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Mana
Maná -
San
Genaro, Lima
Patricia
Avila, Bertha Flores,
Emilia
Serrano
Mana sews
many products including the colorful mantas
which women in the Andes Mountains use to carry
their babies. The group formed in 2002 and the
workshop has rotated and is now in its fourth
location. Mana member, Berta Flores, has built
a workshop on top of her house where the group
has been working for the past few years..
Not only do they demonstrate
problem solving skills when
f acing
challenges but they embody Fair Trade values
like solidarity in their solutions. While
health insurance is unusual for workers in
Peru, the group pitches in when necessary to
create their own healthcare. For example, when
one of the artisans broke her arm, she was
unable to sew for 3 weeks. The group decided to
divide her share of the work between them, and
give her the same distribution of income that
they would receive. In addressing the
situation in this way, they created their own
"insurance". Being injured did not mean this
member was without pay: the others pitched in
on her behalf.
Mana met each other
when they worked together many years back at a
community soup kitchen. There they cooked and
worked so their children could have free
lunches. The members jumped at the opportunity
to work
with Bridge of Hope, even though they didn’t
all know how to sew. Berta says, “I wanted to
work with the group so much that I
said I knew how to sew – even though I didn’t.”
The members pooled their talents and resources
to form a group – one had finished high school
and could keep the books; another knew a little
about sewing; and two had very old, used
machines that had been passed down in their
families that the group could start sewing
with.
With the support of the
Bridge of Hope Project, they learned about
taxes, bookkeeping, and took sewing lessons.
The group members have been able to improve
their houses and send their children to
school
thanks to their
involvement in Fair Trade. Grupo Mana’s goal is
to increase their orders they receive so that
they can add more
members.