Dollie lady and many time Dollie Ambassador Deirdre Roney traveled to the border town of Ciudad-Juarez, along with a group of persons who advocate for women and children victims of domestic violence.
Here is her story:
We visited Sin Violencia A.C., a maximum security domestic violence shelter in Ciudad-Juarez, Mexico. It had high walls topped with electrical fencing, full time security and a guard tower, a few opaque windows and an elaborate security system. Inside, determined women and their children live together for several months, matriculating through healing, empowerment, survival and skills programs. Excellent, caring therapists, teachers and social workers support them as they move forward to healthier, safer lives of hope and perhaps even opportunity.
Yet, the days can be long in this confined place. Spirits can sink. The women and older children say they sometimes feel judged, marginalized and forgotten.
So when visitors make a journey from far away to share time and gifts with them, it is a special occasion. To prepare for our visit, the women and children dressed in their very best, styled their hair and makeup and tidied their surroundings.
For their safety, we could not photograph them but we wish we could, because they were radiant and beautiful.
We were warmly welcomed. We explained that our Dollies and Teddy Bears were created by a community of women who include mothers of newborns, mothers of teenagers and young adults, grandmothers, friends and neighbors. Our group of women gather weekly, and while stitching and stuffing and painting, freely share with one another our concerns, our hope and our joy.
We support one another through good times and bad, just like the mothers in the shelter.
We create Dollies and Teddy Bears to express our belief that all children deserve to be loved, to have their dignity and rights respected and that women and mothers do, too. We made blankets and caps to show that the health and well-being of women and children is important and should be lovingly tended.
Each child eagerly chose their own Dollie or Teddy Bear. We clapped and cheered at every choice. Then the children selected caps. They danced and sang with their treasures, posed in their new hats, dressed and undressed the Dollies and Teddy Bears.
One child found the heart painted on her dollie and showed it to everyone.
A daughter approached her mother, “Mommy, Santa Claus didn’t come but now I have this!” She held up her Dollie. The mothers chose from among the beautiful blankets. One said, “I chose this one because the colors cheer up my heart.”
A woman who expressed an intention to help other survivors of domestic violence when she left the shelter said, “You have no idea how much this gesture means to us. It is something we cannot put into words, to know that we are seen, that someone cares about us and our children. Thank you.”
You can find Sin Violencia A.C. on Facebook and you can contact Elia Orrantia Cardenas, Executive Director,
Gratefully,
Dollie Ambassadors Chelo Alvarez-Stehle and Deirdre Roney
