'Wise Women of Sant Cosme': community participation and neighborhood struggle

The “Wise Women of Sant Cosme” are a group of women between 60 and 85 years old who have fought and continue to fight tirelessly to make the neighborhood where they live, in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona), a better place to see their children and grandchildren grow up.

Most of them arrived in the sixties to a neighborhood without services or facilities, evicted from the homes where they had lived until then, and, after years of demands, work and effort , they have been an essential part in building the neighborhood they have now.

The road hasn't been easy, but the achievements have been many. They were part of the movement demanding decent housing and, in the early seventies, they obtained new, good-quality homes. And their fight to prevent drugs from continuing to kill their sons and daughters was widely publicized in the eighties, with protests and actions that significantly reduced drug use and distribution in their neighborhood.

Their involvement in the community has never ceased, but for over a decade, the “Wise Women of Sant Cosme” have been an independent organization, meeting weekly to continue promoting community life in their neighborhood and building a fairer and more supportive environment, as well as to support one another. They participate in cultural, educational, and social projects with various neighborhood organizations, but also develop their own initiatives and actions as a group of empowered older women eager to continue making a difference.