Between colors, almost perfect lines and creativity, 50 women from the Frida Kahlo Foundation They took a self-portrait, revealing their change after being victims of human trafficking and prostitution.
His artistic samples were exhibited in the gallery ‘The art of healing’, located at the Quinta Teresa Cultural Center, after completing her art therapy process.
With smiles, revealing the shine in their eyes and even with the occasional tear touching their cheeks, many of them thanked the foundation for being their safe space; the one they searched for years and finally reached.
Magaly Castañeda Rincón, director and founder of the Frida Kahlo Foundation, restoring lives – NGO, told The opinion the origin and motivation to open the doors of a space to women who have been victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and human trafficking.
His initiative to create this care center became a reality on January 17, 2020, after his cell phone did not stop ringing for months.
Many women called her and asked her not to leave them alone. Some hungry, others wanting to get out of her stormy world, but not knowing which route to follow, they asked Magaly to guide them.
This is how he started the foundation, which he also named Frida Kahlo because a woman artist like this author is an inspiration for many. She, like all the women who have come to the foundation, was also a victim of violence.
However, her light did not go out and finally her refuge was painting, where she portrayed herself because she was the one she knew best.
That is precisely what they promote in the institution, “first I know myself, I love myself and then I can love others with empowerment to not allow someone to violate my body,” said the director.
Read: Communities are waiting for the reactivation of mobile CAIs in Cúcuta
Since they began, they have assisted more than 3,500 women who have been victims of violence, among them 66% migrants and the other 34% of Colombian origin.
To make itself known and save more women, the foundation has reached brothels, bars, hotels and tolerance zones. “We do tours and they come to us there, but in some cases they come through other women who refer them,” she said. Magaly Castañeda.
Depending on the need of each one, the care route for female victims is activated. In the space there are professionals in social work, psychology, law and artists, ready to support, save, restore and reincorporate them into life.
The group started with 80 victims and now more continue to join, who through art have managed to change their routines.
The foundation is located on avenue 0A #3 – 51, in the Lleras Restrepo neighborhood.
According to its founder Magaly Castañeda, last year 44 women reported being victims of human trafficking and for this year, until April, 40 cases had been reported. Alarming figures.
“It is an under-registration because since the foundation only 5% of the women assisted decide to report, this is due to fear of their pimps or lack of trust in the institutions,” said Castañeda Rincón.
Stories in colors
With their skin standing on end and proudly pointing out their living portrait, now in color, even though they once saw it gray, 50 women from the Frida Kahlo Foundation They proudly said that they transformed their lives and although they were once afraid, now they have grown wings and hope.
With their process, some of years and others of months, they have become women dreamers, empowered and brave. Art has been his way of healing.
The members of the foundation were victims of sexual exploitation and Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Among them, there are migrant, returnee and Colombian women.
Read: Cúcuta Council gave the green light to Jorge Acevedo’s Development Plan
Isabela*, 27 years old, left her home in Venezuela in 2018. Upon arriving in Cúcuta with her teaching degree in her suitcase to look for work, she came face to face with misfortune; She was robbed and without a single peso, her only option was to sleep on the street.
Without money and without knowing the city, she started prostitution, but never told her family. Her shame never left her.
Today she is 33 years old, and her life changed, with a smile she said that now she is an entrepreneur, a dreamer, with wings of many colors and that she goes without brakes. “What I see in my portrait is that, as Frida Kahlo said: ‘They planted fear in us, they grew wings’, wings of a dreamer, entrepreneur, warrior woman and that nothing is going to be difficult for me,” she added.
Camila*, a trans woman, also a migrant, was a victim of human trafficking. One day, while she was going back and forth across the border between Colombia and Venezuela, through Villa del Rosario, as a hairdresser, she was offered another job, which she blindly agreed to without knowing that it was a human trafficking network.
There she had to prostitute herself for six months, until she was finally able to escape with a friend.
Nowadays, he dedicates himself to crafts, with his hands he now makes art and embraces his life with his creativity.
‘We don’t want to close’
Although it has been four years of welcoming and traveling through the streets of Cúcuta, so that several women can free themselves from the shadow of prostitution and violence, the foundation today faces a complicated situation, where its doors could close.
What they put together with their nails over time is about to end, because income has decreased.
Last year, they ended the childhood space they established, created for women who took their children to the foundation, and they don’t want the same thing to happen.
That is why, to try to maintain themselves, they launched the campaign through their social networks Donating Wings, where they hope that more people can continue supporting them.
*The names are fictitious.
Thanks for rating The Digital Opinion. Subscribe and enjoy all the content and benefits on https://bit.ly/SubscriptionsLaOpinion
