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TUES. JULY 20
Most of us got up early. I said this is the early bird group. Went for walks and had
coffee. Diego came by for breakfast and then we had a van rented from Chichicastenago so we left to see a group.
This is a group that I hadn't been to before and Diego said they were an interesting group. They have not had very many visitors
so he wasn't sure what to expect. The contact they have had with outside groups has been the charity model where someone
comes in and does something for them. Since this is not what Sharing the Dream is..it will be interesting. It
seems that so many times it is more difficult to work with groups after the charity model has been there. They are not
used to working with someone on self-sufficiency. Sometimes it takes us several years longer to get to the point where
they are working on self-sufficiency, then working with a group from the very start where they have not had someone come in
with the charity model. Hope that makes sense. Anyhow, it was quite a hike to get to this village. There
was a very rough road, a four wheeler couldn't have even gotten down it. There were about 12 women in the group.
They all seemed to be related somehow. There was one older woman who couldn't hear and they said she had been really
having pain in her ears. They asked if any of us could help her. We didn't have any medical people with us and
couldn't help. There was one other lady who was very ill with a respiratory problem. There is not any medical
help available in the area so small illnesses can worsen pretty quickly.
This group of women do the plain Chichi runners. They don't sew nor do they weave anything else. Diego said
it is very hard to sell just runners. We sat and visited with the women for a while. It was very hot and soon
they brought out umbrellas for us and even some cloth for our heads. They folded them up and put them on our heads like
they do. We really looked quite a sight sitting there in the hot sun. We took quite a bit of time to work on quality
of their weavings. I suggested they make smaller runners but have better quality. This is always very touchy because
you want to be positive with their product, but you also want them to be able to sell them. The back of their weavings
have loose threads so we talked about how these could be done better. We also talked about how to do the edges and that
they needed to use high quality thread and they needed to keep the weaving clean. I also think they need to try some
different colors, but this would come at a different meetings as we had covered enough for one session. The women then
had to decide if they were going to make a few samples of what we had suggested. This part is up to them and they need
to be committed to trying something new. They talked among themselves and decided they would try it. I told them
that if the quality was high we could then order a quantity of them. Because of the smaller size of the weaving, the
time would be about the same. They could spend more time on the qualilty and less time on the weaving. During
the time we were visiting they gave us each a bottle of pop. Not cold but wet so we enjoyed that in the hot sun.
We each bought a few weavings, said our thank yous and started back up the hill. Several of the women came up the hill
with us and we gave them a ride in the van back to their homes.
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| Women who make runners |
Our next stop was Chontala for lunch. This is a group that I have been to many times. Sharing the Dream has
worked with these women on getting stoves for their homes and a chicken cooperative. They are always a delight to see,
although again we had to go down quite a hill to get there. At the top of the hill before going down was the Methodist
Church. During the violence of the 80's the military had gone to Chontala and invited everyone to a party at the church.
They said they needed people to help them prepare for the festivaties so some of the men and children went there early.
When they had 30 people in the church they locked the doors and then burned the church to the ground with the people inside.
The village of Chontala has not only been through this tragedy but has had many others. The stories the women tell are
truly amazing. It is amazing they are still surviving. That is why they are called the Widows of Chontala.
Right now we are working on a proposal with Diego for them. They are backstrap weavers and have been doing traditional
patterns. These patterns are not selling anymore so they need to learn a different pattern. They want to hire
a weaver who can teach them another pattern to come in and work with the women. Since alot of the woman are older
they have been taking a little money from everything they sell and put it into a fund so that now that some of the older women
can't weave they can still have a small income. In order to have the money to have the weaving lessons they were going
to take money from the widows fund. It is going to be quite costly to have the lessons and it would deplete the fund
so hopefully once they put the proposal together we can find some funding to help them.
We had a great lunch there. I always tell them that they are the greatest cooks in Guatemala. They make a
fried chicken that is just wonderful. Since we were running late we ate immediately. After eating we chatted a
bit with some of the women. It was getting late and everyone including the women were tired, so we cut our visit short.
The cutest photo which I didn't dare do was when John was sitting on a chair trying to keep awake and an older woman was sitting
on the ground next to him. The woman started nodding off and was practically leaning on John's leg. It was really
neat. After looking at some of their products and buying a few we started the long walk back up the hill.
We had planned
on making one more stop this day. We were going to go and meet the weaver who was going to teach the women. Diego
wanted us to see the different types of weavings he can do and to visit with him. The trip to see the weaver was 1 1/2
hours each way and then we had to go back to Chichicatenago, so I asked the group if they would mind if we didn't do this..
They eagerly agreed, although this was such a good group they would have done it.
When we got back to Chichi we went
down to see what the market looked like, visited the church and stopped at an internet place. The church is very interesting.
I will tell you about Santo Tomas Church. The Indigenous people have been left to adopt their own style of worship,
blending pre-Columbian and Catholic rituals. The church was built in 1540 on the site of a Mayan altar and rebuilt in the
eighteenth century. Many times at the entry to the church you can see a traditional person with a can of incense.
We observed a lady doing this.
We walked back to Ruth and Nohemi. We were going to be having dinner shortly but we
started our work with Diego. We had ordered lots of new items so we went through that list as well as went into the
store that they have to look at and buy some other items. Sharing the Dream had worked with Ruth and Nohemi on building
the store so it is always fun to go and see it. They had a small room until seveal years ago when the store was built.
After
working awhile we ate dinner. Had a nice conversation and then worked a bit more on orders. We had a long day
so we didn't mind going to bed about 9. All of us women stayed in one area and of course we had to do alot of chatting
and laughing so we don't always get to sleep right away.
It has been a good day.
Diane
Quote for the
day: "There are people who have money and people who are rich"........Many of our friends in Guatemala are rich.
go to part 3
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