{"id":6532,"date":"2026-02-19T04:25:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/?p=6532"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:29:42","slug":"lending-a-friendly-hand-legal-promoters-in-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/lending-a-friendly-hand-legal-promoters-in-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"Lending a Friendly Hand: Legal Promoters in Guatemala"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a young wife and mother, Luz Elizabeth \u201cLux\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez endured domestic violence from her husband. Then, she recounts, \u201cMy husband started getting sicker and sicker.\u201d When he passed away, she was left with two young daughters, an 18-month-old toddler and an infant of six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis family knew what he died of, but they never told me,\u201d she says. \u201cThen the doctor from the hospital sent me an order to get tested for HIV.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lux was tested at Project Life, founded in Guatemala in 1994 by Maryknoll Sisters Delia \u201cDee\u201d Smith<\/a> and Jean Yamashiro<\/a> (who later retired and returned to the United States) for people at risk of HIV\/AIDS. The result was positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her daughters were left impoverished, Lux says, and her late husband\u2019s family treated her with \u201ccruel discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Life became a beacon of hope for the young widow. With the organization\u2019s support, Lux began taking antiretroviral medications, which stabilized her condition. She participated in programs that taught her how to live with the virus. \u201cThanks to the mutual support groups, I got more involved. I kept on learning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lux, who had studied only up to sixth grade, went back to school. She attained her high school diploma and certificate in practical nursing. A decade after joining the Project Life staff, Lux earned another certificate: she is a community legal promoter, educating and helping others to advocate for their rights.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLux and I complement each other,\u201d Sister Dee<\/a> says. \u201cI\u2019m a teacher with a background in pedagogy. When we give workshops, I facilitate. But Lux speaks from experience. She\u2019s a survivor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A new community legal promoter from the second cohort proudly shows her diploma. Many women in the training program run by Maryknoll Sister Delia \u201cDee\u201d Smith have not had opportunities for formal schooling. (Octavio Dur\u00e1n\/Guatemala)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The missioner glows with pride as she describes her team. \u201cThey\u2019ve walked with me, I\u2019ve walked with them,\u201d says Sister Dee, who has served in Guatemala for 33 years. \u201cWe\u2019ve discovered this common mission of service and accompaniment of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bielman Ju\u00e1rez Ambrocio volunteered with Project Life from an early age, giving health education talks to other youth. In addition to offering free HIV testing and prevention programs, he says, Project Life campaigned for the opening of HIV\/AIDS clinics in the area\u2019s national hospitals. \u201cCoatepeque (in the department, or state, of Quetzaltenango) was the only clinic to cover this large zone,\u201d he says. In 2009 and 2014 clinics were opened in the neighboring departments of San Marcos<\/a> and Retalhuleu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bielman, who completed an internship with Project Life in 2013 and joined its staff a year later, explains, \u201cWe were working with the personnel of the HIV\/AIDS clinics to ensure that patients received adequate care, without discrimination, because sometimes doctors and nurses mistreated HIV-positive people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Project Life has widened its focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were seeing so much violence against women in our rural areas\u201d at the hands of spouses, in-laws and relatives, Lux says. \u201cWomen who had been beaten would go to the clinics, and the doctor would just give them medicine without referring them elsewhere to address the violence they were living with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea arose to offer trainings so that women are empowered and know their rights,\u201d Lux says, \u201cand also become leaders in their communities.\u201d These leaders \u2014 called legal promoters \u2014 help other women, as well as men and children, to access services and to denounce violence or discrimination to authorities. Certified herself in 2019, Lux is key to the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Left
Left to right: Marion Barrios, Bielman Ju\u00e1rez Ambrocio, Luz Elizabeth \u201cLux\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez, Santos V\u00e1squez Hidalgo and Carlos Humberto L\u00f3pez, of Proyecto Vida (Project Life) and Hospicio Santa Mar\u00eda, organized the graduation ceremony in the town of Pajapita, in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. (Octavio Dur\u00e1n\/Guatemala)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur job is to identify (leaders) and train them about their rights so that they know the law, so they feel confident accompanying others,\u201d says Bielman, who is studying for degrees in law and pedagogy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the team launched the community legal promoters training program seven years ago, two cohorts have graduated. Candidates for the course come from the three departments where Project Life works. The first cohort yielded 20 graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no other group like this in the entire area,\u201d said Mar\u00eda Azucena P\u00e9rez G\u00e1lvez, who works for the municipal prosecutor\u2019s office, at the graduation ceremony for the second cohort. \u201cThey lend a friendly hand.\u201d She noted that 75% of Guatemalan women are victims of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training for the two cohorts was funded by UNAIDS and Misereor (the German Catholic Bishops\u2019 Organisation for Development Cooperation). However, since UNAIDS has lost half its funding<\/a>, which had come from the now-discontinued U.S. Agency for International Development<\/a>, Project Life is seeking other sources of support to launch a third cohort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Life maintains its offices at Hospicio Santa Mar\u00eda, a residential hospice and organic farm for HIV\/AIDS patients cofounded by Sisters Dee and the late Maryknoll Sister Marlene Condon<\/a> in the small town of Pajapita, San Marcos. Workshops take place in the property\u2019s large conference room. \u201cSome women leave home at 4 in the morning to get here,\u201d Sisters Dee says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program uses simple but effective teaching techniques. \u201cWe don\u2019t hand out a lot of material, because our first methodology is for participants to express themselves and draw on the resources they already have,\u201d Sister Dee says. Role play, dynamics and case studies support the curriculum: \u201cMany of the women do not read or write well, but they have the capacity to listen and retain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important skill they work on, she continues, is the ability to speak up for themselves or on behalf of others \u2014 not an easy task for women without much formal education. The 18 women of the second cohort, she says, \u201cdeveloped dexterity in expressing themselves publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sister
Sister Smith, Project Life staff members, new legal promoters and local government representatives celebrate the graduation of the second cohort on Aug. 15, 2024. The promoters, who come from the three departments where Project Life works, will accompany victims of violence and discrimination in their home communities. (Octavio Dur\u00e1n\/Guatemala)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mentorship continues after graduation. The legal promoters are guaranteed two and a half years of guidance, Sister Dee says, to strengthen them in their roles. \u201cFor example, if someone in the community says her husband abandoned the home and has not been paying child support, the legal promoter can call Lux and ask, \u2018I have this case, where should I take the woman, what proceedings are needed?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nancy Mart\u00ednez, who graduated in 2022 with the first cohort, overcame her spouse\u2019s initial opposition and went on to assist several women in situations of domestic violence<\/a>. \u201cYou have to start in your own home, from the inside out, to be a good promoter,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd you have to gain the victims\u2019 trust. People have come to my house for help at one or two o\u2019clock in the morning.\u201d She adds, \u201cNow my husband says to me, \u2018I admire you, because you learned to be a woman who defends others.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karina S\u00e1nchez, who graduated with the second cohort two years later, says that in her community people often hide the violence or discrimination they experience. They suffer in silence, she says. \u201cI have put myself at their service,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen they decide to speak up, we are there to accompany them, so they know they will be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A promoter from the second cohort who is HIV positive, identified here by her first name, Luc\u00eda, had been turned out of the house by her two sons and daughter-in-law. They were afraid<\/a>, she says, to eat with her at the table. \u201cI gave them a lot of advice from the program,\u201d Luc\u00eda says. \u201cI learned, and I also taught my community.\u201d Although she still lives elsewhere, now her sons welcome her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lux \u2014 who had gone through similar problems \u2014 working for Project Life brings its own reward. \u201cIt motivates me to see these two groups of designated legal promoters,\u201d she says. \u201cThey go back to their communities to help other women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image: Luz Elizabeth \u201cLux\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez (left) and Maryknoll Sister Delia \u201cDee\u201d Smith (right) formally instate a candidate as a community legal promoter, conferring a vest, identification badge and diploma. The program led by Lux and Sister Dee culminated in a graduation ceremony for 18 participants on Aug. 15, 2024, in the town of Pajapita in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. (Octavio Dur\u00e1n\/Guatemala)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Maryknoll sister in Guatemala and her team train women in poor communities to become advocates known as community legal promoters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_eb_data_table":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,25],"tags":[2247,2590,2052,389,291,2250,2591,2589,2592,1197,1198,2594,2596,2257,2595,916,2593],"class_list":["post-6532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-departments","category-featured-stories","tag-bielman-juarez-ambrocio","tag-community-legal-promoters","tag-discrimination","tag-domestic-violence","tag-hiv-aids","tag-hospicio-santa-maria","tag-jean-yamashiro","tag-karina-sanchez","tag-luz-elizabeth-lux-hernandez","tag-maryknoll-sister-delia-dee-smith","tag-maryknoll-sister-marlene-condon","tag-nancy-martinez","tag-pajapita","tag-pajapita-san-marcos-guatemala","tag-project-life","tag-u-s-agency-for-international-development","tag-unaids-and-misereor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLending a Friendly Hand: Legal Promoters in Guatemala - 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The program led by Lux and Sister Dee culminated in a graduation ceremony for 18 participants on Aug. 15, 2024, in the town of Pajapita in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. 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