| For a week, Awamaki was host to six students from the World Leadership School in San Diego, California as they came down to volunteer with us. They were tasked with interviewing local women about their role as leaders in the community, and to write corresponding blog posts about their experiences, this is one of their finished pieces. |
By Natalia and CharlotteOne of the first women we met, Juanita, was quite the worker. Of her three children, two work with her. She is 62-years-old, her oldest child is 42 and her youngest is seven. She has owned her business for 20 years now.
Juanita is very outgoing and confident compared to a general tendency of timidness among most women here. Juanita, being older, has much more experience and confidence in herself. It interested us that the women who finished high school were typically very happy with their lives.
At Awamaki, they focus on leadership, especially female leadership. As students from United States at first we thought our view on how these women show their leadership would be very different from the Peruvian view. Our definition of leadership, however, is showing responsibility through the act of taking charge, as well as taking risks and trying new things. Juanita does exactly that, showing leadership by creating and owning her own company, taking charge of her family, and taking as many new opportunities as possible.