Final Days in Santiago

Throughout my time in Santiago Atitlán, I’ve learned a lot about the challenges of microenterprise and small-scale development work. Working on a community-based project like Just Apparel requires a dedicated interest to the community, an ability to triage complicated issues, and most importantly, a capacity to communicate effectively and work together with individuals who come from a cultural background that is very different than your own. When I first came to Santiago, I didn’t realize how dependent I would be on Dolores for translating between Spanish and Tz’utujil, the indigenous language that all of the women speak. Communication would have been nearly impossible without a translator. Even with Dolores acting as translator, many of the specific details about the product designs were lost in translation as we began to come up with new product designs and ideas. Since the product designs had Western influences, many of the women were unfamiliar with why or how one would use, for example, a placemat or headband. These are items that the women themselves do not use. We had to be very patient and detailed in describing the products and actually using models and examples of what we had deemed marketable to an American consumer base. However, it is also important to make sure that by doing so we weren’t requiring our artisans to abandon their traditional techniques or individual style.

Natik has such a strong foundation in the Santiago Atitlán community, and something that I think has made the Just Apparel project different is how have incorporated the women’s insight in the creative process. While we did specify sizing details and fabric templates, the product color schemes and specific embroidery designs are all unique works of art created by each woman of the cooperative. A believe that a key component of the success of our Just Apparel project is this incorporation of this participatory development method that supports and respects local community traditions, while still encouraging economic empowerment opportunities.

Like I had realized at the beginning of my project, the problem in this community isn’t the lack of desire to work but instead the lack of opportunity to work. My time in Santiago Atitlán has shown that with a greater awareness and expansion to bigger markets, this project has great potential for genuine improvement in human livelihood in this community. I left Santiago on August 1, after a farewell party with new friends at the local bar and saying goodbye to my host family and Dolores. It was sad to say goodbye to Santiago—a town that I called home for two months—but I feel proud of the work that I have accomplished there in such a short time. I know I’ll come back someday! Next up, I spend 11 days traveling northern Guatemala and Belize with some friends that I have made in my time in Guatemala. Stay tuned for tales of cliff jumping, spelunking, volcano hikes and snorkeling with sting rays and sharks!

Valuing Laughter over Laptops

This last week has been full of really productive strides towards the new Just Apparel website and grant writing process. I created the Just Apparel shop so that consumers can purchase our items in the online marketplace, and uploaded all the photos and pricing. Right now we're just working through the kinks of how to make payments, last minute editing, and making sure that everything flows and is consistent in design throughout the website. I'm really happy with how it has come out so far, and really excited to show everyone the final product!

New website coming soon....!!

I've also been working on grant proposals this week, and have narrowed down the list to four grants that I think are worth applying. Finally, we did a second round of home visits this past week to pass out the last remaining pieces of fabric for the headband project. When we made the placemats and handbags, we actually had several long pieces of fabric leftover. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with the extra fabric. However, kind of like when you spend an hour looking for your glasses only to realize that they have been on your head the whole time, I soon realized that the fabric was the perfect size for the headbands that I use so frequently to hold back my hair while traveling! Part of the challenge this week was describing the concept to the women-- the headbands that I wear are obviously a Westernized fashion, so Dolores and I had a good deal of fun explaining how to even wear a headband or why one would be useful or desirable. We had several laughs when the women were trying the pieces of fabric on their heads! I am looking forward to see how they turn out!

This past weekend I decided to explore the last few towns around the lake that I hadn't spent any time in yet. I spent Saturday in Santa Cruz, which is another tiny but lovely town on the Eastern side of the lake. The village itself is quite a hike up the mountain, which took a good 30 minutes to climb up but offered exceptional views. I also had a great lunch at Isla Verde, an ecolodge and spa with all organic "slow food" and a  very tempting massage package.

Lunch at Isla Verde

View of the lake, looking down from Santa Cruz

I spent the night at La Iguana Perdida, a local hostel with communal BBQs and costume parties on Saturday nights that make for a very fun and friendly backpackers experience! I actually ran into Julia, the girl who I climbed the San Pedro volcano with a few weeks ago, and got to know some of her friends as well. Their wifi-free policy encouraged interaction and we really had a great night!

Poster explaining why WiFi isn't allowed at Iguana Perdida

On Sunday I hiked over to Jaibailito, which is about a 45 minute hike along the ridge overlooking the lake. It was a gorgeous hike, and when I got to town I decided to check out a restaurant called Club Ven Aca which offers an infinity pool and great pasta dishes! Super relaxing afternoon.

Relaxing at the infinity pool in Jaibalito

Only two weeks left in Santiago and one month of my trip left. Some days it feels like I have been gone for much longer than five weeks and four more weeks seems like an eternity, and some days I feel like I can't believe that this experience is already over half complete. I sure am grateful for technology to be able to keep in touch with my loved ones while I am away. However, it has also been kind of nice to log off the internet and fully log in to my surroundings, and by valuing "giggles over Google" I have met so many new wonderful friends along the way as well!

Viva Mexico!

Last week I traveled to San Cristobal de las Casas (SC), Mexico to visit with the Natik team in SC and the surrounding towns as well as run some administrative errands for our upcoming projects. What was supposed to be a long weekend turned into a weeklong adventure due to a transportation strike— I was stuck in the city for three extra days due to blockades on all of the streets exiting the city limits! However, I was able to share the adventure with Anita and her partner Manuel, Anna and her husband John, and my Uncle Marc who came down from his home in Merida to visit with me. Overall it was a very successful trip filled with fun memories and productive work!

I spent last Friday— my first full day in Mexico— busily working on some of the approaching projects that Natik has in store. In the morning, Anita and I visited the Intercultural University of Chiapas and had meetings with several representatives of the university to plan an intercultural exchange program with Edgewood College in Wisconsin.

At the Intercultural University of Chiapas

Natik is collaborating with a university professor who is teaching a course on Chiapas this fall at Edgewood, and we are coordinating so that the US-students can come down to Chiapas during their winter break to work on a development project with university students in Chiapas. Natik is really excited to help facilitate this intercultural exchange and this is something that we hope to encourage in the future as well. I believe that getting young, passionate people involved and working with Natik—both from the US and from Chiapas—is an incredible way to expand our reach and help the local community in a very unique way!

On Friday afternoon, we visited the town of Zinacantan, which is about a 30 minute collectivo ride from SC. Known for their flower gardens, we visited the lovely church there.

Church in Zinacantan

I've never seen so many flowers and candles

After visiting the church, we met up with Xunca and her family at their home. Xunca is a very well established woman in the Zinacantan community, and has been working with a cooperative of 150 women in the area for the last 15 years. Many of the women that work with Xunca have been recipients of Natik’s Veredas Micro-loan Program.

Picking out items at Xunca's shop from the cooperatives in Zinacantan, Mexico

Xunca allows Natik to take some items from her shop on consignment, so we chose several items from her store which we will place on our Etsy store and other online marketplaces that myself and the Natik team is working on. Once the items sell, we pay Xunca for the cost of the product and hopefully sell the item for enough to invest a little bit of money back into the microloan project.

Over the weekend, I spent some time sightseeing with Marc and exploring San Cristobal. The town is colonial with walkable cobblestone streets, numerous gorgeous churches, several interesting museums, and tons of global restaurants and cafes.

Cross in the town center

San Cristobal cathedral, lit up at night

Colonial streets of SC

View of San Cristobal from one of the cathedrals on the hill

View of the city from the cathedral

A highlight of the weekend was our visit to San Juan de Chamula on Sunday. The town is much more indigenous than SC, and the people wear a very unique dress that Marc and I inevitably ended up calling the “hairy skirts” because their attire is made of thick black, fuzzy wool. It was market day so the streets were extremely busy, and the church was truly fascinating. Apparently, the indigenous people of Chamula have very unique religious practices, involving a mix of traditional indigenous beliefs with Catholicism. It is forbidden to take photos in the church so you won’t see photos here, but the entire church was blanketed in pine needles and people worshipped in indigenous tounge amongst thousands of candles. It was a very interesting experience.

Marc and I in San Juan de Chamula

Through the rest of the week, I spent time working in many of the plethora of cafes—my favorite was TierrAdentro, a cultural café owned by Zapatista supporters. Brenda, a young Mexican woman, volunteered to take professional photos of the Just Apparel items that I had brought with me to Mexico, and Anna offered to take the items back with her in her suitcase to the US for shipping to buyers. I’m working now with Roisin to upload all the photos to our e-commerce stores as well as designing the store for the Just Apparel website. I also picked up a computer from Anna and John, which they kindly donated to Dolores. I set up the computer so that she can work on it in Spanish, and I brought across the border for her. Finally, I bought elastic from a store in SC for use on the headbands which will be the next project for the JA women, using the leftover strips of fabric from the handbags and placemats. This week, Dolores and I will visit the homes of the women again to distribute fabric for this next project! Moving forward!

Tuk-Tuks, Coches, and Chicken Buses-- oh my!

Visiting the Just Apparel women this week has been an extremely rewarding and fun experience! Dolores and I traveled to neighborhoods on the outskirts of Santiago to visit each of the women one-by-one in their homes. We were able to check in with each woman individually to make sure that she understood the Just Apparel project, and also see if she had any questions or concerns. I also had the chance to speak with each woman and learn a bit more about her family and her background, as well as check out some of the other embroidery and beadwork that she was working on at home. It was a good way to help build a personal relationship with each woman, and gave me an opportunity to appreciate her unique artistic skills! 

Petronila and her daughter, and an example of her work

Concepcion can multi-task as a momma

Sharing a laugh with Micaela


Some of Carmen's beaded bracelet designs

As I was traveling around Santiago and the surrounding communities this week, I decided that you all might like to know how I’ve been getting around in Santiago. The heart of Santiago is pretty bustling during the day, and pedestrians have to watch out for the three wheeled tuk-tuk taxis that zip through the narrow cobblestone streets. Tuk-tuks cost about $0.50 per ride and take you anywhere around Santiago. The communities nearby Santiago are usually accessed by pickup trucks with built-in handrails in the truck bed. To board, you climb into the back of the truck— standing room only! When you are ready to get off the truck, the proper way to notify the driver is slamming your hand on the truck cab or the side of the truck as hard as you can, until the driver hears you. These are cheaper (about $0.15-$0.25 per ride) and take you much farther than a tuk-tuk.

The coches, with passengers in the truck bed

“Chicken buses” (as the gringos call them) are available for longer trips. So far, most of the chicken buses I’ve seen that start in Santiago are headed towards Guatemala City. Chicken buses are often old American school buses. The school buses are auctioned off and driven down to Guatemala after they have been deemed that they are too old or have too many miles for American use. Chicken buses are usually brightly painted, but behind their playful exterior there lies a bloody secret. Being a bus driver in Guatemala City is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, with over 900 bus driver fatalities in the past decade due to a sharp rise in gang violence. I have had really positive experiences riding chicken buses through my travels in Nicaragua. For obvious reasons I have chosen to avoid them here in Guatemala, even though Santiago is a quaint indigenous town and is nearly a four hour drive away from the capital city, where most of the violence has been occuring. However, the stories about the bus dangers are a constant reminder that even though Guatemala’s brutal civil war has been over for more than 15 years, civilians in Guatemala still have to be wary of the potential of violence on their way to work or their way home to their families.

All warnings about Guatemala City aside, Santiago is a spectacularly beautiful town with some of the most amicable people I have ever met. I hope you enjoy this video I made that highlights a day in my life traveling around Santiago!

 

El Otro Lado del Lago

Tomorrow, Dolores and I will begin in-home visits with all of the women in the cooperative. One of our tasks throughout the visits will be to update the bios of each of the women in Just Apparel. The information that is currently on the website is several years old, so it’s important that we have the most up-to-date information for when we launch the new website and online marketplace. Additionally, meeting the women at their homes allows me to have a more in-depth conversation with each woman about her own perceptions, ideas and insight for the Just Apparel project and helps to build a personal relationship with each woman as well.

With this task on my mind and with today being Father’s Day, I began to reflect upon the women in the cooperative and how their relationships with their own fathers (or the fathers of their children) may differ from my own relationship with my father. In scanning the biographies of the women, I realized that while most of the women in the Just Apparel cooperative aren’t much older than myself, many have already lost their fathers to military conflict, murder, kidnapping, disaster, or disease. Some of the women are taking care of children who were orphaned and never knew their father, and many take care of their own biological children without the help of the child’s father. Guatemalan way of life has a culture that I’ve observed to be more collectivist and family-oriented than the American standard. I can’t even fathom how these women have persisted without the support of their own fathers or father figures for their children.

Children at the Puerta Abierta Biblioteca making Father's day crowns

In an email exchange with my own father today, he suggested that I consider the works of German sociologist Max Weber during my time working in Santiago. I was familiar with Weber’s “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” and have read articles by Weber in my political economic development courses at school. It was really interesting to contemplate some of Weber’s ideas in the context of the differences in inherent worldviews between myself and my Guatemalan partners.

When traveling to Panajachel (Pana) this weekend, I met a Guatemalan girl who had lived her whole life in Pana yet she shrugged and seemed nonchalant when she mentioned that she had never been to Santiago. A trip across the lake costs about U.S. $3 and takes less than an hour by boat. At first, I was shocked. How could she not even be curious about what was on the other side of the lake? But upon further reflection, I realized that she and many of her Guatemalan peers are struggling each day to simply survive, so my American-bred “quest for adventure” isn’t something that would have ever crossed her mind. A desire to travel has never entered her cultural framework, and isn't a part of her perception of how she lives her life.

My dad articulated it nicely in his email: because of my American upbringing, relative wealth and extensive educational background, I have a “fundamentally different zeitgeist from virtually all of the people you are now interacting with”. But I guess this is one of the reasons why I’ve chosen to study International and Intercultural Communication. Experiencing cultural difference is so deeply fascinating because even while we are learning about others, we are simultaneously learning even more about ourselves.

Some photos from our weekend exploring Panajachel and San Pedro de la Laguna:

At the Santiago dock about to take off for Pana

On the boat ride

With my homestay housemates and friends at the Pana dock

A tuk tuk (3 wheel taxis that roam the towns) named Brittany!

Markets in Pana

Pool party at the Piscina de San Pedro

Best BBQ on the Laguna

$5 Lunch

Me llamo "Tany"

Small-scale microenterprise projects have emerged as one of the most promising development models in recent decades. Research has shown that microenterprises have contributed to livelihood enhancement in thousands of poor communities around the world. However, success stories take time. I’m only going to be in Santiago for two months, so I was really excited to get going on our project as soon as I arrived!

Dolores translating from Spanish to Tz’utijil in Monday's meeting

We spent the first five days that I was here in Santiago trying to figure out logistics about fabric and finances. Anyone who has studied development or worked on a project knows that every project comes with its fair share of unexpected hurdles and challenges! Buying fabric seems like an easy task at first, but actually there are a lot of questions to be answered. Should the women weave the base fabric by hand, or should we purchase local fabric to work with? What styles and colors of fabric are available for purchase in Santiago, and where can we find fabric that is high quality, affordable, and in the colors that we desire? How much fabric does each women need for each product? What is a fair living wage for the labor needed to complete each piece? These questions were some of the things that we thought of after we had already decided which products were making, which colors and designs we wanted, and how we were allocating funding to make the products.

An added challenge is that the majority of the women speak the indigenous Tz’utijil language and only limited Spanish, so I can’t speak with them without a translator. I wouldn’t be able to do anything without Dolores, the Natik’s General Manager in Guatemala, who is fluent in both Spanish and Tz’utijil! Since my name is challenging for many of the women to say, I have started introducing myself as "Tany" to most of the people that I meet in Santiago.

After finally working through all the kinks, we set out to purchase fabric from a local shop for the base materials for our products. We decided to give each woman the option of embroidering either a set of four placemats or a bag with an embroidered flap. Each woman has the option to decide on her fabric color and product based on personal preference as well as the yarn that she already has at home, which she will be using for the embroidery. We decided on a deadline for the projects at two weeks.

Candelaria cutting the fabric

Picking out fabric colors with Anna

This morning the women came over to the meeting place at Dona Chonita’s (my neighbor here in Santiago), and we explained the products and design styles that we had decided for the first round of projects. At the end of the meeting, we distributed the fabric! 19 women came for the meeting. I can’t wait to see what the women come up with for the finished products in a couple of weeks!

My first fabric purchase

Bienvenidos a Santiago!

For an indigenous woman in Guatemala, even day-to-day life can be a constant challenge. The indigenous population makes up at least 60% of the country’s population, but their livelihood remains marginalized. According to my research for a paper for my graduate studies at the University of Denver, 87% of indigenous Guatemalans live in poverty and 61% live in extreme poverty (making less than $1.25 per day per person, according to the World Bank’s poverty measures). In indigenous communities where nine out of ten children under age five are malnourished, indigenous women are not only concerned about their own lives but also about the livelihoods of their families.

Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala is a small village of 40,000 residents located on Lago de Atitlán, the largest lake in Central America. 95% of the inhabitants are indigenous Mayans. The region was hit hard by the 36-year civil conflict in Guatemala from 1960-1996. The conflict and systematic marginalization of both women and indigenous people has left most of the women in Santiago Atitlán with very few marketable skills. Many women depend on artisan handicraft work to survive.

Approaching the docks at Santiago Atitlán, via boat from Panajachel

Women doing the day's washing 

Lago de Atitlán and Volcan San Pedro amongst the clouds

On our way to the market

I am spending the summer living in a homestay in Santiago Atitlán and working as the Project Development Intern for Natik, a U.S. based nonprofit that works together with community-based organizations in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico to transform marginalized communities through economic and educational empowerment.

Natik has been working in the Santiago Atitlán area since 2003. With Natik’s assistance, a group of 34 indigenous Mayan women have formed a microenterprise called Just Apparel in the community. Natik provides the materials for the handicraft work, and the women create beautiful woven handbags, tablecloths, pillowcases, and clothing from the thread. Once the items are sold, the women receive a portion of the profits, and a portion is retained for reinvestment. Additionally, a portion is allocated for a scholarship fund for secondary school for students in the community.

The Just Apparel scholarship fund has afforded at least 15 students with secondary school scholarships. Natik also operates The Puerta Abierta Biblioteca, which "offers creative learning opportunities to Santiago Atitlán children through preschool and kindergarten classes, after school enrichment programs, reading hours, homework help, and the traveling library, which spreads the joy of reading to the most remote parts of Santiago” (Natik.org, accessed June 1 2013).

A day of lessons at the Puerto Abierta Biblioteca

The biggest challenge facing the women of Santiago Atitlán is a lack of work for the artisans. The local tourist market for traditional embroidered goods is flooded, as there are too many women with the same skills and not enough local buyers. With such limited access to local markets to sell their artisan crafts, the women are forced to take on additional work that is often not paid at a fair, living wage.

My project in Santiago (as the locals shorten it) is to assist the cooperative of women to be able to earn a living wage through artisan craft sales by expanding the market for their crafts to include an international online marketplace. I will help with product design, pricing strategy, and website design for the Just Apparel website and online marketplace, as well as create and manage several other online portals such as an Etsy store. I will also be conducting in-house interviews with each of the women, working individually with each woman on her color preferences and embroidery styles in order to help her create and sell unique works of art. I will be writing short biographies of each woman in order to include information about the artist on a small card with each product when it is shipped to the consumer.

Meeting with some women in the cooperative at their homes to discuss fabrics

Monday was my first meeting with the women of the Just Apparel cooperative. At least 25 women came over to my neighbor’s house here in Santiago, and we sat in a big circle and talked about the next step for Just Apparel. I was introduced and we explained to the women that I will be working on the project for the next two months here in Santiago. The women were asked to bring over samples of their products so that we had an idea of what kind of skills the women already have, and how we could incorporate these skills into their future work with the cooperative.

The women of Just Apparel in our first group meeting

One of the examples of handwoven embroidery

The problem in this community isn’t the lack of desire to work but instead the lack of opportunity to work. I truly believe that this project has great potential for small-scale improvement in human livelihood, and I am looking forward to an incredibly rewarding summer!