Resilience and Economic Self-Management Project for Women Living with Gynecological Cancer
The resilience and economic self-management project for women living with gynecological cancer is already a reality at the Bertha Calderón Hospital in the form of the Sewing and Crafts Workshop School, which benefits more than 50 women who are treated at the hospital.
Empowering with resilience:
Women overcoming cancer through sewing
Inauguration of the crafts workshop
This initiative, promoted by Movicáncer and supported by AVON-Nicaragua and the Swiss organization Medical Aid for Central America (AMCA), is a unique experience of which no similar examples exist in Central America or Mexico. Its raison d’être is to promote “resilience” in women in the face of the impact of living with cancer; at the same time, to generate capacities for economic self-management and greater autonomy that will allow them to adhere to treatment while they manage to take care of their families to achieve their recovery.
What began as a pilot project in the year 2022 is now a Workshop School that trains women with voluntary participation in learning “Sewing and Crafts” of various products such as gowns, blankets, scarves, sleeves to prevent lymphedema, medical gowns, diaper bags, handbags, cosmetic bags, among others.
Woman receiving her sewing machine
Sewing and Crafts Workshop School
Mental health therapy
This Workshop School has a therapeutic purpose since the classes seek to reduce the emotional burden generated by the hours or days of hospitalization and the loneliness and worry experienced by the women, most of whom are single mothers, for not knowing how their children, left in the care of relatives, are doing.
In addition to in-hospital treatment, we work with the psychology and social work departments of the Bertha Calderón Hospital to promote resilience and occupational reorientation as a rehabilitation strategy for the women involved.
First workshop graduation
Thanks to the support of companies and other donors, Movicancer has helped more than 50 women living with cancer to find psychological resources and strengthen their self-esteem in the face of the emotional ravages caused by cancer.
In 2023, the Workshop School graduated 15 women as “seamstresses”, who were provided with a sewing machine so that they can “earn a living” from home in order to continue their road to recovery without neglecting the family economy and their school-age children, preventing them from prematurely entering the world of informal labor.
Breast prosthesis workshop
The next goal is to promote the second stage of the Workshop School, where breast prostheses and compression sleeves will be manufactured by the women who graduated from the Workshop School; this will allow them to consolidate their knowledge, skills, and abilities and at the same time obtain resources from the sale of these necessary items for women facing the after-effects of breast cancer.
The Workshop School is currently in the process of accreditation by the National Technological Institute (INATEC) so that women can obtain a technical degree from that institution and continue their studies in any of the technical centers in Nicaragua.
Hilos de esperanza (Threads of Hope)
On October 20, on the occasion of the pink race Yo corro por ellas®, organized by Movicancer, the women of the School Workshop held an expo to sell their products to the thousands of people who attended the event. That day they launched the brand Hilos de Esperanza (Threads of Hope); a brand and label that summarizes their learning experience while receiving cancer treatment at the Bertha Calderón Hospital.
