Beregain Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary!

Through the Beregain program, we support women with dependent children who have experienced gender-based violence and are in the process of rebuilding their lives, while also supporting their children’s recovery. Beregain means “to stand on one’s own two feet.” We are committed to empowerment and autonomy through interventions in daily life, offering educational and emotional support rooted in connection.

Over the past 25 years, we have supported 301 people. Of these, 143 were women—often wounded and frightened, yet also brave women capable of carrying heavy burdens and building a better future for themselves and their children. Over the years, we have met 77 girls and 81 boys full of promise for the future. With backpacks filled with laughter, but also with more tears than we would wish.

The program is supported by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and we currently operate one day center and three shelters. We promote various workshops and activities designed to foster new learning, spaces for connection, and positive experiences (personal growth workshops, parenting workshops, recreational activities, academic support, Spanish classes, spaces to strengthen the mother-child bond, networking with other Itaka programs and local initiatives…). We believe in the power of relationships, kindness, and care. We want to be that network and support system that allows them to rest and gather the strength needed to move forward and build their own life plans.

Over the years, the network created through the dedicated team that has driven the program has been essential. Its educational team, volunteers, the fraternity and its catechumenate, as well as other resources and individuals within the community network, have taken small steps toward creating new ecosystems of care and a fabric of rights that continue to transform the lives of the participants.

For all this, we thank you for your presence, not only at this anniversary celebration, but for your support over these 25 years, accompanying lives, weaving bonds, and sustaining processes of reconstruction alongside women and their children. On March 12, the Beregain Program celebrated its 25th anniversary by organizing a two-day event titled “BEREGAIN, 25 YEARS TOGETHER WEAVING RIGHTS THAT TRANSFORM LIVES”.

Throughout the morning, a first training session was held where various professionals in the sector, institutional representatives from the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, as well as women who have participated in the program throughout its history, came together to delve deeper, take time to reflect, and celebrate the lives and struggles of the women and their children served.

In the afternoon, the celebratory event took place with a more festive atmosphere, where music, discussions, an explanation of the program’s origins, a look at Beregain’s past, present, and future, and above all, the gathering of those who attended or were present, provided the best way to celebrate our shared experiences, reflect on the past, and thank everyone who, in one way or another, is part of this story.

These were simple yet deeply meaningful moments to pause, reflect, acknowledge the journey we’ve taken, and continue to nurture the community that makes Beregain possible. There are stories that can only be told within a community. Beregain’s is one of them.

We would like to highlight the special publication produced by the educational team in collaboration with various people who have been important to the program over the years.