This week we ran an activity of education and mural painting at the Centro Cultural San Isidro! We prepared, designed, and painted a section of wall in the Barrio San Isidro, as well as visited a school to talk with students. On Tuesday we went to one of the local public high schools, and visited classrooms to talk about no violence against women and invite them to help us paint the mural Wednesday. Our group split up into five groups, and each group visited two classrooms. We spoke with students about our mural painting event Wednesday, and also educated them on the topic of violence against women.
I was surprised to hear the opinions on violence against women from the students. I found it especially interesting to listen to the students when we asked them about street harassment which there is A LOT of in Bolivia. A lot of the boys said that they did it because the girls like it, and because it is a compliment. At this comment, a lot of the girls disagreed, but the boys didn't seem to take them seriously.
Street harassment is so common, and so upfront in Bolivia that men actually approach you, look you in the eye, and make comments or whistle. It is also very usual, so usual that boys in the high school actually whistled at me from class, without any reaction from anyone else. I'm pretty sure that no matter how long I stay in Bolivia I will never get comfortable with the amount of street harassment here.
Then today, Wednesday, we designed and painted murals promoting "No a la Violencia a la Mujer" with some of the kids! We worked all afternoon, and ended up with these murals:
There is also the one at the top of the page! :)
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