(9 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mexico City, Mexico – 4 October 2024
1. Karolina González (left) and Victoria Sámano making lunch at Casa Lleca, an LGBTQ+ shelter and community kitchen
2. Close of González
3. Close of González peeling garlic
4. Garlic being placed in blender with chili
5. Close of González blending sauce
6. Close of Sámano
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Karolina González, kitchen head at Casa Lleca
"This kitchen is led by trans women. It’s very difficult for us that people see us in a different way. But little by little we are teaching them that we are just like any other person or human being who has the right to get ahead."
8. Close of stove
9. González tasting chicken
10. González stirring chicken
11. People waiting for Casa Lleca to open
12. Various of people eating lunch
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Victoria Sámano, founder of Casa Lleca: ++STARTS ON SHOT 11++
"The kitchen has helped us raise awareness in the neighborhood. Especially among people who come to this kitchen. Some of them had never had any contact with a trans or sexually diverse person before."
14. Various of González serving food
15. People queueing for lunch
16. Board with menu
17. Sámano taking orders
STORYLINE:
At an LGBTQ+ shelter in Mexico City, a community kitchen has emerged to provide employment opportunities to transgender women and serve surrounding residents in the area.
The kitchen was born two months ago, after the Casa Lleca shelter received approval from city authorities to open it through a social welfare program.
Victoria Sámano, a 30-year-old human rights activist, founded Casa Lleca in 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to help LGBTQ+ folks and sex workers who were unhoused or at risk of losing their homes.
Seven months ago, she met Karolina Long Tain González Rodríguez, 36, who came from a culinary background.
Sámano brought up the idea of a community kitchen to González.
Though the kitchen initially began as an idea to serve and employ their community, as soon as it opened, residents in the surrounding neighborhood started to flock in.
González, a native of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, arrived at Casa Lleca seeking refuge and a fresh start as a trans woman.
She had studied cooking in middle and high school, but then dropped out, and after working in a kitchen in Oaxaca, she left for Mexico City to begin her transition.
Once in the capital, she was recommended to a plastic surgeon who gave her faulty breast implants and, after one of them ruptured, he refused to give her a warranty — or operate her again.
That’s when she said her life began to spiral.
When she arrived at Casa Lleca, things began to turn around, and her active involvement in the shelter led Sámano to invite her to head the new kitchen.
Much of the funding for the kitchen came from the women themselves, who purchased appliances, chairs and tables to create an authentic dining experience.
The kitchen cooks lunch for up to 150 people a day, and each full meal they make costs only 11 pesos (about $50 cents).
For González, it has has become a safe space where she can also use all of her culinary knowledge.
For residents of Casa Lleca, it has also helped to raise awareness about who they are and what role they play in the neighborhood.
Still, many trans individuals like González are not given the space and support to embrace who they are, and are often vulnerable to dangerous situations.
AP video shot by: Martín Silva Rey
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