France Elena Giraldo Guasorna is perhaps today one of the most recognized Emberá leaders in the department of Risaralda, her appointment as Comfamiliar Woman in 2022 and recently her honorable mention at the Cafam Woman ceremony were the award for her silent work of more than a decade.
Unit for Victims
Giraldo Guasorna’s greatest struggle has had everything to do with gender equality and if we add to this that she is an Emberá indigenous woman, the effort becomes much more iconic, because in her culture women have always been relegated to secondary roles.
“France is an Emberá woman who gets up every day to fight for her companions. I want the balance to be even, for the companions to realize that we as women do not want to be more than them, but we do not want to be less either, that we have the same rights that they have at the reservation, department and country level”, he argues with a calm voice, but always firm.
For this leader of Pueblo Rico, Risaraldense territory, the rights of women have been violated in all the Emberá, Afro and mestizo ethnic groups, which is why she says that she wants to continue fighting for rights and to demonstrate that they are capable: “If we are creators of life, through our children, so why not be able to do the things that our peers do, this is my daily flag and many other things come after it”.
Photo: SuppliedFor France, her campaign began at a very young age, marked by community meetings or assemblies in which men always had a voice, while women were relegated to a corner without being able to give their opinion.
“I remember that one day, more than 15 years ago, I went to my Kundumí village, in the bowels of the green heart of Risaraldense, and I gathered some compañeras to tell them that we could not continue like this, that it was time to show what we were made of, I immediately received their approval and we started the panela project”.
At that time the men made fun of them, and even sent them to the steepest mountain to test them, but up there they went up equipped with an axe, hoe and machete, planted two tons of cane and became heroines so that many more women would follow. your steps.
“Today we have grown and gone from a single group of women to seven, and the entire community benefits from the work, we are around 318 people.”
According to this indigenous woman thrown out, this process also begins at home, it is something that must be instilled in girls, so that they do not depend on anyone and that as women they have the right to decide about their bodies, to express when yes and when not, also to study, become a professional and go to the doctor, just like any other human being.
“With these types of actions, many young women are coming to their senses, they support the ideas and that is something that makes me feel very proud, for example, in my village there are already several colleagues who are teachers, that is where one begins to see the fruits what he sowed.”
France can see that same activism reflected in her home, since in the middle of this year two of her daughters will graduate as zootechnicians, women who are empowering themselves in their role and follow the path that their mother instilled in them.
THE DISPLACEMENT
Francia Elena never imagined that at just 12 years old she would have to run away from home with her school bag on her back, becoming a victim of the armed conflict due to acts such as forced displacement and threats.
“When I was very young, my father, who held leadership positions in the village, was given 12 hours to come out or they would kill him, it was very hard, we left everything behind, we came to the city, we had nothing. We went to bed without eating and I had to leave when I was 12 years old to work in a family home in Pereira, earning 150,000 pesos to help my father and mother with the support of my five siblings, all younger than me, it was very hard. That marks one forever.”
Despite the harshness of the test, that experience also made her strong and helped her build character, it made her want to continue fighting for just causes and she never complained, because despite the adversities she feels like a winning woman. Since today the name of the Emberá woman is high, France is the voice of women who have no voice.
Currently, the wound of the conflict is healed for her and she can speak of peace, with all the property of the case: “We all need peace, but that peace is born with the healing of our wounds and interior forgiveness, if I do not heal and I do not forgive, we are not going to move forward, because I would live with a grudge against the person who hurt me and made me displaced and threatened.”
On the sidewalk next to theirs there were two reinserted, but among all they managed to go through a forgiveness process with them, according to France we all make mistakes and they asked for forgiveness that was finally granted: “you have to heal from the heart, as human beings We do not have the right to judge anyone, and that is why I call you to forgive”.
Thus, despite what has been suffered because of the illegal armed groups, France is today a powerful victim, capable of transforming the environment of its community with work, carrying out projects and participating in forgiveness processes. , processes that aim at peace for all, an impossible peace without the participation of victims like her.
COMFAMILY WOMAN
The life of this Emberá woman took a big step towards the realization of her dreams from the previous year, her recognition as the Woman of the Year by the Compensation Fund gave her another status, it was published in all the local and regional media, but above all it was the definitive step to earn the respect of his community.
“Mujer Comfamiliar was something that my sister and my friend Adriana had been insisting on me, who told me you have a very nice job to show and with this application doors can be opened to do more projects and become more visible, that was about three years ago and At the time, I thought I wasn’t ready.”
Finally, after so much insistence from his family and friends, Guasorna ended up agreeing to the application and in 2022 he ended up with the highest award, a beautiful experience, which resumes a job that began in 2008, a process of showing.
“It made me very happy and sad at the same time, because we have to carry out very hard work, carrying baskets of firewood on our backs, cane, carrying panela, then one reflects, having to work so hard to highlight the role of the woman, something that should come naturally”.
Then came the Cafam National Woman Award where she was exalted with an honorable mention and there the joy was total, because even if she did not occupy the first place, she knew that her outstanding role was a very big gain, since it was sounding at the country level .
France stood out among 158 other women nominated with its social work “Indigenous Group of Kundumí Producer Women”, and was part of the 26 shortlisted, for their invaluable work leading their community and caring for other women.
The childhood of the protagonist of this story was very happy, she shared with all her classmates from the Kundumí village, they spent a lot of time at school with the Lauritas nuns where she always obtained good teachings.
“I think that this issue of leadership grew from home because my father always told us not to depend on anyone, to be women thrown forward even if our destiny was to be head of household mothers, that if the husband left, we would have the ability to survive alone with our children, he supported us a lot.”
Her father also talked to them all the time that no work is dishonorable, as long as everything is done through legal channels, so she grew up in a home that valued her as a woman, surrounded by brothers and respectful friends, it was one of her best times.
The customs that were lost
Another of the struggles of this indigenous leader from Risaraldense has been the rescue of ancestral customs. Dances, songs, crafts and clothing have been left aside, she wants at all costs to fight against this uprooting.
“We cannot leave the burden to the leader or the teachers, I have told the girls that how are they going to be ashamed to come to the city wearing the beautiful typical costumes that we have, when they see us they admire us; my suit and my necklace are a pride, the language is something very beautiful that our ancestors left us, so we must not lose the horizon, our roots and our culture”.
Giraldo Guasorna, accompanied by a handful of his women and allies, work to rescue traditional dances, ancestral stories, basketry, clothing, colors with different meanings for married and single women, there is much to learn and they take the initiative.
Francia is an upright leader and despite what she has experienced, she never stops working for her community. Of course, it hurts as if it were her own when she sees entire communities in harsh conditions in different cities.
“It is not for my brothers to go out to the city to practice begging because yes, that is not the duty, we lack many things in the territory, but many of us have resisted without going out, of course we want to have decent housing and a better life, that is the main message, a better future for us and our children”.
She hopes and dreams that her community has a dignified life despite how complex the situation is. She aspires that her projects are great and that she can leave a legacy in the land where she was born.
“I tell my brothers to never lose sight of the horizon and to work together, since several heads think better than one, and to entities that do not see the problem from a desk chair, but rather go out and visit the shelters so that find out about the real needs that we have in order to address them”.
France culminates this story in a very particular way, because despite living 5 or 6 hours from “civilization”, its community has not been alien to globalization and even Shakira has reached them with her message of gender equality.
“My youngest son played Shakira’s song for me and I definitely learned this phrase that has to do with all this topic and it is that today women don’t cry, women bill, that is exactly what we want to do with our projects”.