Guatemala's illiterate women realise self-worth

|PIC1|For some women, special events like birthdays are marked by the joy of receiving flowers from loved ones, a symbol of how much they are valued and cherished.

In the remote mountain villages of Guatemala's eastern highlands, one Christian Aid partner, Bethania, is working to empower illiterate women - just one of the reasons why the aid agency is celebrating International Women's Day this Saturday, March 8.

Bethania is a health clinic, established by the local Catholic Church in 1959. It serves 22,500 people in 60 villages in the municipalities of Camotán, Jocotán, San Juan Ermita and Olopa, Chiquimula province. When it was set up, Bethania was the only health centre in the region.

In Bethania's beginners reading class, women start off by making flower mirrors like those above, so that students can see their own faces, often for the very first time.

Before she made this flower mirror, 21-year-old Gloria had never seen her own face before. When she saw herself for the first time, she said: "I felt very proud, because I knew I could be beautiful."

Her mother Reyes, who is also a Bethania student, adds: "The mirror's most important meaning is that there is hope. There's a flower in all of us and we can grow. We are worth something and we can blossom, like a flower."

Brightly coloured flower mirrors now hang in humble homes across these cloud-capped peaks, helping women who were once downtrodden and withdrawn to start seeing themselves in a new light.