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!
