Day 9: Photo Blog of the Prison

Yesterday, after I had given up all hope of taking pictures of the women, Dr. Castro arrived with the camera (a 9MB Kodak Easy Share- I didn’t even know those still existed!) and allowed me to photograph the women with their mantas as well as with their jewelry projects from the class!

Showing off a beautiful manta she embroidered

Showing off a beautiful manta she embroidered

Admiring her Rikchari necklace

Rikchari Close Up

Rikchari Close Up

 

Modeling the Paz y Amor group's bracelet

Modeling the Paz y Amor group’s bracelet

"In my heart there is peace and love. I love you."

“In my heart there is peace and love. I love you.”

Proudly showing off Ser Grande's final piece

Proudly showing off Ser Grande’s final piece

To Be Big, close up

To Be Big, close up

Day 8: The Thank Yous

Today was my last day in the prison and it oscillated between wonderful and chaotic. On Tuesday the prison agreed to let me take photos of the women with one caveat- I had to use their camera. Today when I arrived I went to Dr. Castro’s office to get the camera but he wasn’t there. After waiting for 30 minutes I decided it was more important to see the women before they headed to mandatory therapy.

When I arrived at the women’s area, we immediately launched into addressing issues with the order. Apparently the men no longer want to weave the thicker, more simple manta because the thinner materials fetches a better price. This was fine, but it meant having to redo the order on the spot, without a calculator on hand (long division anyone?).

Me with two of my students and my very own Rikchari necklace!

Me with two of my students and my very own Rikchari necklace!

Halfway through redoing the order the women from the jewelry class let me know that they had to go to therapy so frantically we exchanged money and jewelry pieces and hugs and goodbyes, not knowing if we would see each other again. It was all very hectic, with a group of 10 women surrounding me, 100 more trying to leave to go to therapy, pens flying, money dropping, the guard telling all of us to hurry! What a rush!

Of course, once most of the women went to therapy, the cells were quiet because only a handful remained (those who opted out of therapy). The good news was there was then plenty of time to go over the order and do the calculations properly. I also heard some of the stories of the women who will be embroidering manta.

One woman (who is very young) was a street child and involved in drugs when she was younger. She is incarcerated with her husband and her daughter, who is now 3, lives in the North of Peru in a home. She really needs work and money, especially because she doesn’t have a family support system.

Another woman, also incarcerated with her husband, has 5 young children living with relatives. Both need as much work as possible to support their children. Fortunately, the woman’s husband is a weaver so the entire family will benefit from the order.

A delicious plate of pork and papas fritas

A delicious plate of pork and papas fritas

The woman who we have hired to arrange our order (she has been in our programs since before Ruraq Maki existed!) had a plate of food made for me and while I was eating told me, “I thank God for you every time you come. I’m always so worried about paying for my daughters’ university and what I am going to do to keep them in school. The market here is very low and there is so little work. Then you come and give us the work that we need. And I tell my daughters, she isn’t just helping me, she is helping you too.”

It brings tears to my eyes writing this because it is a testament to how a small non-profit like Ruraq Maki can have a big impact on individual lives. And the you isn’t me, it is the support network we have as an organization that creates this impact.

Tomorrow- part 2 of my last day in the prison- Dr. Castro arrives with the camera!! (and photos of the women with their final jewelry pieces).

Day 7: Launch

At this point, you have probably heard our big news- that we have been accepted to the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe. The International Folk Art Market is a world renowned event celebrating traditional art from around the world. The event is highly competitive and even having been accepted speaks to the women’s incredible skills as artisans. Just to give you an idea, there were over 500 applicants from around the world for 130 booth spaces. Needless to say, this is a high compliment towards the women’s work!

Another reason that we are excited about this opportunity is that the profits from this event will be reinvested into our sales program, allowing us to expand our sales reach. One area of our sales program we plan to expand is our wholesale program, which is a wonderful way to keep a steady and consistent stream of work coming into the prison.

Although we are thrilled to be participating in this fair (and to give the women SO MUCH work), events like these cost money. As a small non-profit we do not have the start up money to participate in an event this size. Enter Indiegogo. Next week, we will be launching an Indiegogo campaign to help us raise money to cover the cost of the event.

Our campaign goal is $10,000 and 60% of that goes directly to the women through our order! 25% will go towards the cost of the event itself, including volunteer staff travel expenses and booth fees. 10% will go into shipping and customs, and 5% will be used to support the campaign fees.

Keep an eye out next week for our launch! And, if you have fallen in love with the metal stamped jewelry from our class this trip, you will have a chance to score one as a backer of our campaign!

Day 7: Soggy

Today can best be described as wet. It poured rain all day and, since the prison is open in most areas, it was a soggy day for all. Still, rain or shine we have the classes and today was no different, although there was more huddling as we all tried to keep dry.

Before the class started, I checked in on the manta order and the list of women who will be participating in the order. It was good to see many familiar names (we give preference to women who are in the program) as well as new names. The list is still open for participants, with lots of inquiries, and I imagine by Thursday we have a full list of women who will be working on the order. I also walked by a few women who are embroidering manta for our bags, which is wonderful to see the distribution of work in action!

Also, several of the women showed me they manta they are embroidering. I always laugh when they do this, they want me to review their work, but of course all the manta looks so beautiful! It helps that the women have known me for so long that there is a personal motivation to do well. The embroidery is incredible and the women’s color combos just keep getting better and better. I fell in love with a brilliant orange, red, yellow, blue bird. I cannot wait to open the boxes when they arrive!

Written in Quechua, this translates to "In my heart there is peace and love. I love you." For the women it means peaces and love are central to all!

Written in Quechua, this translates to “In my heart there is peace and love. I love you.” For the women it means peaces and love are central to all!

In the class the women nearly finished their 15 products. It was fun for everyone to see them come together with the assembly. At this point, all the groups have worked out each other’s roles so the assembly was seamless and consistent. We also worked on pricing as each group received a list of costs associated with their product. Then we worked out how much time each took to make, followed by the hourly wage each person wanted to be paid. In the end, the women agreed on the price that they would sell their products for.

One group agreed on a price and later came up to ask if they could raise it. The women realized that for all the work involved it was just too low. I was really proud of them for coming to this conclusion on their own and speaking up. Part of owning a business is critically thinking about these kinds of decisions and making changes where needed to improve the profitability of the business. Having the ability to speak up and notice when something isn’t work is an important skill!

Thursday will be our last day because the women have a big dance party on Friday for Carnaval. The remaining women will finish on Thursday and their product cards will be revealed (I’m printing them tomorrow). The final step will see the finished product in its packaging and giving out payments for their work.

Day 6: Packaging

Translation above: To be big is the greatest desire of every person, to have an incomparable love and to always strive and grow to be the great man and woman that they carry within them. To be big is to always have a big heart.

Today’s metal stamping class focused on packaging and helping the women come up with ideas for displaying their products. We began by looking at a few packing examples and then moved on to the design portion of the day. I printed a mini-font list that I gave each group, explaining that they would have to pick out the fonts that they wanted, as well as draw out (with measurements) a card to accompany their products. This card will include the brief story they wrote on Friday to explain the meaning behind their product. As expected, the design process took quite a bit of time, as the groups mulled over the size, shape, and layout of their cards.

Translation: We hope that in each of our hearts are peace and love, despite whatever hardships we may find.

Translation: We hope that in each of our hearts are peace and love, despite whatever hardships we may find.

 

After the women finished designing their cards, they moved onto to producing their 15 identical pieces. It was really fun to watch the women work together and figure out what every person’s role would be. All the groups designated one women to stamp, another to measure, and another to prepare the stamps so they would be lined up and facing the right direction. I was really impressed by how seamlessly the women worked together in producing their products!

Translation: Rikchari means to “awaken” and is a word full of life and hope, to encourage you to continue to live each day with courage, and to never give up until the last breath of our life. This product is handmade by women convicts Ayacucho Peru, who live every day with the hope of seeing a new dawn with joy. By buying this product we feel proud of your choice and keep fighting to see a new dawn.

Translation: Rikchari means to “awaken” and is a word full of life and hope, to encourage you to continue to live each day with courage, and to never give up until the last breath of our lives. This product is handmade by women convicts Ayacucho Peru, who live every day with the hope of seeing a new dawn with joy. By buying this product we feel proud of your choice and keep fighting to see a new dawn.

Overall, the women got very far on stamping their 15 pieces and tomorrow most will have time to begin the assembly of their pieces. After the class today I spent some time creating a digital replica of the card designs made by the women (the photos you are seeing in this post). My hope is to have a sample of each printed on Wednesday so the women can see what their entire product, from design to packaging, will look like on Thursday, which will be our last day together.

In other news, I pinched my finger in the big metal door at the prison and it looks pretty terrible (it looks a lot worst than it hurts). The women were very concerned about me

and every time I went to pick at or touch it they shooed my hands away in irritation, telling me to leave it alone. I have to say, some days it feels good to be cared for, and today was one of those day!