Yanamilla Prison Project

Today we were set to start our metal stamping classes with a beautiful project introducing working with design stamps to create a mandala pendant. Schlepping 15lbs of jewelry making materials (including 3 hammers) on the rickety bus was not the most fun thing in the world but I’ve been really excited about this jewelry making round.

A year and a half ago I introduced metal stamping to the women and we worked with letter stamps to create jewelry with words or phrases that had special meaning to the women. This was one of my favorite jewelry making classes and where two of my favorite pieces were created: the ser grande pendant and rikchari necklace.

This year, we are working with design and letter stamps to create more complex designs. The women will also learn how to do cold connections with metal- which is a riveting technique that only uses rivets and a hammer.

Sadly, when I got to the women’s area to start our class chaos ensued! The women were notified only an hour earlier that they were having group therapy today. Metal stamping is really loud and, while they wanted to have class anyway, it seemed impossible to be banging on steel bench blocks with hammers during group therapy.

Therapy also conflicted with scheduled health check ups, lawyer visits, and visits to the administration. The result? 50 women yelling at each other to leave for their appointments, trying to line up while also making space for the therapists, and one poor guard desperately attempting to manage it all.

It was chaos and it didn’t let up for half an hour.

While waiting for the chaos to settle so I could leave, I noticed Lia running to and fro yelling people’s names. Marleni told me that Lia is now working as a llamador- a person whose job is to call for women when they have appointments or are requested by the administration.

She works 9-1 as a llamador and gets paid 2 soles…a day. That’s 50 centavos an hour.

And it’s a lot of work. Just during that half an hour she was running all over the women’s cell block calling out names and searching for people.

Lia with her finished bag

For contrast, we pay the women 6 soles for the most basic earrings that they can make in half an hour.

Yet, Lia is dedicated. She embroiders manta, attends all of our classes, produces beautiful jewelry pieces and makes extra to sell. She works HARD in every job she is given and she has to- coming to the prison as a child of the streets she’s always had to make her own way.

Which is something I admire about Lia. She’s determined to do her best and create a path of freedom for herself. She knows that her future is in her hands and she

Today was the last day in the prison and the moment of truth of if the women would have the jewelry order done and….. They did! There were 4 pieces missing, but for a first go around with a big jewelry order (50 pieces), it’s a fabulous start!

One of the things we did together was write the women’s story for the card that will accompany the jewelry. They wrote:

“Thank you for buying this product, your purchase goes to a good cause!

This product is handmade by a group of incarcerated women in Yanamilla Prison. We are women who are incarcerated for drug trafficking and we have children outside of the prison. We are learning these skills to help our children. Thankfully, for this work, we can send money to our children and help pay for their costs.

We hope when we are released we will continue to do this work and earn money.”

We also reviewed the products together and talked about quality control. While most of the products passed inspection, a few had issues that we needed to address. These products did not make the cut, which is why the order was short, however, it was a valuable learning experience for the women.

After the prison I went to pick up the sewing order from Gladys. Gladys is a formerly incarcerated woman who was very involved with Ruraq Maki’s programs. She was released last year and bought a small house near the prison to start a sewing workshop.

This year, Gladys and another women from the prison, Rosa, opened a workshop in town so they could receive more work. The workshop is small but mighty. There are two machines, a serger, and a cutting table- everything they need to take sewing orders.

Right now they are making clothing, tailoring clothes, making Ruraq Maki products, and taking custom orders from people. When I saw Galdys’ workshop I couldn’t stop smiling. I am SO proud of her and the way she has continued to grow this dream of having her own workshop.
And what makes me even happier is how proud she is of herself. She knows she’s building a future through this business and she is working hard to do it.

I just want to reiterate what has happened here: Gladys was incarcerated for 13 years for drug trafficking. She started trafficking because her husband had stomach cancer and she couldn’t pay for his medical costs. She learned to sew in the prison and spend EVERY DAY working in the sewing room. She saved her money to buy her own machines. After 13 years she was released and opened her own sewing business.

This is what happens when the women are given opportunities to stretch their skill set. This is the story we want to tell for every single woman in the prison. This is why Ruraq Maki exists- to even be a tiny part of this story is enough.

Because this isn’t something we’re just hearing about on TV, this is real life. And every time one of these women succeeds, it gives the others hope that they can too.

Today in the prison was an exciting one! The women are nearly done with the embroidered jewelry order and the products look incredible. Since this is the second time the women have made the embroidered jewelry, they are able to focus more on the design of the product rather than the technique- and it shows!
Also, the women picked out the photos of themselves that we will use as product insert cards. I printed out a contact sheet with 3 options for each woman and each one selected the photo that they liked the best. I loved giving the women control over how they are viewed by people in the U.S. and they got a kick out of helping each other choose the best photo.
Halfway through the day, a group of sewing women asked me to come into their sewing area to talk a bit. The women explained to me that they wanted to be part of Ruraq Maki’s production group but weren’t sure what to do next. I was thrilled that they wanted to involved and invited them to participate in the May workshops with Kani.
The 2-week workshop series with Kani will go over how the women can create a sustainable production groups, each part of the production chain, and quality control requirements for export.
The coolest part of the workshops series is that it will involve 3 different organizations coming together to help the women.
Ruraq Maki is sponsoring the workshop and organized all the logistics of the prison permissions. Kani, who works with artisans all over Peru, will be delivering the training, and Maki, who also work with the women in the prison, will be lending us the use of their space and helping with the day of logistics.
Let’s hear it for collaboration!
Because there are 3 organization involved in this workshops series, we are focused on having as many women as possible join in. This is a great opportunity for women from different production groups to work together and learn each other’s strengths.
Our goal is to create cohesion within the production groups so that it is easier for all of us to send order to the women- and easier for the women to fill them.
The prospect of having new women join Ruraq Maki’s group is exciting. One of our long term goals is to start a wholesale program but in order to do that, we need to be able to produce in large quantities, which means we need more women on board. Connecting with a new group, who will also benefit from the work, is a win-win for all!

Today was a slow day in the prison as the women worked on their products for the order. The embroidery looks stunning (no surprise there) and the pieces that are done are beautiful. I’m already eyeing a few pieces- they may not even make it out of the prison before I snatch them up (being the founder does have its benefits).

While the women worked on their products, we talked about racism in Peru. The women shared with me the types of misconceptions people in Lima (the capital of Peru and where the majority of the country’s money is) have of those from Ayacucho.

Ayacucho is a city in the Central Andes of Peru. Most of the people in Ayacucho are Quechua and are bilingual Quechua/Spanish speakers. While Quechua people aren’t the only indigenous people of the Peru, they are the vast majority of the people in the Andes (which spans throughout South America).

Like many indigenous peoples throughout the world, the history of Quechua people in Peru is wrought with struggles for land rights and racism. In modern history, during Peru’s civil war in the 1980’s, 75% of the victims were Quechua people, the vast majority from the department of Ayacucho. In the late 90’s Peru’s president, Alberto Fujimori, forced sterilized thousands of women (and pressured hundred of thousands more into sterilization), most of whom were Quechua and Aymaran (another indigenous group in Peru).

Today the women shared how people from Lima react to those from Ayacucho. One woman said, “Someone said to my daughter, ‘Where are you from?’ and she said Ayacucho. And he couldn’t believe it because she has light skin and has a job.”

They said that the assumption is that people from Ayacucho (read- indigenous people) look “almost black” and are illiterate, uneducated, and are unable to hold down a job. While there is certainly a degree of poverty in the countryside, Ayacucho is full of universities and educated professionals.

The women are extremely aware of the news and global politics (more than I am) and very shrewd business women. While there are women who haven’t finished high school, formal education is not the end all be all in intelligence.

The conversation got me thinking about what these women are up against. Not only are they incarcerated, and spending 10-15 years of their life in prison, but, as indigenous women, they also face racism and sexism.

Yet, they still GO FOR IT every single time. Despite being told on so many levels that they shouldn’t. They are so determined to earn money, take care of their kids, and have something when they are released.

When they told me about the racism in Lima they laughed because, as they explained me, “Everyone here knows that isn’t true. It’s ridiculous.” And they’re proving that every single day.