The commemoration of International Women’s Day is the opportunity to highlight and recognize the contribution of women in the economy, in politics, in culture. In each of the spheres of society. It is also a relevant day to insist on reducing the gaps and inequalities that women face in the world.
Women’s Day is also the excuse to raise your voice and tell the stories that, like Marlyn Alejandra Urrutia’s, are an example of temperance and drive. At an early age she and her family were forced to leave the municipality of Istmina (Chocó) because of threats from illegal armed groups that were present in the region, historically affected by armed conflict.
As if it were yesterday remember all those events that marked his displacement. “In 2007 my mother was the victim of a violent act and we were displaced from the path Paitó de Istmina, initially towards Andagoya with my brothers and my father. My mother had to leave displaced towards Bogota. In 2008 we all came to the capital”.
She arrived in Bogotá when she was only 11 years old. “The change was very hard: the climate, the people and the culture, but let’s say that despite what we experienced in Chocó, the displacement also allowed us to find new opportunities for all of us”, Marlyn added.
A new life project in spite of the abrupt departure from her native Chocó, was also the opportunity to direct her dream of studying and being an outstanding professional. “I entered the Clemencia Holguín school in Urdaneta and once I graduated I went to several public universities for Social Work and I passed. I started studying at the University Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca, where I graduated in 2017, always with good grades, I even received recognition for academic excellence “.
One year after graduating as a professional, she started working in the Victims Unit, where she performed audits in everything related to the process of victims documentation. “Practically it is reviewed that all the papers are in order so that the victims can access the benefits of Law 1448”, she says and adds that “it is a very rewarding job because one feels that is helping people that of one or another they have gone through something that I also experienced”.
Today she can say with all tranquility that she has turned the page and continues to fight for her goals and dreams. She is no longer assaulted by the perpetrators. Moreover, it is categorical to affirm that “I have already forgiven them, not only for them, but for my own well-being, and to be able to continue with my life”.
This is Marlyn. A woman of clear ideas. A country builder from her work, always with the idea of promoting changes and strengthening the development of people from her professional discipline. A woman who stands out in the commemoration of Women’s Day because she experienced the conflict in her own flesh but rose up and transformed every day to put her grain of sand and ensure that the survivors of conflict can access their rights.
