We
had a second group come in the morning. It was two women from
near San Jancito. They are from the southeastern part of the
country. They live in a small community that does not have buses
so they walked 2 hours to get to the nearest town and then it is a 5
hour bus ride to get to the centre of the city and then about 45
minutes to get here to the office. They brought us basket
samples and their baskets are just exquisite. They are made from
coconut
and palm leaves. They have just been an association for the past
3 years and they explained how they work. Virginia and I
both agreed that this would probably be a good group to start working
with. When I come this
fall we will make a trip out to see the
group. There are 50 women in it. We bought the samples but really
couldn’t put an order in because we won’t be shipping again until next
April. In the mean time Virginia can be working with them on
labels etc. Hopefully when I go see them this fall we can
put in a big order. When we do that we give them 50% of the order
and then pay the rest when the order is delivered. This is really
unheard of to pay that much in advance but we are really trying to do
that with each order. The problem I have with this group is
that the women are not getting very much for their labor. An
example is a basket that cost us Q15, which is about $2.00.
They have to pay Q10 for the dried coconut leaves as it is very
difficult to climb the trees and get them. That leaves Q5 for 3
days of labor at 5 hours a day. Q 5 would equal about $.67 for 15
hours of labor. This is just not right. The problem
is that there are so many basket makers in their community that they
just can’t sell them any higher. This is not fair
trade. If you would figure out the time that it takes to make a
basket with what they should be making, the price would be so high no
one could afford to buy them.. If we pay them quite a bit more
than they are asking we disturb the balance in the community and also
the women may not be able to have any more markets but
us. So…. It is quite a puzzle. I think
what we will do is pay them slightly more than they are asking and then
try and do some projects with the women.
While we were working
with the women, Shanna, Rosa, Isabel, and Diana went shopping. They
then made us a very nice lunch so we invited the women to eat and then
they left for home.
In the afternoon we went and bought some
plants for the pots on the terrace and came back to the centre and
finished getting ready for the group. We had quite a crew here so
it didn’t take us long. Shanna and I went with Venicio in the van
to get the group. Shanna was hoping to pick up her backpack that
hadn’t come through but American was already closed and she didn’t get
it. Hopefully we can get it sometime today. The group
all got here with all the luggage. We loaded up everything and
came back to the centre. Diana, Rosa and Isabel had fruit and
hibiscus tea waiting for them. We had a tour of the centre, a
small orientation and then they all went to bed.
Tomorrow we
will be starting the group and I am hoping that I can get a few people
in the group to do the journaling. Rosa also said she would help
with that…so you may not here directly from me as much over the next 10
days.
Know that I am well… I have my usually accumulation of insect bites…..but other then that I am feeling fine.
Love to all of you…
Diane
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