 Grantee Highlights
Tengo Voz Base (I Have A Voice Collective) by Mandy Junman Huang Tengo
Voz (I Have a Voice) received a grant from Mary's Pence in June 2010. Mandy was
an intern at Mary's Pence this summer. Mandy is from Mainland China, and is a
student at Hong Kong University. She was
studying at the City University of New York. The following essay is
based on discussion with Rev. Rincon, the Executive Director of Tengo
Voz. Tengo Voz (I Have a Voice) was formed in 2004 and supports
Latino women through use of the arts, spirituality and education. They
applied for a grant because their vision of empowering women to change their
lives was reflected in Mary's Pence grant criteria, including the understanding that organizations will grow and change over
time. Currently Tengo Voz is
transitioning leadership to the women of the Latina community.
Tengo Voz members and family  | The Tengo Voz
Base Project was initiated from a desire to truly empower women and cultivate their
leadership potential. The organization's
direction is determined by the women themselves in response to their assessment of
their personal needs as well as the needs of their community.
There are many
stories about how Tengo Voz Base has impacted women. Over the years, Tengo Voz has answered hundreds of calls
from women in crisis.They offer the practical assessment of the situation
while at the same time delving deeply into the spiritual crisis of these women
who had been subject to years of oppression. Although the women seemed voiceless, one could
still see that their ability to persevere meant that they were leaders that
simply needed encouragement and support in order to realize the potential of
their strength and creativity.
Recently, a woman called one of our
advocates and explained how she had been living in a domestic violence
situation for years but that lately it was worse, and he was hitting her more
often. Within hours, the advocate called another advocate and they scheduled
a time to meet with the woman needing intervention. They created a plan
including immediate safety action, housing, an immigration lawyer, as well as medical
and emotional support. It took less than a week for them to
find the woman a fully furnished apartment. Soon, they
sat in her new home as she cried and gave thanks for all the support, saying
that now she understood the work of Tengo Voz. She offered that as her life
improved she would like to learn and acquire the skills for helping other women
find their voice and liberation. There are many stories like this one and as the community grows the work of Tengo Voz must also be expanded.
The beauty of this work is that it creates a collective of
advocates who can also be there for one another in many aspects of their lives,
not just in the work of Tengo Voz.
Tengo Voz group session
 | Another example of impact: Some years ago, Tengo Voz offered an art workshop in which
the women made molds of their faces. They were then asked to share how wearing
the mask and or taking the mask off made them feel. The responses were amazing;
they mostly wanted to remove the mask, to feel liberated and no longer hide who
they were, and to feel that they could be included in their communities. In some
cases, the women gave voice to years of abuse and unspoken struggles. They
shared how they felt and what resources they did or didn't have to help them in
their struggle. The group dynamics also provided them with the knowledge that
they were not alone in their situations.
Assisting women with urgent unmet needs in
the Latino Community is not an easy thing, with the deconstruction of systemic
barriers and the fight against oppression posing the biggest problems. Most of the women who seek help from Tengo Voz know that
something isn't right in their lives, but are not always able to define the
problem or do not possess the resources to create needed changes in their
lives. This is why the work of Tengo Voz is so essential. The hardest part of the
work is that there currently are not enough advocates to service a rapidly
growing Hispanic community. Tengo Voz is still a grassroots organization.
The grant from Mary's Pence has helped Tengo
Voz to develop Spanish
language protocols for accessing services in areas ranging from immigration, health
care, domestic violence and employment, all supported with ongoing leadership
training for Base women and cultural brokering for the mainstream community
(especially those organizations delivering services to our clients). This is
a major step in handing the tools of advocacy to the women of Base. The process
of developing these protocols and trainings will in itself be a model of
self-empowerment, because each step of the process will be defined and
determined by the women themselves, in response to their understanding of their
needs. Once the protocols are in place and the trainings completed, we will
have successfully created a team of advocates that are skilled, resourced, and
ready to serve the wider community. Each woman who is served by these advocates
is another potential advocate herself.
Learn more about Tengo Voz at: http://www.tengolavoz.org/
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Issues of Justice
Living Nonviolence
 Hildegard Goss-Mayr lived peace, taught nonviolence in war
torn countries, and was present during the formation of some of the great
nonviolent movements in recent history. Her first stance against violence and
evil was in 1942, when as a school girl she refused to salute the Nazi in Vienna after it was taken
by the Third Reich. In the 60's she was part of a peace lobby involved in Vatican II Council along
with Dorothy Day and others. She worked
in the 60's and 70's in Latin America,
providing a biblical and philosophical basis for nonviolence resistance,
supporting Firmeza Permanente- relentless persistence. In the 80's her
teachings led to the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. She's worked in
Eastern Europe and Africa, and is active in
interfaith peace movements including Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Promotion of Peace
is one of the 10 themes of Catholic
Social Justice. Hildegard Goss-Mayr
lived this message fully. You can read
more about Catholic Social Teaching at
http://www.osjspm.org/catholic_social_teaching.aspx
You can read more about Hildegard's life in the book Marked for Life: The Story of Hildegard
Goss-Mayr by Richard Deats, published by www.newcitypress.com
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Action For Mary's Pence
Giving Tree During Advent
 If your faith community has a Giving Tree during the Advent season please include Mary's Pence. By including Mary's Pence you will:
* Sustain women's groups
working to change the world
* Increase women's voice and
economic well being
* Support women in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean
* Provide a focus on social
justice, a balance to charity
* Change the world for the
better, for the long term.
It's a great way to spread the word about Mary's Pence and get others
involved.
Contact us at 718-720-8040 or inbox@maryspence.org
and we will provide talking points and written materials to use to approach
your faith community, educational materials for individuals, and colorful tags
to display on your tree.
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Mary's Pence - Who Are We?
We are a small organization with a big vision. We want women in the Americas living in poverty to have a say and a hand in how poverty can be alleviated and social equity achieved. Therefore we invest in local women who are creating models to increase women's economic status and improve their status in their community. We look for models that foster women working together, to learn from each other, support each other, and explore new ideas. We fund women in North, Central and South America.
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Prayerful Reflection
Faith
To know without proof
The deepest knowing
That God is here
And all is and will be
Right with the world
In the face of pain
And fear and failure
Trauma, trials and tests
To go beyond what can be seen
And felt with senses all
Too primitive
To see with the soul
With the clearest sight of all
That God is within
And God always knows what's best
To know what God gives
Is always what we need
No more, no less
Perfect balance
Perfect sorrow, perfect joy
To still the voices inside
That scream and push and fight and rush
To sit very still and quiet
Open, empty and serene
Then...
To be filled to the brim
With deep soul knowing
That within,
Soulsearcher
You have found you perfect peace
-by Nicole Wright, a Mary's Pence staff member, from Soulsearcher: A Poet's Journey, published by AuthorHouse, 2005
www.AuthorHouse.com
Photo by Justine Cudel
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