El Paso de Ponaloya is a sleepy village located
on the banks of the Tipitapa River, which connects the Lake
of Managua (Lago Xolotlán) to great Lake of Nicaragua (Lago Cocibolca). El Paso literally means "the pass" and is so named because it
marks a narrow stretch of the river where a small one-vehicle ferry transports trucks,
buses, bicycles, and people across.
Surrounding the village are large rice-growing haciendas
which constitute the main source of employment for the people of El Paso, or most
specifically, for the men, since the haciendas prefer to employ men.
This leaves few employment opportunities for the
women of the village, with the great exception of the Cooperativa Mujeres
Unidas (the Women United Cooperative).
The Cooperative was founded in 1988 by 10 women from the area, with the
help of an Ursuline sister from Belgium
who was working in the community. After working with a variety of different crafts the women of the community decided to concentrate on making hand-made thread cards.
Each greeting card is unique, adorned with a
colorful, hand-crafted cloth and yarn design.
María Eugenia Río is in charge of the designs, which are bold and
colorful. Each design is hand-drawn onto
a small square of canvas. Next, the
forms are outlined in black yarn. Then, using
only a needle and glue, the women carefully lay down precision-cut pieces of colored
yarn side-by-side to bring the design to life.
The pieces of yarn are laid down so closely and glued together so carefully
that the designs look like they were woven.
Once
the design has dried, another woman carefully lays black yarn
around the border to frame the design, and cuts the cloth neatly. When the small squares have dried, they are
ready to be mounted onto the pre-printed card stock. The cards are printed with greetings in
Spanish on the front, and on the back, with the Cooperative's contact
information, along with their motto:
"Women United with a Desire for Progress" ("Mujeres Unidas, con ganas de
progresar").
When asked it they enjoy working together in a cooperative,
the women smile and eagerly nod their heads.
"It's a joy to work together with other women," says Lucia Ruiz. Alluding to the typical shyness of women in
rural Nicaragua,
Johanna Orozco recalls, "It was good to get out of the house, to get to know
the other women, and to begin to lose this fear of talking to others that we
tend to have." In the beginning, the
women's husbands were not entirely supportive of the cooperative. "They tried to say that it was just an excuse
for us to be lazy and idle, but with time they came around to supporting us." When asked if that is because the women
generate additional income for the household, the women smile with pride and
answer with a resounding "yes!"
Esperanza
en Acción has been supporting this cooperative and continues to provide support by purchasing their artwork and promoting it in our small fair trade shop. MUGAPRO was among the group of artisans that participated in our recent training, two representatives from the group came to Managua to learn how to better manage the money in their cooperative and how to improve figuring out their pricing, especially in the midst of rising production and material costs.
our work alive in Nicaragua. You can give as an individual or ask for friends, community members or family to pitch in. Create a community event that raises money for Esperanza en Acción! We are well aware that the economic crisis is effecting people all over the world, including here in Nicaragua. And for that reason we 