Empower WAYUU women through handcrafted bags

Dear sponsors

We hope that this first semester of 2024 has been good for you. These last few months have brought many challenges and opportunities for our work with members of the Wayuu communities and also many positive achievements that allow us to continue working with them.

As part of the training process that we have been developing in collaboration with SENA, women from the Koushalain, Tutchonka and Ipashirrain communities have been taking classes on artisanal weaving and improving weaving techniques. For our part and thanks to your donations, we have been able to give each woman a knitting kit that includes needles, thread, stitch markers, among other implements necessary for the proper development of the classes. In each of the communities we had a first group of 30 women who participated 4 hours, 2 times a week, in the classes taught by the tutors.

Regarding educational training, during this semester the classes have not focused exclusively on traditional craft techniques but also on ways to manage a business and how to boost sales of backpacks in a way that dignifies and rewards the effort invested in making backpacks. This has allowed female artisans to become empowered with their art and how it can help them obtain economic benefits for themselves and their families.

On the other hand, in the area of agriculture we have been making progress on some issues together with the FAO. We made a change in the entire irrigation system of the community garden of the Koushalain community since due to the time it had been in use, there was wear and tear that did not allow the system to function correctly.

As we mentioned in the previous report, we began working with the Ipashirrain, Koushalain and Tutchonka communities; However, as in every process, we faced difficulties with the Ipashirrain community and for this reason we made the decision not to continue the process with that community. Thanks to our cooperation with FAO, we had the opportunity to meet and start working with a new community called Ipamana.

Therefore, our plan during this new semester is the same as the agricultural conditions of the 3 intervened communities, to create a community garden for the community of Tutchonka and Ipamana respectively and also to deliver the chickens for the productive project of “Chickens happy". We want to maintain the water wells in all communities to expand the water production capacity and guarantee consumption and supply to the orchard irrigation systems.

Finally, we would like to thank our sponsors for their support, which helps us continue with the work we do with the women of these communities and, together with them, we can grow in multiple areas. We will keep you informed of our progress in the coming months.