oppressing her for years so that she may create a new life for herself and her kids, illustrates an inner strength that has left me speechless. Blásida's awakening has been perhaps the most beautiful thing I have witnessed in my seven months in Paraguay.  Although this accompaniment with her only confirms my belief that we need each other to awaken and to help each other realize our potential, Blásida’s faith in the divine confirms that one’s basic trust in the universe is all that is needed to endure suffering.

 *A pastoral women’s group that focuses on the empowerment of women, and the building of solidarity amongst women of our community.  It is the area of the social service center that I am most involved in.