Main content

Sewing to protest in a Chilean prison camp

Activist and medical student Cristina Zamora found a creative way to survive after being taken from her baby daughter by dictator Augusto Pinochet's security forces in 1974.

Just two months after Cristina Zamora had given birth to her baby daughter in 1974, she was taken by Augusto Pinochet's security forces and thrown in jail where she found a creative way to cope. Embroidery, knitting clothes and stitching tiny love letters helped political prisoners like Cristina to survive. Afterwards, Cristina didn't discuss her nightmarish experience but over 40 years later when her daughter, Jimena Pardo, saw the prison crafts in an exhibition, Jimena plucked up the courage to ask her mother about her early life. Determined that the horrors of the dictatorship were never forgotten, Jimena set up a sewing project called Bordando por la Memoria (Embroidering Memory). This episode was first broadcast in September 2020.

Presented by Grace Livingstone
Produced by Mariana Des Forges

Get in touch outlook@bbc.com

(Photo: Jimena Pardo and Cristina Zamora with their embroideries Credit: Eddie Romero)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 Mar 2023 02:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 25 Mar 2023 09:32GMT
  • Sun 26 Mar 2023 08:32GMT
  • Sun 26 Mar 2023 21:32GMT
  • Sun 26 Mar 2023 22:32GMT
  • Mon 27 Mar 2023 02:32GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected