Pakina, When Duty Becomes A Passion

By Natalie Taylor

María Luisa, Pakina, Langenscheidt was born in México City to a Mexican-German heritage. Her great-grandfather, came to México from Germany in the late 1800s and married into a family connected to the Obregons, a distinguished Mexican family. She grew up in México City but at the age of eight the family moved to San Miguel de Allende, where she did her primary schooling. Right after high school she married Jaime Fernandez, and as young housewife and mother balanced life between family and, with the full support of her husband Jaime, went on to university. She completed her undergraduate degree in history, and then a master’s in plastic arts.

Following her studies, she taught at the Preparatoria El Pipila, for several years. When Jaime Fernandez became mayor of San Miguel in 1995, her duties changed. As the wife of the mayor, she had the obligation to become the president of DIF—Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (Comprehensive Development of the Family), which provides healthcare, food, education, and support to families in need.

Shortly after taking on this role, Georgeann Johnson and Diane Negrete, two American women, got in touch with her because they wanted to see how they could help in any of those areas. They all agreed to focus on women and their education, and the first step was creating the first pre-school in San Miguel de Allende.

They also began bringing essential supplies to women in prison because they saw their need. The more they got involved in the communities, the more areas of need they found, and the group grew as others joined. They became a self-sustaining unit beyond the official DIF and continued after 1997 when Jaime Fernandez’s term in office ended.

One of the offshoot projects was teaching skills to the women in the campo, empowering them to create a home-grown industry.

A Chilean woman skilled in embroidery began teaching these women how to embroider. From this idea was born Las Rancheritas, a women’s cooperative that continues to this day and helps the women of this rural community to make a living with artisanal embroidery and weaving.

Eventually Pakina and the other women involved in all these projects had to find ways to collect funds to support the work they were doing. They came up with a wonderful, creative way to do so. They got together once a month at the Hacienda de Flores in town; and each woman brought a dish. With these home-cooked meals they provided lunch for guests for a small fee. The event gained popularity and was always well attended.

As they became more involved in the lives of the people whom they were serving one issue kept coming to the forefront: the lack of higher education for young women. For traditional families, if they were to send one of their children to university, it was most likely one of the sons. The daughters were expected to follow the usual pattern of marriage and motherhood; often being told that education on them would be “wasted.” The mothers began asking Pakina and the other volunteers to provide scholarships for their daughters. A need and a passion came together with a woman-focused organization called Mujeres en Cambio that focuses on giving young women a chance to get a higher education through scholarships.

The girls are chosen based on scholastic excellence, recommended by teachers or principals in Secundaria (Junior high), and the award of a scholarship is dependent on financial need.

Mujeres en Cambio has made a major difference in the lives of many young women in the community, and what started on a small scale has grown in scope. Currently they are sponsoring 50 university students and 130 girls in Secundaria and Preparatoria (high school).

Pakina served as the president of the organization for many years, but Barbara Salazar has taken that role at present. Pakina is, however, very much involved in the organization as a member of the board and co-founder. What began as an obligation for Pakina—taking charge of a government organization—became a labor of love and means of fostering one of her personal passions, education. Over the last 28 years, she has seen young women become doctors, lawyers, and architects, and watching them graduate is as rewarding as seeing her own daughters or nieces achieve success as professionals. She says the best thing a society can do is to educate women because “educated women become mothers who will educate their children.”

Go to www.mujeresencambio.com to get more information about their programs and how you can help. You can also donate to their scholarship fund or find out about how to volunteer.

www.natalietaylor.org