Library
In our two bases, we have extensive libraries that are open
to the public five days a week. It offers the possibility to
read, to consult and to borrow both adults’ and children’s
books, magazines and newspapers. We equally offer each
month a reader’s circle, where one book is discussed indepth, always with a gender perspective
Book Forum: Activity that promotes literature from a gender
perspective.
Video Forum: Activity that promotes audiovisual material, that
seeks to foster critical consciousness
Events and Publications
We would like to highlight some of the organization´s
events and crucial publications that relate to our work with
the community, as well as to events with other
organizations.
Publications:
Agenda Mujeres
Since more than 20 years, the Casa Cultural is designing and selling
a calendar. Each year, a different topic is dealt with by means of
reflections, poems, recommended books and movies, drawings and
comical cartoons. The production of these calendars is a collective
project by cultural groups and women’s organizations. Therefore,
we collaborate with them in advertising and selling the calendar. It
is sold to many different organizations and individuals in Colombia,
but also in Germany, Spain and Switzerland. If you are interested in
buying the latest edition, please contact us.
Articles:
Articles can be found on the Spanish version of our homepage,
unfortunately only available in Spanish.
Events:
Updates on the latest Events can be found on the Spanish version
of our homepage, unfortunately only available in Spanish.
Mission
In present Colombia and the world, we reaffirm our support for women,
in midst of a patriarchal and capitalist society that excludes us. We opt for
the children that build our present and future.
We contribute to the strengthening of social protection from a gender
perspective. We promote and support groups of women and children,
reinforcing their self-esteem and strengthening their rights, encouraging
social and political participation in their neighborhoods and communities.
We educate women, girls and boys, teaching values such as solidarity and
equity from a gender perspective.
Therefore, we convene, organize and lend support to groups and
communities of women, that seek to foster critical consciousness and
autonomous development in the different aspects of their personal, their
social, and family lives.
Vision
We work from a critical perspective of active resistance to the patriarchal
system. Our priority is the work with women and children, especially
those with few resources, being committed to the values of equity,
diversity and empowerment.
We believe in the importance of environmental protection and a better
quality of life for all in a healthy communion with the natural world. We
situate ourselves in the periphery and embrace resistance as well as
alternative ways of thinking.
Sorority as the horizon
We want to define our horizon as the horizon of sorority. In order to
create a society where the traces of women are rendered visible, it is
indispensable to liberate the women from their captivity. Women, that
have been marginalized and abused for centuries, and whose memory of
gender has been eliminated or distorted, cannot exert their rights and
contribute with their share, as long as they have not recuperated their
being, their identity.
In light of this, opting for the women, assumes to support and trigger
processes where these women find and discover themselves. Only if they
transform into complete and conscious individuals, we can think of a
world where social, affective, political and economic relations are
different, only then can we think of a different and transformed world. A
world in which the dominating dynamics are not those of power and war
but those of collaboration and protection.
It is necessary to heal these women from their feminine heritage, to have
them meet with their mothers, their grandmothers, their aunts, their
bigger sisters… to have them regain their pride of women’s traditions. Yet,
it is equally necessary to repair the tradition of women in history, in
society, in politics, in the church, in education. The woman will discover
that she needs real and credible mirrors where she can observe and
discover herself. Memory is something inherited and constructed, it is
something inevitable in the creation of subjectivity. In this new century,
the women from Cali’s poor neighborhoods are only beginning to
construct this memory.
However, the transformation is slow, it is marked by challenges and
drawbacks, full of doubts, pain and happiness. Nevertheless, it is a process
that once discovered, it will not be abandoned. It is a process in the long
term, and every day, sorority between women will be discovered and
reinforced. Sorority will be transforming into a methodology, in the objective,
in stages. Sorority is the tool which will bring us the new world that we
dream of.
Our evolution…
In 1976, we originally began with the name of “Centro Cultural Popular
Melendez” thanks to a initiative by laic Christians and religious women that
sought to combine the Christian belief with political action. The first initiative
was the creation of a popular library, accessible to the entire community.
In 1979, a second office was established in the same area of the city, in the
“Comuna 18”, in a neighbourhood that received displaced population and
that is nowadays called Prados del Sur. In 1980, a third office was established
in the neighbourhood of San Marino, in the Northeast of the city, supporting
an afro-colombian community. This office closed again in 1994.
In 1980, we became legally a NGO of popular character. Over time we
evolved, always seeking to respond to the needs of the people in the given
circumstances. Increasingly, we shifted our priority from teenagers to
women, understanding each day better their situation and marginalization in
this capitalist and patriarchal society.
Our evolution…
In 2005, we conducted an auto-evaluation of our entire approach. As a
result, we re-structured, emphasizing the importance of having a gender
perspective as well as decentralizing our work, thereby reaching also the
population at the periphery. We also adapted our methodology, reaffirming
our vocation of community-based feminist education. Various groups of
feminine auto-consciousness in different localities were initiated, either in
private houses or community buildings of the neighborhood. Moreover, we
adopted the social name that identifies us today: Casa Cultural Tejiendo
Sororidades (Cultural House Weaving Sisterhood).
“Only those who are conscious about a problem are able to resolve
it” (Dignas, El Salvador)
We mainly operate in the Community 18, situated in the South of
Cali. These neighborhoods consist of persons and families who
have lived in the city without shelter, others were fleeing from
areas of conflict and/or poverty in rural areas, hoping to find a
better future in the city. According to the office of territorial
planning Cali, the community consists of more than 105.000
inhabitants. However, in recent years, more and more people are
coming, building provisional homes on the hills of this
neighborhood.
We have three main areas in our effort to contribute to the
education and empowerment of the women and children in the
Comuna 18 in Cali.
Women walking Towards Sorority
In order to work with the community, we accompany
women in their life, in a way that seeks to strengthen their
critical consciousness and their autonomy, their resistance
to a patriarchal society, exclusion and oppression, as well as
supporting their leadership and empowerment.
Judicial and Psychological Counseling
In order to provide a more integral service to the community,
these two services have been created in 2005. Any person of
the community can make use of it, even though it is
predominantly women who seek advice in matters such as
demands for food supplies, divorces, social service
insurances, domestic violence, sexual abuse, orientation for
the children’s education and the like. We assume that
processes of auto consciousness are strengthened with
psychological and judicial advice, enabling them to better
exercise their rights.
Artistic Groups
Dance Group Yesterday and Today, Theatre Group Creators of
Dreams, Choir Singing is Living, workshops on plastic arts
“I believe that when a women is unfolding her talent on stage, she is, if
she thinks so or not, contributing to the women’s liberation and
healing.”
Elena Águila
Since 1995, we promote and support artistic groups of theatre,
singing and folkloric dances, which seek to foster the
choreographic participation and expression of the women, and to
make them familiar and expand their knowledge on traditional
folkloric expressions. Participating in these groups has brought
them an increased appropriation and consciousness of their
bodies and their expression and an improvement in their selfesteem, since beforehand, they did not have the opportunity to
develop such artistic capabilities. Their performances are
generally collective and reflective presentations.
Within these groups, the theatre group Creators of Dreams
especially sticks out.
Artistic Groups
“Theatre enables a privileged possibility of thinking, of reflecting,
in an environment of recreation and human liberty.
Pilar Restrepo
In 2003, we initiated the idea of a Gender Theatre, working
with the methodology of collective creation. As a result, more
than 15 pieces have been presented, which deal with topics
such as gender violence, the Colombian armed conflict;
women, peace and their rights. Amongst their achievements
are the profound training in the use of their voice, body
expression, in the methodology of collective creation, gender
consciousness; and the presentation of complex theatre
pieces.
Literature Course
This activity seeks to spread and deepen feminine literature,
promoting literature by female writers with a gender
perspective, recognizing and honoring female writers that
have left an important heritage in history. It seeks to revise
and question the conventional established narrative that has
ignored women.
Handcraft
Artisanal Group “Our Hands”
A collective of girls and women. Since 1991, the Casa Cultural
has promoted this initiative through persistent capacitation,
promotion and sales of their products, equally including a
holistic education with gender perspective. The majority of
these women are single mothers with various children, that
use this option to help sustaining their families. Their
products are made of recycled and organic material, such as
leaves, wood, and fabrics. They produce cards, bags, pillow
cases, little painted (jewel) boxes, liturgical stoles etc.
Workshops in Handcrafts
This is one of our first services, offered since 1976, due to the
community’s necessity, especially women’s needs, to learn
something that would provide them with additional economic
income. In these workshops, it is also sought to create room
for conversations, encouraging the creation of friendships and
support between each other, strengthening the women’s selfesteem
Digital Alphabetization
It seeks to introduce the women into the use of new
technologies of information and communication, encouraging
facilitation and appropriation of the latter.
Workshops on specific Topics
Such as rights of the woman, health, historical memory,
feminine spirituality, peace.
Spiritual Groups – Tai Chi
Our strive to offer opportunities to heal is a product of our
participation in the American Network and NGO International
Capacitation (Watsonville, California, United States). “The
vision of Capacitation is to encourage and create peace,
healing and transformation of the world. Capacitation
believes that through listening, responding and living with the
wisdom of body-mind-spirit, it is possible to heal, to become
empowered and to transform life itself, that of one’s family, of
the community and of society. (Manual: Trauma: healing and
transformation. Patricia Mathes Cane). With this philosophy
we create permanent programs in different localities in the
Comuna 18, where simple practices of healing, development
of leadership and individual development are practiced, in
order to empower these women by means of their own
strength and wisdom.
Feminine Club
This program was initiated in 1992 as a means to integrate
three important aspects of the lives of the women from Cali’s
poor neighborhoods: education, recreation and integration
with gender perspective. It is an open and flexible space,
since participation is achieved through the appropriation of
the program and not by prescribed norms.
Over the years, we have dealt with various topics, whose
objectives were always the strengthening of the women’s
self-esteem, the education and consolidation of their rights,
knowledge and care about their bodies and their health. This
program has grown and has spread to different localities in
the community, to such an extent that there are presently
seven groups.
Coffee and Conversation
It seeks to trigger dialogue, conversation and reflections on
the women’s life stories and the historic context, encouraged
through short stories or other literal material.
Feminine Spirituality
The Casa Cultural is increasingly emphasizing the reflections
upon and formation on feminine spirituality. Feminine
spirituality enables a better consciousness of being a woman
and improves our self-esteem. It emphasizes the clear
consciousness about our rights and the impossibility to
abdicate of those. One of spirituality’s objective is our
happiness and we cannot be happy without exerting our
rights. Spirituality is a path of wisdom and love, and therefor
of justice. Our rights go hand in hand with love, with social
sorority. Our spiritual path is also a path to this claim.
Spirituality is healing because it takes us to an experience full
of liberation. This search to healing and happiness is made up
of the following activities:
 Formation in feminine spirituality: working groups,
seminars, forums.
 Participation in women’s networks and collectives
that undertake other approaches towards feminine
spirituality, especially with the Circle María from
Magdala
 Realization of material on feminine spirituality
Participation in Networks with other Women’s Rights
Organizations
We participate in different Women’s Rights Networks, that
support us in our strive to build a society of peace and equity.
Connecting in our struggle and achievements with other
women´s networks is the only manner to have a real impact
in a patriarchal society. Therefore, we participate in different
networks on a local and national level with organizations such
as:
 Red Nacional de Mujeres
 Colectivo de Mujeres Pazificas
 Ruta Pacífica de Mujeres
 Plantón de las Mujeres de Negro
 Circulo de esperitualidad y trabajo María Magdala
We equally collaborate with other movements that promote
life, human rights, respect for the environment, defense of
public services and the like. Thanks to these alliances, we
have realized various events and campaigns with regional
impact.
Step by Step we are succeeding
As a result of our extensive activities and programs, more
than 300 women participate in the Casa Cultural, who have
been successful in changing and transforming relations with
their families, their children, their friends, becoming every
day more autonomous, conscious, exercising their rights to
relax, to health and education. Many of them have reinitiated their studies. Some have left abusive family
members. The majority has committed itself to a permanent
campaign against violence against women. Each of them
embodies joy and sorority.
Our Work with Children
In the activities and programs offered, we always seek to
transmit values such as non-violence, respect for diversity
and equity, and encourage creativity.
Hour of Fairytales
An environment of imagination, of classic stories, of modern
fairytales, of invented stories, of real stories. An environment
where you learn to tell a story and to listen. The Hour of
Fairytales is a firm part of the Casa Cultural, offered once a
week for children from the age of 7 to 12 years. In this
activity, and by means of respective literature, the children
learn about values such as solidarity, equity and respect and
tolerance for diversity.
Program “The travelling barrow”
This program brings beautiful stories to different localities
such as schools, parks or streets, offering literature to any
child or adult that is interested, thereby bringing our services
also to a more marginalized population.
Handcraft
This activity seeks to strengthen the children’s artistic
capabilities in drawing, painting, and seeks to foster their
creativity and sensitivity for the aesthetic. In these activities,
children can express themselves freely, allowing them to
develop and acknowledge their artistic talents and thereby
strengthening their self-esteem.
Choir
This activity offers the children an experience of peace
through singing, dancing and playing of instruments. Through
the music, children are given the possibility to reflect upon
behavior and attitudes that promote peace on a daily basis in
their close environment.
Folkloric Dances
In this activity, the children learn traditional folkloric
Colombian dances, thereby contributing to the preservation
of Colombian tradition as well as having the opportunity to
develop their artistic talents and interests.
Holiday Programs
This program is realized once a year in both bases and in
other localities on the Community. It provides an alternative
for children in their holidays, a very popular and always long
awaited possibility for the children to enjoy days of games, of
excursions, handcraft activities, and education.
Workshops on specific topics
Throughout the year, and in accordance with crucial dates
such as Mother’s Day, the Day of the Rights of the Child or
Christmas, we offer workshops that seek to trigger reflections
on the respective subjects and its implications. These
reflections are concretized in a handcrafted piece of work
related to the topic. During Christmas time, in both bases we
set up a Christmas crib and offer the traditional “Novena
Navideña”, where nine days before Christmas, each day a part
of the Christmas story is read to the Children.