Editor’s note: This blog post is also available in Spanish.

On Friday, June 13th, 2025, Global Fund for Children convened various civil society organizations that are part of the U Muuk’il Xch’úupalo’ob / The Strength of Girls Initiative, along with members of the Assembly of Peninsular Mayan Youth, to participate in a workshop on Narrative Practices. The workshop was facilitated by the Tsikbal Narrative Practices Collective, and the meeting point was the city of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

We located on a map the places we live and where we carry out our various activities. The Global Fund for Children team is based in Cholula, Puebla, and Querétaro, Qro. One participant came from José María Morelos, Quintana Roo, and the rest from different municipalities in Yucatán such as Kanasín, Tixmehuac, Kinchil, Molas, Cantamayec, Sanahcat, Tahdziú, Cholul, Mayapán, Chocholá, and Mérida.

One of the first activities was to talk about our shoes—it seemed strange, but we did it. In pairs, one person shared their story while the other listened; afterwards, we switched roles. At the end, we created a short narrative based on what we had heard.

Later in the plenary we talked about what happened during the conversations and raised the following questions:

What did it feel like to participate only as a listener?

Some felt intrigued, especially someone who talks a lot—she said she cannot stay quiet and could not resist asking her partner what kind of shoes they were.Another person shared: “I was curious, I wanted to ask… I suddenly noticed myself trying to interpret why the other person liked something.”Someone else noted: “When talking, I want to keep asking questions, but this time, listening and trying to take notes at the same time was challenging.”Somebody said that while listening, more questions came up, and they debated whether to break the rules or stick to the guidelines. In the end, they decided to balance both needs.

Several participants mentioned that the activity was a challenge because we are used to sharing our point of view while listening, but the instructions this time did not allow it. In general, we realised how common and unconscious it is to interrupt others with our own opinions.

Nevertheless, some people really enjoyed the task and discovered interesting things: “It felt beautiful to listen without interrupting too much, because the other person spoke about those little things that may seem just like objects, but in reality, they carry stories that impact our lives.”

We also took the time to reflect on what happened when we took the storyteller role. The questions were:

What was the role like? What happened when we shared our stories?

Some comments included:– “I remembered that this space is built on trust and that helped me feel comfortable. I always want to be heard.”– “It was like giving meaning to something I had never stopped to think about… Connecting this object to my personal experience felt good, a lot of memories came up, and it made me happy.”

Little by little, we uncovered some of the effects of telling our stories and of being heard:

We also acknowledged that for some, maintaining eye contact is not easy. In those cases, we found that offering some signal to show the other person we are listening can be helpful.The effect of mutually looking at each other varies from person to person. For example, one participant said: “I like to be looked at—to feel like I’m being listened to. But I also like the other person to feel that I’m listening to them as well.”

Honestly, the topic of shoes seemed irrelevant at first, almost like a joke. However, we were surprised by how many meaningful things came up about footwear. One of us shared:“I’m a woman who moves around a lot. Talking about something that is important to me—shoes—made me feel good, it made me feel very comfortable. I even got excited!” Overall, we were pleasantly surprised to get to know one another through the stories held in these everyday objects. And for that, listening was worth it.

Some of the shared stories touched on delicate subjects, which also led to feelings of vulnerability. The conversation could lead us to share strong things about our lives. That made us reflect on how sharing from a place of vulnerability opens many possibilities to recognise and know others.

The final aspect of the activity was to ask ourselves: What did we feel in our bodies when writing the short narrative to present about the other person? We discussed how various emotions unexpectedly accompanied our writing. For many, those emotions were present while writing, they lead and inspired our words. Many of us found that the words our partners shared really resonated with us.

So, we: Graciela, Chica Maleni, Phana Mulixa, Leona, Mariana, Yuli, Yamili, Ana, Martín, Lety, Darío, Enny, Jaime, María Elena, Gelmy, Hilda, Rodrigo, Irma, Katia, Óscar, and Eugenia gently, at a slow and steady pace, embarked on a journey to learn more about Narrative Practices, with the aim of strengthening our diverse and unique activities.