Month: February 2016

Today’s class focused on the women designing and developing their own products within their groups. We began by talking about how to choose a word or phrase that has a meaning that is both personal yet also speaks to a customer. The women were asked to consider the following questions when deciding on their word or phrase: What does this word/phrase mean to you? What is the history of the world or phrase? Who is your client? What does this word or phrase mean to them?

Next the women were asked to write a brief paragraph about their phrase, combining the information from the questions above. This entire process took an hour, as the women spent a lot of time choosing a phrase that would have meaning for both them and their customer.

After the women settled on their phrase, the women chose their metal blanks and designed their product on paper. This included deciding what type of product they would sell (pendent, earrings, bracelet), the placement of the word on the blank, and additional decoration they would include, such as bead, wire, chain, etc. Next they made me a shopping list of the materials they would need to make 15 of the same product. This step was very important because many of them began by just saying “chain” and “clasps” instead of measuring and breaking down the exact number of what they would need.

The last step was to make a prototype of their product to use as a guide for the 15 pieces they will be producing. This gave them the chance to experiment with their original design and tweak it if needed. One group changed their design completely and another decided to stamp their phrase in Quechua rather than Spanish.

Finally, the women presented their products to the class and read their answers to the questions. I hadn’t seen any of the answers at this point (only the phrases), and I was really impressed with the depth and thoughtfulness the women put into their products! In fact, all of the women were impressed with what the others did and at the end everyone applauded and hugged. It was an incredibly sweet moment to see how each group came up with something different, yet each phrase was soaked in meaning for all of us.

Here is an example from one group:

Rikchari

Rikchari is Quechua for “awaken” and it is a word full of life and hope. It encourages us to continue to live each day with courage and to never give up until the last breath of our lives.

If you are weeping, don’t worry. So am I.

One of my great disappointments of this trip is seeing a woman who should have left last November still in the prison. Last summer when I talked to her she was all chatter about being released and getting her paperwork in order. She was planning to move back to the jungle to live with her father and work in his shop. She was hopeful and excited. And she’s still here.

Another woman was supposed to be released last January, then in the summer she told me November. I found out yesterday that she was released a week ago, meaning her release was delayed by over a year.

Yet another woman still hasn’t received her sentence. Every time I come she tells me that she should be released in a few months, since her lawyer think her sentence will be less than her time served, which is going on four years.

And every trip there are more like this. When the women talk about their release, there is a mixture of excitement, anxiety, fear, and hope in their voices. They all know their date- June of this year, April of another, but what happens when those dates come and pass and the women are still in prison? What happens to those emotions? Do they intensify? Are they replaced with frustration? Waiting?

When I ask the women about their postponed release date the answer is usually, “I don’t know” or “there is a delay with my papers”. If I press on about the delay, the answer is a shrug. It is becoming clear to me that there is little accountability in the the justice system and those handling the women’s papers. I’m not sure if it is because the people aren’t being held accountable, if there simply is no system of accountability, or if these women aren’t important enough to care about it.

What I am sure of is that it is an injustice to keep the women in the prison a day longer than they are sentenced, especially given the severity of the sentencing laws for non-violent crimes. What we as an organization can do about this is still unclear to me, but I am grateful that we are here to give the women work and classes so that they at least have something to look forward to while they wait.

Walking up to the prison this morning I had a bucket full of worries about getting in. Would they let me in with my measly received stamp? Would they confiscate my class materials? Would the director be there or would I be forced to wait another day? All of these worries clouded me as I stepped into the prison and was greeted by a stone face new guard I hadn’t met who took his job very seriously.

As it turns out, my received letter wasn’t’ that convincing and the guard made it a point to call the administration for clearance to let me enter. While he was doing this, another guard recognized me and began yelling at him about how I was okay to enter because I was from the NGO Ruraq Maki. Her persistence paired with the administration’s authorization meant it as smooth sailing through the metal detector (with my supplies) and pat down.

When I arrived at the Director’s office he was there and greeted me cheerfully before confirming that everything was fine with my Plan de Trabajo and the new Director of Organo (I still have no idea what this guy does) would write up my permissions. Enter Dr. Castro, a wonderful administrator who made the process extremely easy and stressfree. And, drum roll please, I even have my authorization papers for my next trip! This mean in 6 months I won’t be scrambling around to get my papers day one and two and can begin classes right away. Let’s hear it for more program days!

Even though the process was the simplest it has ever been, it still took an hour and half so the women and I decided to hold off starting the class until we had a full day. Fortunately, I have their papers ready and we can start at 9:30 on Thursday morning.

While with the women we continued working on the pricing for the manta. I had made a draft price list and we went over it and tweaked the amounts based on the cost of the manta. Later, when I got home, I checked these prices against the fair trade calculator and raised the prices to meet a fair trade standard in Peru. I’m excited to give the women the final prices on Thursday because they already agreed that the pricing was very good, and now it is even better with the fair trade standard!

Thursday we get started on the metal stamping class, which will be cross between a jewelry workshop and putting business strategies to practice.