Just this past April, Aldea Maya fulfilled a long time dream to facilitate the formation of a Women’s Cooperative in Chuk Muk village in Guatemala. For many years we have wanted such an organization to exist, but the correct opportunity never presented itself. Why did we want/need a women’s cooperative?

Some of the women of the cooperative

Chuk Muk is a huge village with no feeling of community. The inhabitants in the village have survived a 35 year civil war and a massive mudslide, after which they were transported up to 20 miles to a new village. The village is in survival mode. The women working together in the coop will help foster a feeling of community. They will not only work together to produce beadwork and earn much-needed money, but will also have the opportunity to participate in courses on a variety of topics.

Andres, a student, writes down information as the women cannot read or write

This area in Guatemala has the 4th worst chronic malnutrition in the world. The women in the coop will have the opportunity to participate in cooking and nutrition classes. They can then take their new-found knowledge and teach other women in the village. Over 90% of the women in the coop can neither read nor write. Many cannot speak Spanish; therefore oral learning and hands-on experience is the only way to acquire knowledge.

Maria Petzey, a single mother with 3 children

Another project will be teaching the women gardening practices. In July, one member of the group, Maria Petzey, will be taking an extensive permaculture course. Maria was chosen to take the course for several reasons. She is the Vice President of the village, a volunteer position that should really help her to spread all the wonderful information and skills she learns throughout the village. Maria believes in education and is involved in the middle school parents group. Maria also attempted, on her own, to have a vegetable garden in her yard. The permaculture course is $650; this high cost has meant that we can only afford to send one coop member.

Beadwork session at the coop

One of the main purposes of the cooperative is to produce high quality beadwork. Aldea Maya purchases beadwork at better than fair trade prices. However, for the last seven years, we have had to walk all over the village (which is huge) trying to find the beadwork we need. Once the villagers realized we were buying beadwork at good prices, we would be hounded from morning to night.

A Mom with her beadwork

With the coop, we can now put in an order and they decide which members make each item. The coop even chose a quality control person who ensures the projects are of high quality and made from Czechoslovakian glass beads.

The timing in the past was not right for the formation of a coop. Aldea Maya just did not sell enough items in Canada for a coop to be viable. We really needed to have more outlets for the sale of beaded items. In the last six months, five stores on Vancouver Island: Arbutus Fashion in Qualicum, as well as the Global Village stores in Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo and Salt Spring (an affiliate store) have started selling items. But the real icing on the cake is WestJet.

 Aldea Maya made the following video in response to WestJet’s Blue Santa Project and sent it off to the airlines.

We then kept all our fingers and toes crossed, hoping they would place an order with us. We were so excited and pleased when they ordered 1000 Blue Santas!  This huge, wonderful order gave us the impetus to form the coop. It also has given the 17 families in the coop months of work. We are now looking for more organizations that might want to order large (or not so large) quantities of our beadwork.

If you would like to know more about the work of Aldea Maya, please check out our website.

Louise Sosa
Aldea Maya
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