Since I last wrote, I have visited 4 groups:
Emady, Manos del
Rosario, Jupa, and Ima Sumacc and have inhaled
a lot of pollution. I wish
I had a map of Lima to show how many different
roads we have
traversed. Lima is feeling bigger and bigger by
the day. And my teeth are
decaying by the minute because each artisan
group is kind enough to
give us Inka Cola or some other sort of sugar
saturated, caffeinated
drink. And please forgive my English as I am
not one of those people that
can switch back and forth from one language to
another…instead as one
language improves, the other
deteriorates...
Of all of the
groups we have visited,
Emady is the most advanced and the oldest
member of Bridge of Hope.
Emady specializes in producing products that
have a touch of Shipibo, an
intricately decorated cloth from the
northeastern jungles of Peru, but they
also use fabrics from other parts of Peru.
Dionisia Ramos started the
group nearly 7 years ago and from what BOH has
told me, has been able
to improve her living situation drastically.
She now has a large house and
has been able to place her son who has down’s
syndrome in a special
school. Emady has several rooms in Dionisia’s
house where they work
and has been able to buy 3 sewing machines - a
huge advancement for
the artisan 
groups here in
Peru. Of the 5 members
of Emady, 3 have been involved since the start
and know how to use the
sewing machines and 2 members are newer and do
most of the cutting.
The group works as a team, each specializes in
one area of the
production line so they work more efficiently
than the newer groups.
Emady understands the principles of Fair Trade
and even have become
friends with other artisan groups from the BOH
Fair Trade project, inviting
them over to celebrate birthdays and special
occasions. They understand
how to price their products so we focused more
on design (Maria, an
extremely talented seamstress, made me a skirt
in 30 minutes!) and how
BOH and PJT could be more helpful for the
group.
Ima Sumacc is a
group of 5 women (of
whom I only met 4) who live in the Southern
outskirts of Lima at the top
of a mountain of sand (literally. I am
constantly amazed at such a large
city built in the middle of an apparent
desert…and to that same effect, I
constantly feel as though I am covered in a
layer of dust). At first
appearance, Ima Sumacc does not seem to be in
dire straits; from their
clothing and outgoing personalities, one might
guess life isn’t so tough.
And then I took a trip to the “bathroom.” I
decided that we should visit
the bathroom of every artisan we visit to
really gauge what their living
situation is like – not what their front room
looks like. Ima Sumacc can
crochet and knit but none of the members are
adept at using a sewing
machine. 
(I feel that the
use of a sewing machine
is another gauge of how advanced a group is.)
We talked about ways
they could improve their current products (we
only carry two of their
products, an amazingly soft and stylish alpaca
hat and scarf) and they
also showed some samples of new products that
they had been working
on. I was impressed with the group and that
despite the small amount of
orders they have received to date, that they
meet each week and try to
come up with new designs. The shyest member of
the group, Isabel,
nearly came to tears when talking about how
important the group is to
her and that thanks to working with the group
and in Fair Trade, she had
learned how to defend herself, especially from
her often abusive
husband.
The other two
groups we visited, Manos
del Rosario and Jupa are much less advanced.
This could be for several
reasons. But regardless of the reasons, it is
obvious that these groups
need a lot of attention. It appears that
neither group has a strong leader
nor learned how to work together as a team and
divide up the work in an
efficient way. One group has made “cholita” or
typical indigenous
Peruvian magnets and Christmas ornaments and
the other makes
“arpillera” or embroidered bookmarks. Both
require 
elaborate,
detailed work and the groups
haven’t yet begun to purchase materials in bulk
(to reduce the price) and
are not yet dedicated enough to sit together to
complete the work,
instead each individual artisan takes the work
back to her house and
does in between cooking, cleaning, and other
chores/jobs. The skills that
these artisans have are also difficult to apply
to the North American
market.
My latest conclusion is that we need
professional designers helping
us with product development. My basic knack for
sewing and creating
products (along with the support of our
amazingly talented board
member and seamstress, Eleanor, or as she is
affectionately called by
the artisans, Leonor) is not enough to assist
20+ different artisan groups
in creating several new products annually. This
I’ve known all along but it
has been underscored in the past few days. But
this help is not something
we can come by easily. As a non-profit
organization, how do we attract
designers who are enticed by fame and money in
the real design world??
? I’m all ears if anyone has ideas on
this!
