Asia

Para Kay Juana Exhibit: the Philippine Embassy in Berlin celebrated National Women’s Month

The women migrants in Germany from Philippines were the protagonists of the Para Kay Juana Exhibit, in commemoration of the National Women's Month

March 18th, 2023
Biagio Drago, News from Berlin
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From 18th March to 31th March at the Embassy of the Philippines in Germany, located at Luisenstrasse in Berlin, the Para Kai Juana Exhibit was staged. The Exhibition was organized to celebrate women and their rights.

Celebrating the women means projecting your vision towards the future but also commemorating the past and what happened, and remembering to yourself which are the challenges to face for the future. For 14 days, in the Para Kai Juana Exhibit, all these aspects were treated, celebrating the woman as a strong and free human being.

Amb. Irene Susan B Natividad was the presenter of the exhibition opening day at the Embassy located in Berlin. She introduced an event which, through paintings of women migrants, explained their stories of determination, without forgetting the perpetration of violence occurred in those situations. Amb. Navidad highlighted that the portraits “remind us that despite the hardships, migrant women are not helpless, but strong individuals who have the power to shape their own destinies.”

The exhibit showed the works of Krisanta Caguioa-Mönnich, a Filipina worker who in her art emphasizes the cases of human trafficking and violence, in this case correlated with Filipina immigrants.

During the presentation three women - Joana, Yoly and Maria - shared their stories to the public; experiences of challenges they have faced in their lives but also triumphs they achieved after struggles. These women are three of the protagonists who Caguioa-Mönnich depicted in her paintings. The Exhibit was an occasion to celebrate women, freedom but also culture and traditions, stories of people who don’t forget where they come from, just to remember that the integration is something we face every day, not only in the issue of gender issue but also in that of ethnicity.

The aim of the event was to create a platform in which those who are not heard could be heard, and to set a network of women and experiences useful for those who live in difficult situations. The challenges to overcome are still many and culture can be a driver of social justice for women.

References

News from Berlin