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Knowing Your Rights:

Yolanda Salazar Losada walks into the room, looking radiant. She has her hair pulled back and her earrings graze her shoulder blades as she talks with effervescent animation. She is full of charisma and especially pride. And throughout our time together at the community center in Huascar, which is a zone of San Juan de Lurigancho, her eyes never stray from mine. She is older than me, but Yolanda persistently addresses me as ‘Senorita,’ as if I have some sort of authoritative role, which I clearly do not. And with ease, Yolanda laughs, usually with her entire body, completely forgetting that at one time in her life, laughing was not so easy.
At the young age of 42, Yolanda has had a life more full of strife and struggle than many people will know in a lifetime. Yet she harbors no scars; emotionally. As she told me, ‘My past is in my past, I now live in the present and for the future.’
It is hard to imagine that a few years before she was involved with EDUCA, Yolanda was someone else completely.


She was born in Piura, in the north of Peru, and was raised by her two parents. She had some basic schooling until second grade, but nothing afterwards. And with her first love, at the mere age of 14, Yolanda’s life was turned upside down. She met a young man, who was much older than her (over 18 years old) and also married, but fell in love nonetheless and got pregnant. Her mother told her that as long as she separated from Carlos, the father of her child, then she would help and take care of the baby. Yolanda agreed.
Three years later, she met Luis. He was sweet and caring and Yolanda fell in love all over again. Her parents, however, heavily disapproved because while Yolanda thought Luis was a good man, he was also a drunk. She already had a three year old child at home to worry about, so her parents did not want any more problems. Yolanda wanted to live with Luis, since she would be having his child, but her parents disagreed. She and Luis escaped to San Juan de Lurigancho of Lima to live with his brother in order to start a life and a family together. They thought that by escaping the harsh realities of their past in Piura, Lima would be a safe haven. Yet, as Yolanda began to discover, her past was inescapable.
Luis began to come home intoxicated frequently. He was extremely jealous and would accuse Yolanda of betrayal and deception. He thought Yolanda was keeping up contact with Carlos because she was still in love with him. When he would scream accusations, Yolanda tried to explain that he was fooling himself; she would never leave him for Carlos – she loved him. Luis’ jealousy escalated for years and eventually he turned to physical abuse.
Unfortunately, there was no one for Yolanda to turn to. She could not turn to her parents for fear of worrying them. And she could not talk to anyone in Lima, because they were not her family and the fact that Yolanda had her first daughter out of wedlock with another man, was a secret. She could not bare the shame in her community. So she dealt with Luis’ mistreatment and abuse; she kept quiet. In order to appease Luis, Yolanda stopped leaving the house.
For many years, the behavior continued. Yolanda gritted her teeth and bore the weight of a violent household, while simultaneously maintaining all the daily chores and labors inside the home. She began to tire of Luis’ cruelty and inhumane treatment, so she suggested that they separate. She no longer wanted her children to be raised in the kind of environment where they were continually exposed to violence. What example was she setting for her children?
By then she had four children; two girls and two boys. And Luis was continuously punishing Yolanda for the mistake of her firstborn in front of the rest of the family. As far as she knew, in the patriarchal system; she had no rights as a wife, nor as a mother, and especially not as a woman.
After some years, Luis was severely injured in a car accident. None of Luis’ friends came to see him in the hospital nor did they help out with the hospital bills. Yolanda was the only one there for him. She left her kids at the house and stayed by Luis’ side during his entire recovery. Since there were no funds for his hospital bill and for his medicine, Yolanda picked up some spare money by helping out the nurses and cleaning the hospital. And Luis began to realize how lucky he was to have Yolanda.
Luis had three long months of recuperation. He could not work and make money for the family, so he took some initiative and had a friend lend him some money to buy boxes of candies so he could sell them from the door of their house. During this time period, Luis asked Yolanda for forgiveness for the past. And for the first time, Yolanda asserted herself. She told him that he should try and imagine what he has done to the family; he allowed her first child to grow up without a father figure, he transformed into another person when he drank, and he was abusive both mentally and physically. Yolanda told him, ‘I love you, but you hit me.’
A short while after this conversation, Yolanda began to notice that some people she knew in the neighborhood were spending their afternoons in the church. Curious to see what was going on, Yolanda, of her own accord, went to see what was going on. And there she found out about the program for alphabetization from EDUCA. She soon after took a test and started the program in the first level (she is now in the third). In the program she learned how to read and write; she found out that, ‘for studying, there is no age limit.’ Before learning to read and write, her children would ask her for help with their homework, but she was unable to because she had not had the schooling to help. When they were young, she would always tell them, ‘I want you to grow up to be better than me.’ She always wanted her children to have the advantage of being fully educated in order to open the gates of opportunity.
Yolanda became more and more involved in the programs of EDUCA and Progressio as she learned about her need for independence. Through many of the programs and meetings held, she learned that even though she is a woman, she too has rights. She has the same rights as her husband.
Yolanda prayed for the support and understanding of Luis and eventually, he too changed. As she bore her new knowledge as a shield, Yolanda went to Luis to explain that he could no longer abuse her or she would go to the police. Thus Yolanda began the transition from submissive wife to teacher. She began teaching her husband and children that women and men are born with equal rights and both genders must respect that. Luis thus saw that there were benefits to Yolanda’s autonomy.
Yolanda was then invited to participate in a group called The Comité Gestión,’ which is women’s group through a project at Progressio, which meets weekly to actively discuss women’s rights and their importance within the community.
The entire world had opened and welcomed Yolanda. She currently attends weekly meetings in the afternoon, almost every day of the week. Although, Yolanda is very quick to reassure that her work within the programs is not solely for the purpose of bettering herself, but furthermore for bettering her community. She wants to learn as much as possible because the more she learns, the more she is able to share with other women. ‘The women in the groups have become my family and my best friends,’ she said proudly.
Yolanda feels like she is setting a good example for her family. Dinners no longer are quiet meals; instead Yolanda starts the conversation, so the entire family is involved. Yolanda does not bear the weight of household chores alone. Her sons and husband accompany her to the supermarket and they help her clean the house. All her responsibilities are now shared amongst the entire household, which of course frees up more of Yolanda’s time to do what she loves to do: learn and study.
One time, her youngest son, who is now nine years old, asked her why there was such a drastic change in the house. He wanted to know why his father no longer yells at his mother, and why she is no longer beaten. She explained to him that, ‘the Yolanda that was hit and beaten and abused has died, and in her place there is a new woman, the new Yolanda.’


When I first met her, during a meeting of the Comité Gestión,’ the committee that meets weekly with Diana Torres, a cooperative from Progressio, Yolanda stood out in the group. Her passion was forefront and it was obvious that she was ecstatic to be there. She told me that Diana had taught her how to value herself. She has learned to be proud of herself and especially to be proud of her womanhood. It is clear for Yolanda that her future entails an involvement in politics. She has the tools and knowledge to forefront the new generation of women who are tearing down the antiquated walls of government down.
With each step towards this breach, Yolanda is most thankful for the fact that she lives alongside her husband as an equal partner. Yolanda goes to meetings and she feels comfortable sharing about her traumatic past life. Because she no longer sees herself as a victim. Yolanda is a survivor.