Manos Independientes

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On Saturday I had a morning jewelry making class with the Club de Chicas and, because they didn’t have school obligations, we had 5 in the class, with 3 chicas who weren’t in the Thursday class. Two of the new students I knew from previous years, and one of the new students, Veronica, was the youngest in the class at 12. Although young, she picked up the techniques smoothly and quickly. 

Reina with her pliers

The oldest in the class, Reina, was a previous student of mine who is a lovely, motivated young woman. She is now 18 and graduating from high school this year. Her older sister just completed a nursing program through an institute that is geared towards helping young women from the countryside (el campo) work in professional careers, and Reina hopes to go into medicine like her sister. She works two jobs, at a clothing store in town, and for PAZA, teaching the chicas knitting and crocheting. I’ve always enjoyed working with her because she is engaged, makes beautiful jewelry, and has a pleasant demeanor. 

So many giggles while they worked

My favorite part of the class on Saturday were all the giggles. While they made their pieces, the chicas talked and giggled and sang along to the radio. It was wonderful to see them being girls and acting their age. So often here young girls are given responsibilities beyond their maturity level and the fun part of youth is lost to all the things they must tend to. Yet in the class the girls are given the space to just be, which in itself is a success. 

Mary picks up her beads

Throughout the class the chicas were full of questions for me, mostly about my country, my tattoos, and my ears (which are stretched). At one point they worked up the courage to ask me to take my earrings out and poked and prodded the holes in my ears. Afterwards they took great interest in my tattoos and their meaning. When we got to the Ayacuchan embroidery motif on my arm, I decided it was easier just to show them embroidered bags. I fetched them from my room and explained to the girls how the bags are made by incarcerated women. The girls were very interested in the story of the women and took turns trying on the bags and modeling them.  

Jhessica models her earrings

All of the girls completed their earrings and I was proud of them for finishing on their own because the earrings have a complicated jump ring part. The older girls helped the younger, slower girls finish and everyone was quite taken with the earrings. I think we have a few fashionistas in this group!     

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We are still raising money for our Plier Fundraiser! As of today, we have raised enough for 16 sets of pliers. Our goal is 25 and we are only 9 sets short! $15 buys one high quality set of 4 pliers, which will greatly enable the women to create sales-quality jewelry pieces. Currently, 80% of our plier sets in Peru and Bolivia are broken or dysfunctional. Support our fundraiser by donating online!

Yesterday, in the afternoon, the women from the Club de Artesanas returned to complete their projects and I started another class with the Club de Chicas. Like the Club de Artesanas, the Club de Chicas meets twice a week and provides skills training workshops and a workshop space for various activities. The Club de Chicas is open to pre-teen and teenage girls in Independencia. 

In the past years, I’ve worked with the same group of teenage girls. Apparently, these girls are all grown up! Since they are nearly graduated high school, they no longer are participating in the Club de Chicas and instead, I was introduced to a new Club. The new girls are absolutely adorable and a bit younger than the others, ranging from 10-15.

Concentrating on the loop

 We started the class with the same project as the women. Since I didn’t know the Club had changed until I got here, I was worried that the project was too advanced for them. However, in my absence, PAZA hired one of the original Chicas (and my old student) to teach jewelry making classes to the new Chicas. Because of this, the new Chicas were perfectly adept at using the pliers and creating loops. It was so wonderful to see how the skills I taught years ago have been passed on to new students. 

Wrapping the wire

The new Chicas were very engaged in the project and loved the design. One of them immediately put a completed earring in and kept it on for the remainder of the class. Another didn’t have her ears pierced and expressed her disappointment at not being able to wear the earrings. 

Concentrating hard

Dorinda told me that recently the Chicas held an ear piercing day in the workshop room. They used needles and thread to pierce each other’s ears and it took them 2 hours to pierce three ears! One of the Chicas asked for cinnamon to help “calm her anxiety”- it does sound like a nerve racking affair. 

Despite never taking class with me before, the Chicas did a wonderful job with the earrings and are hungry for more projects. It will be fun to get to know these young ones and see how the class evolves with a whole new set of students!

 ————————————————————————————————————————————————–We are still raising money for our Plier Fundraiser! As of today, we have raised enough for 16 sets of pliers. Our goal is 25 and we are only 9 sets short! $15 buys one high quality set of 4 pliers, which will greatly enable the women to create sales-quality jewelry pieces. Currently, 80% of our plier sets in Peru and Bolivia are broken or dysfunctional. Support our fundraiser by donating online!  

Click here to donate!

Today we started our jewelry making series with our Manos Independencia program. This program serves rural weavers in Independencia, a small, isolated village in Bolivia. Today’s class was with the Club de Artesanas, a group of 6-8 women, who vary in age from 20 – 45. The women in the Club are mothers (and grandmothers!) and many of them have farms that they tend to in nearby communities, meaning their days are filled with caring for their household, caring for their land, and caring for their children. 

The Club, which was founded by PAZA and is open 2 days a week, provides skills workshops for the women as well as a place to work on various projects. For example, the women in the Club can use PAZA’s work room for sewing projects (including the use of the industrial sewing machine Ruraq Maki donated!), jewelry making, weaving, and other special projects. PAZA employs one local woman, Dona Maxima, to serve as the Club’s trainer and she leads jewelry making classes, assists the women in warping their looms, and helps with sewing projects. She also assists in the free dye days PAZA provides to help the women dye their yarn with local plants. 

The women often chat while they work

The Club is a wonderful place for the women to come to take time for their self, learn new skills, and enjoy each other’s company. Additionally, the skills workshops help to create economic opportunities for the women. Ruraq Maki has been holding annual jewelry making workshops at the club for 4 years. 

Dona Bea with her pliers neatly in a row

Today’s project was part review and part new concepts to prepare the women for the more difficult projects ahead. We had 5 in the class with one new woman. Since my visit last year, Dona Maxima has been teaching and facilitating jewelry making classes and the women’s skills have vastly improved. I noticed that they were more proficient with the pliers and worked faster than ever before! One woman, Dona Bea, who I’ve worked with in the past, has made leaps and bounds since last year. She was the first to finish her project today and her work was impeccable. 

Dona Adviana works with baby in her lap

I’m so thrilled that the women have improved their skills since my last visit! Even so, today’s class was no cake walk (even though PAZA founder, Dorinda, did make us cake) and the women struggled with the new project. This year’s session focuses on construction, and how various elements needs to come together to create a strong, well designed piece. I see this as the next step to the classes, as it lays the groundwork for design. 

Dona Antonia examines her completed earring

Although we had struggles, each woman made it out of the class with a pair of earrings and a better understanding of how the pieces fit together. I don’t expect them to understand these ideas completely the first day, and today was a perfect starting off point for more to come in the following weeks.   

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 We are still raising money for our Plier Fundraiser! As of today, we have raised enough for 16 sets of pliers. Our goal is 25 and we are only 9 sets short! $15 buys one high quality set of 4 pliers, which will greatly enable the women to create sales-quality jewelry pieces. Currently, 80% of our plier sets in Peru and Bolivia are broken or dysfunctional. Support our fundraiser by donating online!