Genesis CEO Jan Langbein and Chief Clinical Officer Ruth Guerreiro recently visited Honduras to collaborate on a new domestic violence shelter in the city of Siguatepeque. They join the conversation to reveal the alarming prevalence of femicide and domestic violence in Latin America, the urgent need for communication systems that not only affirm domestic violence as illegal, but also ensure secure channels for reporting such atrocities, and the future of services for women who experience abuse.
In this episode we experience the progress of a Latin American community rallying together to combat domestic violence. You will hear the awe-inspiring story of a local police officer who, against all odds, manages to connect a young victim with a social services program, the heartening efforts of both the Mayor and First Lady of Siguatepeque who are leading the charge to raise funds for the new shelter Casa Rosa, and how Genesis is collaborating with the city to bring a robust program of safety, shelter and support to this growing community. We also explore the unique challenges of building a domestic violence agency in Latin America, from transportation and security hurdles to the potential of volunteers spearheading a transport system.
Genesis CEO Jan Langbein and Chief Clinical Officer Ruth Guerreiro recently visited Honduras to collaborate on a new domestic violence shelter in the city of Siguatepeque. They join the conversation to reveal the alarming prevalence of femicide and domestic violence in Latin America, the urgent need for communication systems that not only affirm domestic violence as illegal, but also ensure secure channels for reporting such atrocities, and the future of services for women who experience abuse.
In this episode we experience the progress of a Latin American community rallying together to combat domestic violence. You will hear the awe-inspiring story of a local police officer who, against all odds, manages to connect a young victim with a social services program, the heartening efforts of both the Mayor and First Lady of Siguatepeque who are leading the charge to raise funds for the new shelter Casa Rosa, and how Genesis is collaborating with the city to bring a robust program of safety, shelter and support to this growing community. We also explore the unique challenges of building a domestic violence agency in Latin America, from transportation and security hurdles to the potential of volunteers spearheading a transport system.
Genesis CEO Jan Langvein and Chief Clinical Officer Ruth Guerrero are back from Honduras and join the conversation to tell us about their visit to a domestic violence shelter in Ceo Watapaque. I'm Maria McMullen and this is Genesis the podcast. Jan Ruth, welcome to the show, Thank you. You both recently visited Honduras to work on a new domestic violence shelter there. How did this all come about?
Speaker 2:This is a great story, I think, and it always amazes me how things come together and intersect. So I had been connected with some folks from Church of the Incarnation who were doing work in Central America, mostly providing or creating potable water for back up in the hills, in the more remote areas. Two of the people also from this group that I met had been involved in Honduras revitalizing communities. A man named Fred Jackson was down there doing the work that he was doing and he happened to meet the mayor of this town where we went, ceo Watapaque. He said what would you like to do? What is your dream come true here? Would you like us to do schools in potable water?
Speaker 2:He said what we want to do here in my city is end violence against women and children and at the very least have resources for them. So Fred kind of said gosh, I don't know anything about domestic violence and resources, but I know someone who does. And so they approached Genesis and we began just hearing them out and talking about the dream, and Ruth was nice enough to help me host the first lady of this city in Honduras at a training here in Dallas, and then we turned right back around and went down to Honduras just to get lay of the land and have. It was a two day training right, and that's kind of how it started.
Speaker 1:How must understand how prevalent domestic violence and femicide are in Honduras?
Speaker 2:Exactly what I always say when I'm talking about Dallas or the United States or Texas that domestic violence is an equal opportunity epidemic. But what we've saw firsthand is this is worldwide. This isn't specific to United States, it is. It is a violence against women is universal, specifically to the Honduran community and Latin America. Do you want to share those statistics?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so statistically. So in Latin America, right, like like Jenna's saying, it's just as much as we see here in the United States. It's interesting that in Honduras you can see the statistics. So Honduras has the highest level of femicide in Latin America, but their intimate partner violence reporting is a little bit lower than one in three. It's only 28% women, and we talked about why that might be because everybody that we spoke to in Honduras talked about it being very prevalent, but that women are really scared to report.
Speaker 3:Right, there's no repercussions to that. There's not any punishment really set up. Even there might be some laws, but they're not really followed. There has to be a lot of proof, like physical evidence, that she's being hurt, and so these, the statistics are low, right, because it's not that it's not happening, it's that people are not reporting it. Understandably, right, women are really scared to report and when they report, then they're just being punished a lot of times. If, let's say, the man does get put in jail, he's only there for 24 hours and then he's let out, and so he he can come right back to the house, right, and then punish her more for now making a report.
Speaker 2:You know, ruth, you were just talking about the child marriage that occurs in, particularly in Honduras. I wonder how many, though, of women and young girls who are in these relationships, these violent relationships, even know that it is against the law. You know, that's one of the things we talked about with the mayor and his wife about, rather than just build up a huge shelter or build up huge transitional housing complex, is that we need to have a communications system down there that will let people know it's offensive, it's against the law, you can't do it, he shouldn't do it, and let people know that it is bad.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the I think just to continue that thought it's been against the law since the nineties in Honduras.
Speaker 2:Well, but we did hear that if the guy is in the back of the squad car and he's got some money in his pocket, they'll pull over and let him out the side door.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely enforcement of that law. That's what I was going to say. Next is that there aren't enough laws to really enforce, true, true, uh, the the crimes have demoted.
Speaker 2:But you know, we have people come to Genesis who I didn't know it was against the law, right? And of course the legal advice that she's getting is from him. And who do you think is going to help you? And the cops aren't going to come and you're not, uh, registered to be in this country. I mean, it's all, all the reasons he wants to give.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. Domestic violence is always against the law period.
Speaker 3:That's what I've decided. I think to Jen's point, we did talk in Honduras about like what campaigns need do? Do they want to kind of put out into the community so that then people will start to reach out for help, right? And so we talked about, for sure, letting people know, letting women know, that this isn't okay, that you don't deserve this, that you deserve safety. And then how do we do? Another campaign is what they were saying on, like making the report right. So like the first campaign is this is against the law, this shouldn't be happening, and the second campaign is and it there's a safe way for you to make a report and we have services available for you before we can even start to talk about bringing women in for the shelter.
Speaker 1:So tell us about the town where the shelter is located.
Speaker 2:It's a thriving community. It's not as small as I imagined that it would be. I don't know the population right off my head, top of my head, and and they've had some interesting things go in into their community. We, we were meeting in a civic center that was paid for by the German government, just kind of a town to town or city to city partnership, and that surprised me for some reason. But then, as artistic and as involved as that center is, you know, we look outside and there's a bull just walking down the street having having a nice walk in the afternoon.
Speaker 3:So yeah, geographically it's in the middle of Honduras. It's kind of in between San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa they were talking about. The nearest women's shelter is in Tegucigalpa, and it's about an hour drive. A lot of these women don't drive or don't have a car and therefore have to take buses if they're going to try to get there, and so this really is a good spot to create a new service, a new program for them, because there is just so inaccessible to the women that live there.
Speaker 1:So I think you told me, jan, that the building exists. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yes, so I found this interesting too. About 10 years ago, the city, siwa Pateke bought land about an acre and a half, I would guess and on it they actually built a building that is probably I don't know if it's 10,000 square feet or not, maybe 7,500 square feet, and there's a sign out in front of this building that said if you want to make your country great, women have the right to live in peace and be free from violence. And so that sign was standing up. Well, there was a new mayor after that mayor that took care of all of that 10 years ago and it just stopped. It just stopped dead.
Speaker 2:It wasn't inhabited, the bus stop doesn't go that far, the bus line doesn't go quite that far, and so it really is to the. What this mayor has done is really his credit, to the credit of this mayor and his wife, that they have revitalized this and they have money city money that they have spent to have an architect, local architect, draw up a phase phases of this project. So first phase is going to be resources, but right behind that, on this acre of land, can be emergency shelter and on beyond that can be longer term apartments, and it's really impressive the drawings, that they've done the work that they've already done on that.
Speaker 1:So they have a long rate, they have a long range plan.
Speaker 2:They really do, absolutely. Now what they didn't have was what are those services? What is it? What is the? What is the programming going to be like? Who do you have to hire? What is the cost, what is sustainability, you know, and, and what are best practices? And so that was just so brilliant on my part is to take the expert in best practices with me down there to be that would be you and for them to hear about trauma, informed care, for them to hear about you know how to do what.
Speaker 2:What we do and I this I think you and I have talked about this, ruth is that at first it was like are you just coming down here to tell us how to do this? And several times we had to say no, these are your choices. We're just telling you we've been doing it for almost 40 years. We're just telling you everything we know so that you can decide. And even part of it was you're going to have to have trash cans, you're going to have to have running water and electricity. They had electricity, but the water wasn't connected out that far yet. And then you talk about security and you talk about you know how many offices are going to be there and what kinds, what kinds of deaths are going to be in there, the actual operations of an operation. And then Ruth was so great talking about you know how best to serve these clients and for the most part we had really good reception right, yeah, no, I was so pleased Everybody was taking notes.
Speaker 3:Everyone was really engaged and excited. You know, um, so Delmi Manzanaris is the wife of the mayor there in that city and she was talking about how that city's population is mostly women, like that, there's more women than men in that city and how and you could see in the room they did such an amazing job of bringing in heads of different departments and the majority of them were women. Um, and just so excited. So, all of them so excited for this project being really, you know, asking good questions again, taking the notes, and you know we're talking about trauma in the brain and they're nodding their heads and, oh, this is good information. Oh, I've never heard this before. Um, just, yes, very receptive to again. We're just saying we're not telling you how to do it, but this is how we do it and these are some ideas, and all of them were super excited to be able to start implementing this.
Speaker 2:And they were two very long days. We started early with yeah, went tonight and just talking about it and leaving what we could behind, we took samples of brochures, cross out our name and put in your name whatever you want, Um, and I think that's just for the good of the order in the world.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Ruth. You mentioned that so many of these heads of departments were women. Did you get the impression that they're empowered to actually make progress, to take?
Speaker 3:action. Yeah, these are a lot of departments in the government and so they are able to make action, to make policies. We did have some men there as well. We had a good police presence, which I was really pleased with. They were so open to talking about how do we work together? Right, we talked about being different puzzle pieces and working together.
Speaker 3:Jan did a great job of talking about that coordinated community response and being able to do like everybody has a part to play. One of the police officers shared a really just touching story about how in his early on in his career, he was working with a little girl who had been sexually abused and he recognized like me as a man it's probably going to make her feel uncomfortable if I ask her questions so he was able to connect with a local social services program for a woman to come in and help to facilitate that interview so that then they could proceed with all of the legal proceedings with that case. But just him kind of giving his testimony of, yes, community response works and I'm here for it. Yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 1:I mean it sounds very trauma informed what he did, yes, and that's not to say that it couldn't be in Honduras. I mean we're making a lot of progress around the world talking about domestic violence, both at Genesis and the conference on crimes against women, and of course we have the Institute for Coordinated Community Response. We pretty much wrote the book on how to implement one in a rural community.
Speaker 2:That's right, but I think it's driven by the first lady of the town, the mayor's wife. She is just going to do this. How are they paying for all of this? I can't figure this out, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was talking to her a little bit about it before we left and they already found an office space in one of the government program, like departments in that office that they're going to already start doing services as they start trying to make some money to fix up Casa Rosa.
Speaker 3:So I don't know if we said that yet, but Casa Rosa is the name of their shelter that they're going to create in their program and she's got a bingo event plan for the end of October where they're going to be able to. That's one of their fundraising events. It was interesting because we talked about, she said, in their city donating is not really part of the culture, right? So like at Genesis, we have Arthur's Store and we have lots of events and we have so many amazing donors in the community that want to support us. But there, she said, like donating is just not a thing, and so she wants to start doing that more. She loves the idea of starting a second hand store, some type of a thrift store there, but they're going to start off with bingo and see how it goes. We even talked.
Speaker 2:I spent a lot of time talking to them about fundraising, and not just for the original project but for sustainability, and we at Genesis use it's called a funding pyramid. It's a strategic way of looking not only at your total budget but then each particular bucket of your budget. So, as Ruth said, we have events. Well, each the event is part of the total budget, but each event has its own pyramid to see how many people can you come? How many people, how much money do you want to raise? Where are you going to get it, instead of just throwing, oh, throwing open the doors and then you take whatever is left over, right, yeah, I mean we know very well that that approach will not work.
Speaker 2:Right, right.
Speaker 1:Sustainability would be key. That's why I was curious how they've underwritten this construction and kind of the next steps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they seem to have quite a bit of in kind services. They had painters in there and they had craftsmen in there that are making this building that had been existing usable, so yeah, I think they have one person who's like quote unquote on staff, like being paid. And then, she in the mayor's office?
Speaker 3:Yes, she's part of the mayor's office, so the mayor's office is paying her that salary. And then we've got Delmy, who's the mayor's wife, and she's doing it for free. They had a woman from the law school and she said that she would have her law students donate time. Then they're finding a social worker and also a psychologist who would be able to start donating some time. So just like Jen saying like that in kind, service is going to be just so helpful for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like they have a real sense of community and kind of stick to like band together to get things done, which is really inspiring.
Speaker 2:You know, you hope that the mayor continues to serve that community and it's not somebody else is elected into that position, because I would hate to see that whole gosh, that passion and that drive and that motivation to go away.
Speaker 1:Do you think it's going to be really dependent upon who's in leadership of that town?
Speaker 2:I think it's dependent here in the United States on whose leadership and how it goes right. When we have had folks in the White House or in the mayor's office here in Dallas, you know they have different ways of looking at community problems and some are not as important to some as others are.
Speaker 1:What are the? Some of the things that are unique to maybe, that town or to Latin America that become challenges or opportunities in building a domestic violence agency?
Speaker 2:My opinion and I want to hear what you have to say, but it has been done. The response to domestic violence has been community. In a town where women are not protected, it's the women who are protecting other women. I have heard stories, everything from an orange whistle, that if you hear this whistle blow in your community, your village, whatever, bring your rolling pin and come on. So I think it has always been to where they do protect each other, and that may be the core of what this is, this passion. What would you say that you would demand?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I definitely think that that is a really strength of theirs, right, because Latin America tends to have a communal type of society and so, yes, we take care of each other. And you asked about barriers. You know, again, there's not that much reinforcement of the laws which causes some problems. You know it's easy to bribe your way out of going to jail or having been taken to court. Ease of access to weapons is another thing, because then that's going to put her in more danger. You know just this idea that they don't really have protective orders there. There's not a lot of things that really can set her up for being safe through the law, and so, therefore, she is depending on her neighbor, her sister, her mom, her friend to be able to help her out.
Speaker 1:That is a coordinated community response. So what's the law enforcement response? So, in a couple of different ways, when you were there meeting with law enforcement, in the presentations and the trainings, what was their input?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know they had such great input on. They want to be able to help. They know that this is not just a women's issue. They want to be able to be there, and their hands are tied a lot of times because of the laws, right, and so we had good conversations about you know, we would like to be able to do this, but the law says that there has to be proof of physical abuse and so we can't do anything unless she has marks on her, and if he has marks on her, then we, you know, then the law says that we can't do anything or we have to take both of them in. So their hands were really tied, but they were really open to hearing. How do we change some of these policies and laws so that we can start to help more?
Speaker 2:You know, Ruth, another roadblock that I saw was that most of and I'm generalizing, but that culture it is typical for the woman to stay in the home, take care of the children, clean the house, do the food and not work outside the home. So what a detriment it is to her, if he's an hourly laborer, that he is in jail and there is no money that day or the next day or the next, however long it is. So that would be another roadblock to her calling for help or getting help.
Speaker 1:And that's not much different than it is here in the United States. No, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there were so many times. Even at lunchtime, I was talking with some of the women there while we were eating, about the bus transportation and, right, like where Casa Rosa is, the bus doesn't go right up to where they are and then you have to walk and it's not that most safest neighborhood. We talked about childcare. So then Jan and I, of course, talked to them about how would you set up some childcare in Casa Rosa for when mom comes to meet with an attorney or with a social worker, and so, yeah, just like you're saying, maria, those are the same problems here, right, women who don't have financial resources on their own or they don't have transportation and, again, not knowing that there is help available.
Speaker 1:So what happens when they go out on a call where there's suspected domestic violence?
Speaker 3:Some of them were explaining during the training that they show up.
Speaker 3:If there is any physical evidence again that she has been hurt, then they will take him to jail Again.
Speaker 3:It's only 24 hours, it's not that long, and then you go to court and it's kind of a he said, she said type of situation and if he is found guilty there's not really jail time but instead she will then be given and it's not even for forever, but maybe a year or so some protection like a body guard that anytime she goes out of the house she can call this body guard to come and it's for free to like go around with her wherever she needs to go.
Speaker 3:But the flaw is like he knows where she's living right and the body guard is not at the house. And many times, as we know is true in America the women are kind of stuck under that coercive control. They need the money, they need the help with the childcare, or there's all of the fear because of the threats that he's made and so it might be that he just moves back into the house and nothing really happened. But yes, the police said if they show up to the house and there's not any evidence of physical abuse. They don't, they can't do anything.
Speaker 2:But what I was saying about the response. There were several different sort of agencies. There was the city police. That was there. But then there was a guy who I think was at the no-transcript and then the woman next to him was with another department or something. So I don't know how coordinated. I don't have the information of how coordinated that effort is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, amongst police departments yes yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's go back to two obstacles and opportunities again, and just thinking about the logistics of designing this space and accessing it, because I know we talked a little bit about how are people going to get there? She's an hour away. She doesn't drive. What are the barriers to getting this project actually off the ground and going?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the city really recognizes that they have some work to do and they were committed to doing it. As Ruth was saying, you get off the bus, you have to walk the half a mile or something in, but even when you get to the property it's very torn up.
Speaker 1:So there's no access road.
Speaker 2:There's no access road. It's a dirt road that you kind of keep going on to and then when you get there, I mean they have to really grade the property so that you can literally walk up to the front door, how you can get there. But it's going to. We talked about the transportation. We talked about what were first steps down there just to physically get that thing up and running.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they talked about getting some volunteers who would be drivers, think of like an Uber driver, right, and so if a woman was in the city and she went to the government office, the women's department there, and said that she wanted to go to Casa Rosa, then they would have volunteers be able to go and drive and pick her up there and then drive her to Casa Rosa. So that's kind of the bigger plan once the actual building of Casa Rosa opens.
Speaker 2:They were with all of those people involved in it. That also presents kind of a roadblock as far as security and safety right, how do we know that volunteer driver isn't best friends with the husband and now can tell him where he is, which is just a problem they're going to have? But then the other thing is they are planning a wall all the way around this property. They have they've given thought to safety and security and I think they have a good plan. I really do.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean it sounds like they have the passion right and they brought in Genesis and other experts to really help fuel the information and the intelligence to put the plan together and get it done. But does Honduras and this town have the capacity to get this thing up and going? I mean, like, logistically and facilities wise, is it possible?
Speaker 2:The town itself? Maybe not, but there are people within this training session that we had that are familiar with getting funds from other places, like USAID, and there may be American governmental grants that are available to them. I know that we're working on one that, if it comes through fingers crossed, it would be a real help to them. So, yeah, no, this is how they've been. I mean, they have a civic center from Germany who knows what those resources are going to be? We wanted to be sure, though, when we went down there, that they were not looking to us, inviting us there to fund this Right, because that's just not realistic at all, and I didn't get the impression when we got down there that that's what they wanted.
Speaker 3:No, and I agree, the shelter, the women's shelter, the Cinti Gullsea Galpa, is funded with money from Canada. So I do think that they're really good at finding where are the charities, where are the funding opportunities. And I agree 100%, the passion is there, the dedication. You know, when we were there that first day that we landed, they had just done a big, huge campaign about child abuse and the whole city was involved and it was this big thing that we're going to stop child abuse. So I do think that it's very possible, very likely, like they're going to I'm trying to think in Spanish now they're going to realize their dreams and their goals for this Gosh.
Speaker 1:I really hope so. I hope so because Honduras has noted as having the highest femicide rate in Latin America and, from the statistics that I read in the World Bank gender-based violence country profile, one woman is murdered every 27 hours in Honduras. So we've been talking about domestic violence pretty much. We haven't even fully touched the femicide issue and how pervasive that is in Honduras. What are your hopes or what feedback did you get about how having this domestic violence agency can help to reduce, lower eradicate famicide in the country as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the answer is if they have. If women have a place to go that is safe and secure and therefore the abusive partner does not have access to them, then naturally they're not going to be in harm's way to be killed. Right Now we know that abuse happens post-separation and if you have children, there's still going to be some type of contact. You know, what I love is that Casa Rosa really they're.
Speaker 3:You know, genesis has been around for a long time, so we have so many programs we talk to them about. You got to kind of start small, right, and it's just in phases, little by little, and so their long-term goal is to be able to have apartments where women can live with the children there, kind of like how we have our Annie's house. And I think that the reality is, if she can safely get out of the relationship, if that's what she wants because again, she might not want that, she might need to stay in the relationship, but if she does, and then they have the safety planning with the social worker and the therapist helping her, you know, and then they've got the legal support and the police department, the hope is that then these homicide rates would go down.
Speaker 2:But that's a finite number of people that can move into Casa Rosa, right, yeah, and my hope is, in addition to having a safe space like that, that they are raising the level of awareness regarding this crime to where there could be and should be a societal paradigm shift, where it no longer becomes okay. Whether you know, we've seen it happen here in the country with you know, don't let friends, don't let friends drive drunk, or there's no smoking here, and it has. It literally has changed our country by doing that. And we saw signs while we were down there, just all along the street, saying number one don't throw your trash out. You know, it was just kind of don't park here, don't throw your trash out and don't urinate in public. And I thought, man, if they can have a campaign to stop public urination, right, this they can do this they can do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's so indecent, isn't it?
Speaker 1:But it's just as indecent to you know, be your wife or, worse, in my opinion and while Ruth was explaining, you know some of the details about being in the shelter and helping to prevent Femmicide, just just by nature of the separation or the safety factor. I couldn't help but wonder one about the awareness, jan, which he just talked about, but also how the legislation and the policymakers really need to grow up around this movement so you can have passion and then you can have capacity. But then you really have to have that enforcement and the empowerment of everyone to seek services when they feel they need them and stand up if they see something we work on this every single day at Genesis.
Speaker 2:This is what we do every day is letting people know there's help and there's hope, and that the entire city of Dallas needs to be a part of this. We can't leave it up to the police, we can't leave it up to Genesis that we have to join hands and say this is just offensive and it's not going to happen in my home and it's not going to happen in my town. And so at Genesis, you were talking, ruth, about the different programs that we have, but we have created this army of what I refer to as kitchen table ambassadors, whether that's our men's heroes organization or our teen star students tackle abusive relationships or our women's alliance group. And what we've done is, you know, by doing so, we are raising awareness in those pockets as well, and then their spheres of influence. It's just a rippling out effect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. In my mother's time nobody talked about it, right, and there certainly was not a shelter for her. In fact, in my married lifetime there wouldn't have been a residential program for me either. Now I've been married a long time, but, as you can see how it's just changed over the years, with regards to people's tolerance for it or intolerance, I should say, and with that comes laws being changed, and with laws being changed it feeds back to better protection and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So it takes a village, and I don't mean you know part in the pun, it takes a village. It also can take a lifetime, or many lifetimes, to build a whole community response to something this pervasive, and I think we stand.
Speaker 2:I certainly know I stand on the shoulders of the legends that went before me, who stood up and said domestic violence is not acceptable. And you know, I think I've been at Genesis longer than you've been alive. So every one of us is standing on somebody else's shoulders and I have to hand it to Delmay, the first lady of this town. She is intentional, very sophisticated, beautiful woman, a business owner, and certainly has the ear of the mayor, right Yep. So he came in about halfway through our training and I was glad he was there because he really, after about a day and a half I think, there were some folks that were just sort of like, well, okay, whatever, we'll talk about it now and then go on about our business.
Speaker 2:So that's what I sensed and he walked in. He was standing right in front of the police saying we are going to do this. So there is that civic leader that will stand up and get the job done. Mayor Mike Rawlings was that for Dallas. He really turned the corner, helped us turn the corner with inviting men to a rally on the steps of, you know, city Hall. And when you have an iconic leader that can take this on as their issue, things will happen. For sure?
Speaker 3:Well, I would love to share a little story about Jan.
Speaker 3:During the training, she taught all of them how to say hey, y'all in English and it was hilarious, but it was just such a great little icebreaker to help you know it was the first day and helping everyone kind of feel comfortable. And again, just, you know we were so grateful the reception they gave us, they treated us to nice dinners at night and, you know, just had a really great camaraderie there. So it did really feel like this connection. And, like Jen mentioned, you know, we took down so many different materials for them to use. I wrote, you know, a big manual on all of the trauma informed care and how do you do this and what is counseling and what is advocacy and what does this mean to use the stages of change. And so, yeah, I'm just really excited to see them grow and grow. That's incredible.
Speaker 1:I cannot wait to hear what happens next in part two of Honduras and building Casa Rosa. Thank you both for being here and sharing this project with us. Attention, Spanish speaking listeners. Listen to the end of this podcast for information on how to reach a Spanish speaking representative of Genesis.
Speaker 4:Attention Spanish speaking listeners. Listen to this podcast until the end to receive information on how to communicate with the Spanish-speaking Spanish staff.
Speaker 1:If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, you can get help or give help at genesisshelterorg or by calling or texting our 24-7 Crisis Hotline team at 214-946-HELP 214-946-4357. Bilingual services at Genesis include text, phone call, clinical counseling, legal services, advocacy and more. Call or text us for more information. Donations to support women and children escaping domestic violence are always needed. Learn more at genesisshelterorg slash donate. Thanks for joining us. I'm reminding you always that ending domestic violence begins when we believe her.
Speaker 4:Genesis El Podjas announces servicios bilingües disponibles en Genesis Women's Shelter y Support. If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, you can get help or give help at genesisshelterorg. Slash donate. Thank you.