These puppetry workshops took place at the Midwives Collective in Suchitoto, coordinated by Midwife Vilma Coreas Guzman and Peggy O'Neil, Director of the Centro Arte Para La Paz, with Michelle Oberman, Law Professor and translator, and Dina Kaplan from Puppeteers Without Borders.
Dina taught women's health education: anatomy, body awareness and hygiene, reproduction cycle including family planning information and instruction. Peer Educators created storyboards to use as teaching tools to communicate the information. They were instructed to be positive peer education role models. Participants played collaborative drama games, and games portraying trust and self esteem that they can use when they are teaching in the community. Included was discussion on "risky" behavior and the consequences, and information regarding sexual disease.
The Peer Health Education Workshops were created with the vision of developing a core group of five peer health educators that would travel to the surrounding areas of Suchitoto, educating teenagers in schools and small community groups.
The group of Las Estrellas that formed after the health education workshops, were trained together at the Centro Arte Para La Paz in an intensive workshop on puppetry and performance. The group wrote a script, built a set of puppet characters and rehearsed. They managed to perform a few times. One of the performances was in a school in Zacamil, where Sister Peggy was able to attend.
Due to developing tension and violence in the villages, there was fear and concern for their safety. The work was put on hold.
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