Juana Villareyna of La FEM, in her own words
At the end of October and beginning of November, 2007, WCCN and fair-trade coffee roaster Just Coffee brought a guest up from Nicaragua to see how the coffee her organization produces is sold, and to tell people of Madison, WI, about both the coffee and the organization. Here, she tells about herself and her work.
My name is Juana Ayda Villareya Acuña. I am 36 years old, Nicaraguan, and I live in the department [region] of Estelí. I have a seven-year-old daughter. I’m the oldest of three brothers and two sisters. I come from a campesino background, having been born in a community called Sontule, in the Miraflor sector of Estelí.
Ever since I was little, I have worked with my family, both in the countryside (mostly in the coffee harvest) and in domestic work, which mostly falls to women. Even when I was little, I understood that rural work does not give the same possibilities and benefits to women that it does to men.
I come from a poor family that managed to get a small amount of land during the agrarian reform in the ‘80s, which was linked to cooperativism.
Unlike other rural women, I had the opportunity to study and had the support of my mother and father. I applied all my willpower to getting ahead. For many years, I studied and also took care of my younger brothers and sisters, which meant we had to move to the nearest city. I managed to complete my agricultural studies, a field I chose in order to be able to support the development of rural communities, and women in particular.
In 1994, I completed my technical studies in agronomy, but at that time, I couldn’t find work, so I decided to migrate to Costa Rica, where I did domestic work for two years.
In 1997, I returned to Nicaragua and worked for five years with a Union of Cooperatives in Miraflor (UCA Miraflor), specifically on gender. I had little knowledge on the topic, but the organization helped me learn about it so that I could support women organized into co-ops. I helped them gain access to resources on equal terms to men. This experience also helped me develop my consciousness about organic agriculture and environmental protection.
Six years ago, I became part of the Fundación Entre Mujeres (La FEM), where I am the co-director. I am also in charge of the production program.
For twelve years, La FEM has been working to empower rural women, which, to us, means education about, and the defense of, our rights as citizens. That’s why our programs have different dimensions like transformation (including learning about our rights), the struggle against violence, access to land and credit, education, access to quality health services, and organized participation, among others.
As a rural woman, I’m happy to have the support of many campesina women who see in our organization the possibility of strenthening their positions as producers and improving their living conditions. It’s very gratifying to see many women finishing their primary education, forming networks of prevention of gender violence, and getting access to sexual and reproductive health services.
As the working group of La FEM, we are very proud that many rural women that we accompany now own property, produce high-quality organic coffee, and sell their products on the internal and international markets. That represents true hope for change in the lives of rural women in our country and in the whole world.