There are women in the world stronger and more courageous than you or I could ever dream of being. There are women who haul crates off the backs of buses. They hang off the sides of vans to hitch a ride down the road. They balance a baby on their back and a bucket of teetering onions on their head. And they do it all in a skirt. There are women who walk all day just to reach the market to sell a single pot, just a handful of produce, or maybe a blanket. They are often barefoot and always exhausted, because how couldn’t you be when you share a stiff mattress in a small home with your four children or six siblings? These women know not the definition of privacy and yet they are dignified. They send their children to school despite never having been themselves. There are women in the world who wake tirelessly to stoke a fire and risk their health to feed their families. They have backs bowed from decades of manual labor, and yet stand prouder than any I have ever known. These women get up day after day with grace and humility and unwavering strength and look survival straight in the eye as if to say, I will not let you go. Like all women, like all mothers say time and time again for all eternity to hear.
These are the women of Guatemala.
Category: Guatemala