Do you know the Mochila bag? It is a beautiful handcrafted bag made by Wayuu Indigenous women who live in the middle of desert. without electricity, lack of water, and poor access to basic education and healthcare. They have very few options to feed their children. We want to create a self-supporting system using Mochila bags to generate income, to educate girls and women and to help them solve the problems they face as a community.
The Wayuu are one of the biggest tribes in Colombia. Our communities, the indigenous Wayuu, live in the middle of the desert, without electricity, lack of water, and poor access to basic education and healthcare. . Around 70% of the population does not speak Spanish, Colombia's official language, which makes it very difficult for them to earn an income. Additionally, due to the patriarchal culture in this community, most women are excluded from proper education and are ill-treated.
Cultivo de Amor provides training of making mochila bag to 60 women in 3 communities. Every 2 months they get materials and feedback of their work. Bags are sold in a good price internationally, especially in Korea and they give income to families. And these 3 communities got medicine and health care, school supplies, solar lamps, and food during quarantine of COVID. Cultivo de amor provides opportunity to sell and to find buyers, and they will be taught Spanish, marketing and decision making.
We are currently working with 60 Wayuu women and their families; however, there are 80 more women who are waiting to be part of this opportunity. This project will train more than 200 mothers and it will also provide a job and an income for their families. The net profit of selling the mochilas will be used to solve pending problems in the community, build a primary school, provide school transport for middle and high school students (the schools are 40 minutes away by car) and provide COVID-19
