Hello, my name is Manuela de ADEMKAN. We are an organization of feminist Mayan women, who seek respect for our lives, especially our bodies.

We live in a paradise, where we have favorable climates, but paradise becomes dim when the statistics reflect. From January 1 to May 5, 2021, 1,042 pregnancies in girls and adolescents aged 10 to 19 years were reported in Sololà.

15-Year-old Ada is the mother of a girl who was the product of a rape. The rapist is 34 years old and he is a cousin of her mother.

It was at dawn when she went out to leave the ground for the tortillas. She only remembers that someone covered her mouth and dragged her into the cornfield. After struggling the rapist hit her very hard. She comments the following: My ground ( grind?)  was spread on the land and my mother was already looking for me.  When she saw me she began to scold me because it was already late.

Without asking me what happened to me I yelled at her: “they hurt me”, and she asked me: who?, who? Desperate, the two of us went home.

In the afternoon she told me: “Let's never talk again about what happened to you. Remember that I am a widow and they will blame me for not taking care of you ”. Later on she kept on asking me: "Did you already get your period?". At three months I realized that I was pregnant, when I was vomiting a lot and I was very sleepy.

My mother told me to be satisfied that women have a very sad life and it is true. I'm not the same person anymore, I'm afraid of going out alone in the dark, I'm afraid of men, I think I'm never going to get married.

My message for the young women is that they have to fight to fulfill their dreams, since mine stayed at dawn. I wanted to be an accountant and have a family when I was 25 years old.

Due to the total absence of Sex Education, ADEMKAN is training and informing girls and adolescents about Sexual and Reproductive Rights. We do it to eliminate unwanted pregnancies and early marriages that often serve as solutions.

Motherhood has to be an option not a destination.