Bertha Flores

Bertha Flores is a woman with a lot of responsibility, exhaustion, and faith and not enough money, food or help. She houses her kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews in a mud-brick home in a sector of Lima called San Genaro, where refugees who had fled from terrorism in the Andes became squatters. Bertha was head of an after-school program where she cooked hot meals for over one hundred children in the program in return for 5 meals for her family members. Bertha supported her family by selling snacks from her little push cart. Back then, a dollar a day was good.

Staff from Bridge of Hope Fair Trade met Bertha Flores and explained the Fair Trade model to her.  They challenged her to get a group of at least five women together who were willing to learn both the business and sewing skills to run a successful cooperative.  Bertha got a group together and the women learned practical sewing skills on a very old sewing machine that one of them owned.  They learned where to buy materials, how to price their products, and how to keep books.                                                                                    

After several months of working together, two used sewing machines were donated to them.  A year later this group was able to buy five new machines from the profits they saved from their sales.  Their success was one of the factors that initiated the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade project who PJT purchases its Fair Trade products from.  Bertha, Patricia, Julia, Emilia and Glendi named themselves Grupo Maná as they saw their opportunity as manna from God. 

Grupo Maná sews all sorts of products including the colorful mantas which women in the Andes Mountains use to carry their babies. They make placemats, table centers, wine bags, coasters, purses, conference bags, yoga bags, pastoral stoles, bookmarks and much more. Their creativity continues in developing new successful products. They have bought 5 sewing machines with their sales and have a well-lit, organized workshop in one of their homes. They have rotated the workshop and it is now in its 4th location – each year it is a larger and better equipped. Not only do they live out the criteria of Fair Trade, they demonstrate problem solving skills when facing challenges. 

They serve as a model to other groups. For example, when one of the artisans, Glendi, broke her arm, she was unable to sew for 3 weeks. The group decided to divide her share of the work between themselves, 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 sick or laid up didn't mean Glendi was without pay: the others pitched in her behalf.
 
Grupo Maná works 6-8 hours per day and has been working together for three years. Their goal is to grow the amount of orders they receive so that they can add five more members (i.e. their daughters). Three have adult-aged, unemployed daughters who are currently being trained. The other two daughters are younger and will have an opportunity to work when they finish high school. Grupo Maná also worked together many years in a community soup kitchen. None were employed, and their economic needs pushed them to think about sewing together.

They decided to pool their resources and talents: one woman had finished high school and could keep the books; another knew a little about sewing; two had very old, used machines that had been passed down in their families; and one knew where to buy materials in Lima. With the support of the Bridge of Hope Project, they learned about taxes, bookkeeping, and took sewing lessons. In turn, being a part of Grupo Maná´s development has provided experience after experience that affirms that Fair Trade works! The women point out that not only have each of them had a stable family income of $225 per month from their work, but they are able to walk to work, have flexibility in times of emergency, and have the support and friendship of one another.

Watch this short video, Threads of Hope, about Grupo Maná.