Katrina Sisters

By
They gave us all smiles, yet we couldn't help but feeling guilty we were slowing their role. The Katrina Sisters are women that do all the traditional household chores, and then spend the rest of their day weaving beautiful traditional garments.



Our tour started at the shop Cajoyla where they sold beautiful handmade goods from local artisans. Then we traveled with Antonio down the road as we saw the bustling neighborhood of Santiago with Tuk Tuks (a small golfcart like taxi), street food, and people playing basketball. We were the first tour group from Cojoyla to ever visit these sisters, and they were more than excited to see us!


They work together to make a piece, and they each do a different step of the process. It takes about three days to make a traditional skirt (because they also have to take care of the household). They reminded me of professional friendship bracelet makers, doing the most advanced macrame I have ever seen in my life! Not to mention the embroidery is incredible.



It definitely gives me a new perspective of how much effort goes into making a quality item. Cajoyla is a Fair Trade Certified Organization which was really exciting for me! I have been promoting Fair Trade on Campus since freshmen year, and it was amazing to see the individual women that Fair Trade benefits. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coffee Addict

By
Image
Leslie Palomares - 05/23/2019 Today, we met two organizations in Antigua, De La Gente, and Common Hope. Keara, from De La Gente, gave us a tour of a coffee farm in Antigua together with Gabriel. Eight years ago, Gabriel only had one hectare where he planted coffee. Now, he has 13 hectares where he grows up to 4,000 coffee beans a year to export to countries like Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. Gabriel received a loan from De La Gente to buy more land for his coffee and so he could leave his other job as a waiter in Guatemala City, and be closer to his wife and four children. In addition, he tours approximately 2 hours to teach foreigners about the complete process of making coffee in Guatemala. Afterward, Gabriel invited us to his house where his wife cooked us a delicious meal with chicken, avocado, and Jamaica tea. We also drank some homemade coffee which was amazing before leaving to Common Hope. Common Hope is an organization that provides educati...
Read more

Volcan de Fuego

By
Image
Today, we visited El Volcan de Fuego, or the Volcano of Fire, with the daughters of charity. We were less than 4km from the volcano (which is still active). Last year, this volcano destroyed all the houses and killed many families, living in San Miguel Las Lomas, with it. When we first arrived at the place, it was hard for us to imagine how the lava buried houses and people. The sisters told us that some people were saved because they went to work but they are not really lucky, as many believe, because when they returned home, they found themselves homeless and without their families. The feeling of sadness and emptiness is very strong and even if you take pictures or tell someone about the terrible event, they would need to step on the ashes to understand a little better what they went through.  Several of the potential borrowers live in the homes of relatives or friends and others in shelters built by the government. Three of the people who live in the shelters are helped by...
Read more

Day 2 - A Day to Remember

By
Image
Dylan Hawxhurst - 05/21/2019 Alike the first day I will discuss my day in chronological order, but the second day in Guatemala was a day that the group and I would not forget. The day began when we met the daughters of charity and some potential borrowers at the daughter’s property. Luckily the property was a few blocks away, so it was very easy to get there. Upon arrival, we were greeted with loving hugs and it felt as if I was walking into a family members home. Besides the joy we saw out of the daughters, it was obvious to see how thankful the borrowers were. They were grateful to be there and have this opportunity to better their lives. After our introduction of what GLOBE is and who we are, we successfully received six loan applications. This was extremely pleasing to witness because Esther and I were two of the five members who expanded into Guatemala last year. Being able to witness this process firsthand from the beginning to where it is currently has been a beautiful experie...
Read more