31 Jan Women’s Dreams or Sueños de mujeres
Several years ago, through our educational project in the Régulo neighborhood on the outskirts of Montevideo (Uruguay), we formed a group of women. Most of them are mothers of the children who participate in the spaces we offer. Through these connections, we began to bond, get to know each other, and take our first steps together in the effort to support one another and grow as a community.
From the beginning, it has been a space where we enjoyed meeting each other, and where the phrase resonated strongly: “How wonderful to have this group to take some time for ourselves!”
This year, perhaps as a sign of our growth as a group, we had the opportunity to apply for “Fortalecidas Juntas” (Empowered Together), a program by the Municipality of Montevideo that supports women’s groups in vulnerable contexts like ours.
This allowed us to take part in a planning process, represented by two women from our group, gain access to training opportunities, and develop a project together.
We embarked on a beautiful journey, imagining what we wanted to create. The first step was choosing a name that would give us identity. Until then, we had called ourselves the “Mothers’ Group.” However, during a recreational outing, almost spontaneously, the name that would define us from then on was born: “Sueños de Mujeres” (Women’s Dreams). From that moment, we realized that this name truly represents us.
We applied for the Municipality’s call for proposals at the end of last year… and, to our surprise, we won the award! This gave us the opportunity to receive funding to bring our vision to life. At the beginning of this year, we set out on the path toward these new dreams. Our project was about telling our stories as women, connecting with what each of us carried inside, and giving it new meaning—embracing it, naming it, sharing the pain, and also celebrating the victories. We wanted to offer ourselves a new way to tell our own story as the women we truly are.
For that, we felt that we needed to dedicate space and time to connect with ourselves and with each other as a group. This made it possible for us to recognize each other, because, although most of us have known each other for years, there is still so much that is difficult to talk about, share, and express… We held two reflection sessions at a house by the beach and even organized workshops on yoga, makeup, and nails! These ideas were the result of everyone’s dreams, giving us the opportunity to recognize ourselves not only as mothers, but as women, neighbours, friends, and companions.
As a final celebration, after a long journey, we chose to share our experience with the community of the neighborhood. The closing event of the process was a festival where we presented an audiovisual (which you can access here). In it, you will get to know each of these women, presenting and reflecting on the path we’ve walked, both personally and as a group. You will also find the hope and desire that lives in each of them. We believe they can inspire other women to step out and meet themselves in the deepest sense of the word. “Together we make history” was the title with which we presented our project at the beginning of the year, and that is the certainty we share today.
