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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service "Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities." Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia. For more 2011 feedback click here.

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Partner Campaigns > Advocacy Quilting > Rio Negro Memoria... > The Memorial Quilt > The Weavers > Josefa Ixpata Chen

Josefa Ixpata Chen

Josefa was born and raised in La Laguna near the village of Chisacap in Alta Verapaz. She was seven years old when her village was burned and her family fled to the mountains in 1981. Her father was already in hiding in the mountains and she and her mother moved in with family in Río Negro before the massacres. “We relived everything that had happened before.” When she fled from Río Negro, the family resettled to a house with other relatives in San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz who did not want them. They lived in a bamboo shack without food or water and were treated as though they were guerrilleros. In 1984, Josefa arrived in Pacux with her uncle. Her parents arrived separately in Pacux later that year.

Since 1984, Josefa has become increasingly active in her community. She began to weave when she was nearly twelve and has been making huipils and belts ever since. Her main contributions are related to health. “I am leading my community in the fight against disease.” Josefa is currently a health promoter in Pacux and charge of five health workers and one midwife.  She receives training through a government program every two weeks and then gives capacity building workshops to her staff. As part of job, she is in charge of vaccination campaigns and conducts an annual census in Pacux. She also updates the community maps every few months to follow people as they are born, marry, migrate, move or die. 

Josefa wove two textiles in memory of her great grandparents, and her husband’s twenty-one year-old sister, Narcisa, and his six year-old sister, Juana, who were tortured and strangled in Pak’oxom and Los Encuentros, respectively.

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