Helping Yourself and Helping Others 425
Meeting together with others can help a woman:
• get support. Mental health
problems often drain a
woman’s energy and make her
discouraged. Meeting together
can give a woman more
energy, which then helps her
cope with daily problems.
Sometimes we would arrive
at the meeting in a bad way.
We didn’t have any wish to
speak. We felt without energy.
Then a hug from someone or
the spirits of others would be
catching. And all of us would
feel more strength.
• recognize feelings. Sometimes
women hide their feelings (or
do not even realize they have
them) because they think the
feelings are bad, dangerous,
or shameful. Hearing others
talk about feelings can help a
woman notice her own.
Some of us had been
sexually abused in the
past, but we had never
been able to share it with
others. It was only in the
group that we could talk
about these terrible things.
• control impulsive reactions.
Group members can help
a woman think through a
problem, so that she will
not act on her first impulse,
without thinking.
The group helped me to see
others’ points of view
and to not get carried away by
my feelings. This has helped me
understand why other people
react the way they do.
• understand underlying
causes. By talking
together, women begin to
realize that many of them
suffer from the same kinds
of problems. This helps
them identify root causes
of the problem.
I often think poorly of myself
and feel as if I am to blame
for my family’s situation. But
it is not our fault that we
are poor. Talking about this
with others has helped me to
understand why we women
suffer the way we do.
• put forth solutions.
Solutions that are
discussed in a group
are often more easily
accepted and used than
those that a woman
thinks of by herself.
There are things from our past
that we have never discussed
with our partners. In the group
we talked about how to deal
better with these things. We get
strength from each other.
• develop collective
power. Women
acting together are
more powerful than a
woman acting alone.
We all decided to have a ceremony
and then accompany one of our
members to get a death
certificate for her partner
and arrange the title for her land.
If she had to do these things alone
it would be very difficult.
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012