Director of CoMadres visits the east coast

Here's a story from the Journal of International Affairs at The New School,  about Patty, the director of CoMadres, who visited New York, Boston, and Washington DC last month. Patricia Garcia, director of CoMadres, talks about the work of the committee and her experiences during the civil war.

Slow progress

I'm getting very anxious because I go back to work (knock on wood) in late August and the book is not coming together. I'm nearing the sheer panic stage, but trying hard to not let this feeling spiral out of control.
Inez and I made a new and improved outline. It feels simpler, but maybe it's just because I broke the book up into more chapters. One concern we have is that the book be readable to folks who don't have a college education, and for that reason we want each chapter to be fairly short and to have a clearly identifiable focus. Also I just couldn't seem to make it work using the previous outline. So far this one is working better.

Yesterday Heider, my transcriber/editor/Spanish tutor extraordinaire helped me write an intro to chapter 3. It  is just a simple straight-forward paragraph that lays out what's in the chapter and it's very satisfying to have that done.

Now I'm editing chapter 4, which is a compilation of stories of how various women came to be involved with CoMadres. I am reading the testimony of Transito. She talks about how happy she was to join the comité, that once she put on the black dress that was their uniform she wasn't afraid any more. How she was homeless, but found a piece of vacant land and built a champa or shack on it of cardboard and plastic sheeting for the roof, and how happy she was because during the day she would work in the CoMadres office and at night she had her little champita to go to.

Here's part of Transito's story:    They (the mothers) had gone out in a large march because some people had been captured and they were demanding their release. So I said to myself, "Here comes some activity." I was standing on the corner and I joined in. I saw that they were all in black. "Oh so this is the Committee of Mothers!" I said. So I went and talked to them. The compañeras greeted me because I told them I wanted to join. They told me, "Yes, join us." Well, I was happy because I had joined the committee. Later we went out, everyone giving out flyers where we asked for the liberty of those who had been taken prisoner. That's when I felt happy. "This is my place," I said, "here is where I'll stay."

Transito: from an interview in 2007) Ellas habían salido en una gran marcha porque habían capturado gente y ellas andaban reclamando. Entonces dije yo, “Viene una actividad,” y yo estaba así en una esquina, y me incorporé. Vi que iban todas de negro, “Ah pues, esto es el Comité de Madres,” dije yo. Bueno  yo llegué y platiqué. Las compañeras me recibieron bien porque yo les dije que yo me quería incorporar. Mi dijeron, “Sí. Incorpore.” Bueno, yo feliz porque me había incorporado con ellas. Vaya luego salimos, todos andábamos reyando volantes, donde se pedía libertad de los que estaban presos. Ahí yo me sentía feliz. “Este es mi lugar,” dije yo, “aquí me voy a quedar.”