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Latino group tackles tough issues Advocates balance direct approach, cultural respect By WENDY SIPOREN They work by word of mouth -- mothers and daughters talking to their friends and co-workers about the problems in their lives: pesticides, domestic abuse, the AIDS virus and job discrimination. The 20 paid staff members and more than 300 volunteers with the Farmworker Women's Leadership Project -- Lideres Campesinas --don't work regular hours, explained Raquel Sotelo, the sexual assault program coordinator. "They don't see it as a job. This is their lives," said Sotelo through a translator. "Wherever they go they talk about it." This week, seven of their representatives are in the Rogue Valley as part of the second annual Alternatives to Violence Project. They performed dramas in Medford and Phoenix designed to initiate dialogue between men and women about issues such as domestic abuse and workers' rights. Discussing these issues isn't easy in the Latino community, where the father is traditionally the lord of the castle and the Catholic Church encourages families to stay together, said Virginia Ortega, domestic violence program coordinator. "We have a big taboo. We never speak about sexuality. That's the hard part about our job," she said through a translator. "Keeping quiet means giving respect. Now we are breaking all those stereotypes. With this women's organization ... we learned that we have the right to speak out on issues like domestic violence." Trevino- Sauceda Founder and executive director Mily Trevino-Sauceda described the fine line they walk between women's advocacy and respect for their culture. "Our intention is not to divide the family. It is to talk about what are the roles (of men and women) and talk about whether they are abused or not," she said. "We emphasize ... that our children are first. If we want our children to have a healthy life, we need to take care of ourselves, too." Since 1992, Lideres Campesinas has been organizing and educating women farmworkers in Southern California through workshops in women's homes, theater skits and marches. Lideres Campesinas is the first and only grassroots farmworker women's advocacy project in the nation. Its work has been recognized with a Crime Victim Service Award from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Marshalls Domestic Peace Prize from the Family Violence Prevention fund. What began as a graduate student survey of women farmworkers is now a network of 12 different women's groups, including three indigenous Mixteco groups committed to listening to women's needs, not preaching. "We didn't know how. We didn't have money," said Trevino-Sauceda of their early efforts. "We just knew that there were a lot of farmworker women around the state ... interested in being better skilled leaders in our community." For the last two years, representatives of Lideres Campesinas have expanded their efforts to Arizona, Washington, Texas, Iowa and Oaxaca, Mexico, sharing the story of their work and providing support to begin similar programs. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA