Dear friends and family,
I hope this email finds you all in good health and high spirits. As you all know I have been in Guatemala working as a field consultant for a US NGO Community Enterprise Solutions and Guatemalan social business Soluciones Comunitarias for about five months now. I like my job, but I had not been invigorated by my job until last Tuesday. Here is why, which I hope will be of interest to you.
Last Tuesday I took my bi-weekly hour and a half long journey to arrive at Juana’s, my counterpart who I am helping train for the the Regional Coordinator position of the department of Solola for Soluciones Comunitarias, house in a community called El Triunfo. After taking three separate buses, walking down a dirt road, and hiking down windy paths between stalks of corn I arrived at Juana’s house, where I was greeted by a group of eight women and five children from El Triunfo. Many of the women had set up their backstrap looms and were weaving on the porch of Juana’s house.
A few weeks earlier, while in Antigua, Juana explained to me that she was looking for stores to sell the products of a group of women weavers from her community. Together we decided I would take a few pictures of their products and see if there was a way to sell the products through a new fair trade initiative, Good Stuff Good Works, that we are working on developing here in Guatemala. The women were now ready to talk about this opportunity. Juana organized the group and we began a conversation about their products and how we could potentially work together. The women were eager to share their stories and were gracious and welcoming of my presence and interest in their work. Their products, each hand made during a time frame ranging from two hours to two months, were outstanding and defined by bright colors and intricate stitches. The women explained to me that they have very low sales, an average of five products per woman per month, averaging about $25 per woman per month. They currently sell most of their products to street vendors in Panajachel, the touristy town I live in, who pay them very little for each product. The women explained their need to explore new markets to sell their products. This easily translated into a need to send the girls to school, to buy vegetables, to invest in a water filter, to pay transport costs, etc, etc.
During my walk out of El Triunfo I couldn’t stop thinking about these women. The lack of a market for their artisanship was clearly hurting their household income and livelihoods.
So here is my proposal to you, my dear friends.
Good Stuff Good Works has a long way to go as far as figuring out logistics of import/export rules and regulations, payment details, etc. But these women need help now, they can’t wait on the paperwork for import licenses. Here’s where you come in.
Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, birthdays, and general joyous celebrations are all right around the corner. Why not buy a little something from Guatemala for someone special? Maybe you’ve not been so kind to your office mate who keeps eating the last piece of candy from the communal candy jar, maybe you’d like to remind your housekeeper just how special she is, maybe you’d like to surprise someone with a random act of kindness, and maybe you just want to give you best lady a pretty little something to adorn her delicate neck or dining room table.
My goal is to double each woman’s sales for the month of November i.e. five additional products for each woman. There are around fifteen women currently working in the group so my goal is to sell seventy-five products. Seventy-five seems large, but it’s not that much of a task when I consider the hearts of my friends back home.
I have posted product pictures, prices, and payment info are all on my blog, http://oallison2.blogspot.com/ Go ahead, take a peak at traditional Guatemalan backstrap weaving. I ask that you email your orders to me at eltriunfosales@gmail.com by Sunday, November 28 at the very latest to allow enough time for the women to prepare your product. Once you email me your desired order I will send you an invoice through PayPal, through which you can pay with credit, debit, Pay Pal account, or bank account through Pay Pal. If you would like to pay with check you may do so please specify in your order email and I will send you the address. I’ll send you a sweet little reminder every week until November 28th.
I will be dragging a giant duffel bag of these products through the airport on December 16th. I will mail and deliver products to you as soon as I get home. Please note that I have increased the prices of the products just a smidge to give the women a bit more of a fair wage, some prices were offensively low.
With all my love,
Alli
