Close Window

Rosa Pacheco

"When I was working for a certain NGO in Peru, I met a nun from the Sisters of Joseph. We used to work in the dining rooms, providing food for people in conditions of extreme poverty. We met a lot of women there who were under psychological stress because of the lack of money to provide for their children.

"The Sister and I decided to form a support group with an aim to help them, and we established a link between aggression and low self-esteem with their economic constraints and unemployment. We discussed with them the different alternatives possible, and some said they could sell things on the streets while others said they could embroider. With that in mind, on December 4, 1990, we started making jute wallets.

"I taught them how to sew and embroider, other women brought their own sewing kits. They decided the schedule as well as their salaries. The aim was to help women stop being labeled as 'social cases.'

"We began with a group of seven women in what turned out to be a workshop on embroidery techniques. We encountered some difficulties, pressure was increasing and some women dropped out of the project. Meanwhile, the women that did stay began to diversify in the things they did.

"We began to promote our products through exhibitions at nearby churches. Eventually, people with more experience began to join our group and taught us dressmaking techniques, crochet, etc.

"Between 1993 and 1995, our group had increased to 23 women. Most of the materials we had came from donations and France's Caritas project helped us buy two sewing machines and shelves, as well as assisitng with salary payments.

"On December 30, 1990, robbers broke into our workshop and took everything, machinery and finished products. They took everything we had, so we were considering ending the project. However, in a great show of solidarity, friends and neighbors lent us their sewing machines, others just gave them to us. People at CIAP (the inter-regional center for Peruvian artisans) organized an event aimed at collecting funds for us. With their help, we managed to stay afloat and flourish.

"Everyone has a specific responsibility, for example, I'm in charge of design and quality control, someone else is in charge of sourcing materials, etc. The women who sew and embroider do so from their own home, with a deadline. Then the pieces are taken to someone else to put the finishing touches and check for quality. If we receive a big order, we all work together.

"We're only a group of women who found a way out of the conditions we were living in, and we help those we meet along the way. The workshop also offers a space for reflection as well as personal and social growth.

"Now we provide a wider range of courses and training workshops such as design, administration, personal growth, etc. We collaborate with other workshops and form part of different associations that share our same goals. Together we offer different educational and social activities.

"One of the most important workshops we run is directed at children and teenagers. Children between the ages of three and four are taught crafts, finger and toe painting, collage with cloth, and organize wool threads by color. By the time they are seven years old, we teach them crafts with recycled materials and we promote values, take them on field trips, and organize sporting events and games. For teenagers we have a jewelry workshop and we take them to fairs, museums, and on field trips too."