VOICES FROM NICARAGUA AU.S.-Based Journal of Culture in Reconstruction Vol.1, No. 2-3 .. Nicaraguan Women _ Fighting for PeaceVoices from Nicaragua, Vol. 1, 3411 W. Diversey, Chicago, STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Co-editors — Cercle Isoocs and Julie Lesoge Poetry Translation — Interview Translation — ‘iano fokePmbstond sualehs MOD *S: Julio Lesage and Robin Semer TYPING AND TRANSCRIPTION — Linda Turner, Maryan? Oshana, Catherine Christeller Casa El Selvador, NICARAGUAN ASSISTANCE For Julia Lesage: The Erozo, jedores and its Taller de Cine Super-8; Working Women in Latin America, November 1981 here; Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, author of Taller de c For Carole Isaacs: Pat Edmunston, Pat torico, the women of Ciudad Sandino. Soravie, and Garcia families: the women who atte! we gnd who told some O| de los trabajedores 9” Father Bob Stark, the things written d founder of the Instituto His nes, Kote Pravera, ; U.S. ASSISTANCE eee Gapisinay. Renny/_Oolden, Mery. Kay Vauohows Maraqcel, Strobel. eae dasciaty Toylors Kinverly Safford, Halena Salbers-taddy Richers Circe Ruiz, Eric Berggren. hans, Marthe Pintzuk, Migdalia Galarza, Grossman, Chuck KI fon of Chicago in conjunction with the Capp Street Foundation, 0+ itis issue comes from moterials selected, edited ond translated by Rofoel Cintron Ortiz Cultural Center, as part of the Testimonial Poetry (1977-1983). The Rafael Cintron jes of programs entitled LUCA (Latinos, University, fifies as LUCA #5 at the Univ. of IL, Chicago. This isve was portially funded by the Crossroads Foundati well as by the film joumal, JUMP CUT. The poatry in ‘Tedith Motyka of the Ruiz Belvis Center ond Mare Zimmerman of the ‘ollective book in progress: Nicaragua, Insurrection and Reconsru Ortiz Center of the Latin American Studies Program produces 6 ‘Community, and Art) ond this issue of Voices from eee The poetry translators wish to thank Linda Rivera for providing the materials that made their work possible EDITORIAL BOARD OF VOICES OF ~NICARAGUA -- Mare Zimmerman, Susand sdo, Walter Urroz, Kate Pravera ‘Suscripcion--3 numeros/ Subscription (gastos del envio incluidos/ including postage & handling). BACK ISSUE: Ernesto Cardenal y otros poetas/ & other poets CONSTRUCCION/ POETRY & RECONSTRUCTION Vol. 1, Num. 1 Reconsuction (Uiteacy, Feallh, the Miliory, Foreign Intervention, ne aati by oat Randall * 125 (gastos de envio incl included) (0/Or $.50 con compra de/ with purchase of NICARAGUAN WOMEN FIGHTING FOR PEACE, I, No. 2-3. UPCOMING ISSUES: 4 Yeors of Reconstruction & U.S. Intervention (avai Revolution (oveil. 11/83). Place your orders now! fea 7/9) Sain * e100 mas de cada numero, mat $.25 gostos 1 mas $.25 por cada copia para orders of 10 or more of each Tuve, plus $.25 for each Zp seaane nite y aynres etree Con code contibucion mayor de. $20.00 Proximos numeros. o our ec it x 0.00, your name will be listed os 0 "i end" eetLearning from Our _Companeras El Carole Isaacs Julia Lesage Pee rivisiccamanagua tors month; by chance, dyeing ny month in Managua, BU ieck, ces cece sepse-o times ing the OE es cotering & rive-day seminar BOvn the’Sandinista Labor union, the c.S.7 wonen in Latin America. 1 sat BM ceetiniecs ce trebaiedsren). A Seninar and made friends vith eres vsckchor bad hoon catabiished ip on that Sem tzade union activises there. Peter unicea wacione sepport. Sow the, Micaraguay so eaperience of living ey hecsuse Kodak hae a monspoly on We ad a er five gaye, and 1 then contact eee siciis sna developing, coe ¢.5.-7- together for erveno vorked. in Hanagua. for Mpitrs haa to sena thie fostage ca oa, some of then Mcally, the conference Panama or Mexico for developing, and they provided an opportunity to interview Boros sctaye notore choy conta provided an oPPover Nicaragua, not just Be erioe these work. ats0, at Film Toe ret et the conference organizers had to be imported, so the C.S.T. could jhad forgotten to bring tapes and a micro- nae maintain the workshop economically. phone, so I loaned them mine. It was a ot tre’ cane group of three young film phones #0 oriority to give each woman Now tacnave joined together with artists Sttending a mimeographed copy of the con- from the Farmworkers Association (A.T.C.) ference proceeding. from the "Gides workshop. and consequently fe forte namesous programs shown on i mention these "hitches," because national television. In a sense, I helped gathering information in Latin America for national teleyts Video Workshop ina. tran gathering ag acd solisarity pork in the Uzs2 sitional period. In technical education, often goes by an unpredictable route. gitionsl Pearly on editing techniques Oren oeetact is usually hard to establish and alternatives to synch sound interviews, and ycu may not get together with the th as the use of music, other taped people you had planned to interview. The _ Such Ge aaterial, and background sound. At Best interviews are often gained through Sevauggestion of Amina Luna, one of the a chain of personal contacts. In my case, je suagention of Mine ton fuming 2 Fee Gato interniow the wonen in the Sits fbn'uorking women's participation dxtended Family I was, staying with so as nok tovalter the social and affectional on working in on that ‘revolution, which the group has ‘completed in video. relations between us. Furthermore, I did not interview women explicitly opposed to For the sake of solidarity work in the revolution. There is a certain logic ‘U.S., I developed a project of inter to the interview I did and a certain , Saring my stay in Nicaragua. randomness, and I understand that my worten : month's stay may not have been long enough anish is fluent, since I had worked | Peru, from 1967-70 with a lay organization. Because of liense in Lima, I knew that the Carole: My trip to Nicaragua in family unit forms the focus of February, 1982, came out of my six-month ‘emotional and social life, experience doing Central American solidar- live with a fey work. The structure of doing support Z work, with its overriding priority of i ending U.S. intervention in Central America, mado it difficult for me to learn more about the culture and the people whose struggle I was supporting. In our Group's ongoing activities, I especially missed any in-depth discussion about Central American women's roles in the evolution and the meaning of revolution men's lives there. ‘vhen I ‘to | to go beyond reportage.4 Nicaragua, 1 had a specific goal--to make & slide show about Nicaraguan wonen which Would demonstrate women's day-to-day life Jn the midst of the revolution, Before I went, 1 had only abstract, literary images in’ny head to describe wonen's experiences within a revolutionary context. I needed to hunanize these models by face-to-face contact wit! the women who embodied then. I asked myself, Sif the Nicaraguan revolution has come from the people, what does that mean in Nicaraguan wonen's lives." The slide show I would do about Nicaraguan wonen for U.S. women audiences would broaden our @ialogue about cross-cultural feminism here. While on the solidarity tour to Nicaragua, I had this.one specific goal-- to focus my photography and interviews on women’s experiences. Such a perspective Created tensions in the group of sclidar- ity workers I was travelling with. They Wanted the slide show to offor a mere Global picture of the revolution, since they believed that would make the chow more "useful" in solidarity work. However, Twas and am still committed to my @riginal concept: in conmunicatinc Nicaraguan women's concrete experiences, with all its contradictions, we denon- strate how successful the Nicaraguan revolution really is. In Nicaragua, I faced certain prac- tical obstacles in getting the material I wanted for the slide show. In the first two weeks, our group had many meet:ngs with different Sandinista ministries. Our members all had broad questions to pose, $0 only a certain small percentage of @ach interview dealt specifically with women. These interviews established an historical context and gave us a picture of the pre-and post~ revolutionary Circumstances that affected wonen's daily life in areas such as education, health, social welfare, agriculture, and religion. However, we faced a severe linitatio: only one of our group was bilingual. This made the meetings last a long time, which imposed a further burden on the people ‘being interviewed. Because of the trans- Tation process, the roles of interviewer “and interviewed renained fairly rigid, "with Little reciprocity or mutual informa~ tion sharing. In contrast, in the last two veeks, T \terviewed women individually. People jerously took four or five hours out of ix already busy day to do this. T ond individual women to interviev with of Father Bob Stark and Kate Nor jeans living and working I spoke to were a active partic- mand recon- tempered by their overall revolutionary ALL the women I spoke to Lived and vorked in Managua. The only rural woman yPopoKe at length to was a farm woman who Gane to work as a maid in the city. The Glewpoints of rural wonen are underrepre- Sented here. 1 also did not have an Opportunity to interview women who could thoughtfully and responsibly criticize the revolution. Thus, no voices of Opposition balance this picture of enthus— dastic support. our tour's formt of meeting with officials encouraged us to ask what 1 Gall tpercentage questions": How many fonen Sacticipsted in. ?\ What percent Sge'ortwonen aid what?—The meeting fornat GEscoucaged pestonal, enetional,, ana fneagrative exchanges A lot of m questions, then, deait With abortion, wetttaclam, jobs, salaries, and education Ti opporeusities, “These questions were Shapen by my experiences as a North sneeSean’¢oxinise working in an autononous ‘Gnon'a movenent that contributes to and Wetelofpaces in the seizure of state powers there is a particular forn of vonen's organizing in Nicaragua. ANLAE supports the gangiaieta government, and many high~ Ete dag miliary and governmental officials are wonen who helped found that organiza- tion "But AMLAE also has its own agenda and perspective on sexual politics. It Stee ite own policy while supporting the revolution Julia: Before I went to Nicaragua, I sent Out letters to many U-S. feminists, film scholars, and Latin American studies specialists asking for super-8 equipment, teaching materials, money, and questions to pose to Nicaraguan women. I received a little bit of money and many useful questions. The most valuable questions were those: How do you spend a typical day? Compare and contrast your life as a child with your daughter's (or your life now with your life before, or your life with your mother's). Compare men's lives and attitudes before and after the revolu- tion, How have things changed? After 1 came back, 1 read anthropol- ogist Carol stack's observer-participant study of how poor black women help each Other out in an urban community, ana the extended family networks that help them survive. Entitled all Our Kin, the book contains the questions Stack used and tells how the people in the community helped ber formulate the appropriate issues to ask about. Nostly she gained information by experiencing close, family-like ties her- self in that conmunity. 1 found our methodology quite similar. In particular, some of rt that people in the Use, wanted. te know about did not have comparable frames of reference in Nicaragua. TI had expected _ that from my experience in Lima, which hadGulture. For example, the personal al value in which a person is expected to contact with others befor: re ean This entry into socia through enotional engagement was, sonceh in Bates hope to achleve se aaron ne? family, and to a large degree I aid. 1" gneuntered a great Strengen in sosen's fies with each other in thie mlasecel entended family network, where the wonen, had to cope with Nicaragua's econoni o fardships on a day-to-day level, Four BER CeA trniiies Livea lenin two conte ot each other, and the women in these rae ielaies visitea cach other ainost every Baye the women naa cone 25 cathe Sehootey and, the vite of the houge wneie’y | Gived was a secretary in the Ministry of Seiten Relefions. Her mother case 10 cur [Piiteuse ‘every morning torcace forthe too Girls, one age four and the other tws Bethe.) the young vonan considered it a [Miiiisdship to be dalzy separacea from nex Enfant, but she could noe give up her job since iegally she had job security only fe long as she kept working, and jobs vere Be ee, shcttayes of wnive. suger | baby food, end antibiotics were on wonén's itdep and they were glad that a cupee- | arket was being bolle in choir neighbor eed, since they needed convenient Dippelngs Now tne grandmother could only | purchase breed or fruits ana vegetables | Fron street vendors who stoppes by the house every day. In Nicaragua, the traditional accept- fahce of women's domestic roles by both “Yen and women changes primarily when women Teave the domestic sphere, often at night, to become involved in collective revolu- tionary work, especially with other wonen in organizations like the block committees (the ¢.D.S.). In middle class families, “what impels women to participate actively ithe revolution? The work week in a is 55 days, which leaves Satur- day afternoon for shopping and only Sunday ora family day. The men in my extended ly were in study groups at work and tive in the ai ‘The family ‘8, but the men wanted the revolution one a communist revolution and the That was an ongoing, Lively, ion evolutionarily active ted in the longer inter~ zine, spend much of ‘Litias and mass organ ional sexual division Er sented by as th, still reflects “number of Sandin- in Nicaragua. have Photo by NICARAUC are not as satisfying to them as full-tine childrearing would be. Carole: I heard people speak in a very different context, mostly in meetings Where the contact was more reserved and the people interviewed were careful to pre- sent the correct line. The domestic workers' union organizers gave us a ver’ werkPiscerview, bee when wa went to the” women's organization, ANLAE, the organizers. were very guarded because they had a history of talking to foreign feminists and becoming upset by what those wonen later wrote. ALL this changed when we met with wonen in their houses: Norma, Juanita, Gulia, and Marta. By then I had learned to ask operi-ended, holistic questions such as, "Describe your life, men's lives, etc., before and after the revolution." Talking to Julia, Juanita, and Marta, we spent the whole afternoon sitting around Julia's house on the bed and on chairs. We talked for two hours, and then the women began to ask questions about the United States. Finally, Julia, who had been sick, working too hard, and depressed at being alone; said, "Well, it's really fine for us all fo spend an afternoon talking like this." Even though we had been talking through a translator, I had the sense of a real emotional connection and intellectual exchangs gulia: I think the peole I worked oe with Inthe labor union thought less of *‘ ne bocause I wae living with a middle claes Family, even though the employed people in that family were all working for the Sandinista governnent. Certainly when 7 visited my co-worker Anina Luna's family Qnd intervsewed her mother, Maria Luisa Bermodez, it was in this working class family thet 1 glimpsed what a truly revolu- tionary transformation of family relations might mean. among middie, class people t found a neaiehy auepicioy/ of revolutionary oppor PeRISeY “GiEyhea seen too many men Puck foes cyan’ che day of he, telumph and Welares sin'a sandiniste,* and then get | Gegosa‘desk Job. in zact, ‘because the Befeiueion so needs middic class people’ tevpiet ehaveaverae might throw ine iets exera tt an more sandinisea than thous? snd advance rapialy. the wonen tee living with vere both realistic and Pesenéful about that aspect of the revolu- See ‘The standard of living among the salaried middle class in public sector jobs in Managua is not like that of its middle class social counterpart in the U.S. ‘and Europe. None of the houses in this extended family were really finished by our standards. My room had one bare light bulb which I turned on or off by screwing and unscrewing it. In the bathroom, the Shower head was broken and I took a’ shower by filling up a plastic laundry basket in the shower stall with a hose from the patio. Damage done during the fighting Was too expensive to repair. 1 mention these details because few people, when they read or hear in the media about Nicar- agua as “supplying arms to revolution in El Salvador,” realize how materially poor Nicaragua ag an entire country is. What anazed me was the genuine harmony among the family members I lived with, ‘They enjoyed being together. T heard no fights among then as long as 1 was there. It was not like middle class family life in the U.S. We would all sit around in what seemed to me to be a “eroyded living-dining area and watch tele: ision afte: supper, but at any tine I or ‘Of the others, including the maid, ula go inzo our rooms and shut the door, “with no explanation needed. Everyone sted the need for privacy. I had never even travelled ico. Material conditions in the rd Worid cane as a shock to me. I had otographs of South America and had led through parts of the rural U.S. where poverty is intense. But the ewith what I was used to seeing, ‘Lood of sensations ‘fron a very mater ity, overwhelmed me. t could be salvaged yorsa, anythin go saved and used. Yor another use was eg a Paiiaistciyed iengehenkiechen, witan Looked Whe a closet with a few pots hanging 0 like wali. While standing in that space, the ,ough about how many people she prepare heals for there every day. Bverything near ected with family living in Julia's fouse went on in @ very small area, and all novssities overlapped. The children played aScrywhere; a man was sleeping on a cot in the Zorner; the walls did not connect to the roof, so all the sounds from outside poured in. But I sensed a whole flow and Pattern to the overlapping activities there. tn Juanita's house, near Julia's, fifteen people constructed a wonderful life for themselves in a 15" by 50' room, made Out of just the bare material bones. Socially, you could see the family units Scattered throughout the house and yard. fhe women cooked in a cooking shed outside, Thave thought a lot about this contradic~ tin between these people's rich social felations and minimal living comfort. 1£ Thad stayed longer, I would have liked to See how problens were resolved around such $SSues as working adults getting enough sleep while children were playing all sround them. I sensed that the revolution had brought these families tranquility, if not much material gain. With no more political oppression’ and fear, and with Realth care and education and the satis- faction of basic needs, interpersonal stress had diminished.” Furthermore, mothers changed from thinking of themselves 28 powerless to understanding their role in constructing a new society. ‘That had happened to these women and had had a positive effect on their families. Eun eer see Cae eae ages acc I found myself very emotion: \ volved in these interviews and’ in ay trib fe Nicaragua. | had just been fired as a university teacher for the third tine in {Our year for being a marxist and nist, and I had gotten bronchitis from (CONTINUED ON P.47) x :a8 participate actively in unions, the militia, Block committees, the church, and AMLAE Sandinista mothers often sacrifice tine with their families in order to build a future for their children, and many child~ Fen also participate in the same areas as their parents, But what about children who do not? Won't children someday be saying, Where were you when I needed you?" and establishing their wn privatized families in reaction when they marry (Carole: 1 am anxious to get feedback about thts publication. The women in the Getly cautious about giving interviews iany foreigners had visited them with 2 voyeuristic interest in the rehabilitation Be"erostitutes, but the Corinto women said Séthing had ever come of all the inter~ jen In a sense, we have views they'a ¢ taken on a double task--to represent the Nicaraguan women fairly and to ci icate the Nicaraguan experience to our readers in terms which are culturally understand~ able here. We hope the Nicaraguan women's fevolutionary voice comes through clearly neross translation and cultural difference SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES. Publications thot regularly publish information about Nicoragua are the follo The Guordion: The Independent Redical Newsweekly, NACIA: Report on the Americas, ISI W. I9th St, NYC, JUMP CUT: A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY CINEMA regularly features articles on films from the Third World fond on films used in soliderity work. OF porticulr trest is « round-up article describing the docunentories avcilable on the Nicaraguan revolution and reconstruction, A SLIDE "For Our Urgent Use: Films on Central America," by Julia Lesage in issue no. 27 (1983). Teaching materials related to the subject of Nicaraguan women that we find most useful are the film by Helena Solberg-Lodd and the International Women's Film Project, FROM THE ASHES: NICARAGUA TODAY, distributed by Document Associates, 2Il E. 43rd St., NYC, NY 10017; the book of interviews with Sandinista women by Margaret Randall, Sandino's Daughters, edited by Linda Yeno, Toronto and Vancouver: New Star Books, 198l ; cond our own slide show, bazed on the interviews in this magazine (see od below) Revolutionary Mothers SHOW ON WOMEN AND DAILY LIFE IN NICARAGUA BY JULIA LESAGE AND CAROLE ISAACS Sound track with translations from interviews with Nicaraguan women and Nicoraguan music and images of daily life ot home ond at work. Available in video in winter 1983-84. Accompanied by speaker. Julio Lesage Carole Isoacs 2620 N. Richmond 2908 N. Seminary Chicogo, IL 60647 Chicogo, IL 60657 312-252 6616 312-248-9774