Informative newsletter: This newsletter is prepared within the framework of the Program to Support Initiatives of Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights Defenders, implemented by People In Need with the aim of strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) that operate in favor of Human Rights (HR) in Venezuela.
VII EDITION 2021
«This publication has been produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of People In Need and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
María Celeste, a participant in Fundación Ámbar’s program to empower women leaders who found a helping hand that led her to connect with herself and her roots, while she was facing a situation of violence and adversity
When María Celeste arrived in Caracas she was 18 years old, she came from the Orinoco in the state of Bolívar. After having been a victim of intra-family abuse in the indigenous community where she lived and becoming pregnant as a result of those abuses, María decided to flee to Caracas with the hopes of starting a new life far from her aggressor. Once settled in Caracas, as a result of economic need and the lack of livelihoods, she was captured by a sexual exploitation network that took advantage of her situation of vulnerability and for which she had to abandon her newborn son.
In this context, after suffering physical attacks that almost caused her death, María went to Ámbar in order to get help. Once the case reached the hands of the organization, María was given a safe place for her to recover both physically and emotionally. They stood by her in the process of reuniting with her family in Bolívar and supported her to get her son back. Also, and thanks to international cooperation projects, María was included in a program to strengthen women leaders. There, María received education on gender violence and human rights as well as leadership and empowerment.
All this multidisciplinary work allowed María to become a leader in her community, and thanks to her intervention in awareness-raising and reporting, it has been possible to detect multiple cases of sexual violence committed against women from indigenous communities and their subsequent reporting.
Translated by: Pascual Díaz
