Poverty has the face of a woman.

A lake and an indigenous community are her historical references. She is the only daughter of two women: her mother and grandmother. She is unique in a man's world. Guadalupe Hernández Dimas is known as “Nana Lu”–an honorary name given to her in recognition of her work for the P'urhepecha people (indigenous people located in the State of Michoacán, in the West of Mexico, its cities are built in the brooks of the big lake Pátzcuaro, Guadalupe's birth place).

“Language is an element of culture. It is so valuable because it contains the richness of your way of looking at the world. It allows you to understand the world. If you lose it, you lose a window to the world.” With this conviction, Guadalupe Hernández Dimas put together, along with the Institute of Anthropology of the Autonomous National University of Mexico, the first grammar book, Janhaskapani, in the P'urhepecha language. “One day, my grandmother told me, ‘You are soon going to be a woman and you must be very careful in this life; you must walk safely. You must know where you are going in life and you must ask for other women's support.’” Brought up by women, in a community with a non-occidental view of life, Guadalupe tries to get women to continue caring for this way of looking at the world. For that reason, they have founded the women's organization Uarhi (Woman). With this organization they have initiated various collective projects for indigenous women. They have meetings, demonstrations and workshops for reflection. They produce publications and make official protests and complaints. “Nana Lu”, as she is called (a deserving name among her people), has also been interested in maintaining the presence of indigenous women in the national and international communication medias. She designed the first critical news program for Michoacán television in P'urhepecha and she takes part in the publication of bulletins and newspapers in her language, as well as in the radio news updates. She is a member of the Academy of the P'urhepecha language. And she is also a poet.

Uarhi (Woman)