Una Muneca

Annalia started learning a few Spanish words before we left, and has been having a good time spotting unas vacas, unas gallinas y los gatitos. But these past couple days she has really taken the initiative to ask what something is in Spanish. One of her new words, most appropriately, is “muneca” (doll.) As I have taken my dolls around to the women in the community, inviting them to attend the doll making class, Annalia is often with me. And the women are often more taken with my life-size muneca then the dolls they are excited to make. And of course Annalia eats the attention right up. She tried to convince me the other day that “muneca” means “girl”, since that is what people call her. I wish everyone here could accept a title like that as easily as my little girl.

One of Paso a Paso’s goals is to build up community women’s self-esteem and self-worth. As we prepared to teach the women the skill of doll-making, we find it equally important to tell the woman just how important they are. At the beginning of each class, I shared Proverbs 31 with the woman, highlighting the fact that God views us women as precious; vital to our families, communities, and our world.

I asked each woman to write down for me why she wanted to take the class, and I thought you would like to hear what they had to say.