A cup of coffee and a newspaper… purse?

This past weekend I had the pleasure of hosting fellow Tico 19 RCDer and friend, Georgina Garcia, in Ortega as part of a Technical Assistance Request. Georgina has been working with her women’s group in La Angostura de San Isidro in the Zona Sur making arts and crafts out of newspaper. Baskets, bags, even sombreros- as soon as I learned of her skills, I suggested to my women’s group and my artesanas that we invite her to give the taller in our community. Our Grupo de Artesanas Uniendo Esperanzas were extremely supportive of the idea as they are looking to diversify their product line and are eager to learn how to work with newspaper to attract a broader audience. They currently work with natural resources such as jicaro, jobo, semillas, and tejidos to produce jewelry, key chains, and souvenirs. The Mujeres Activas were similarly thrilled at the opportunity to participate in the course as they are an organized group of 20-30 women without any sustainable source of income. Their sole purpose is to organize activities around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas. The idea behind inviting the women to participate in the taller was that it might stick as an idea for a small business venture to finance minor purchases such as Christmas tree lights, invitations, and decorations. Their activities are currently funded by raffles and bake sales.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the project, I decided to promote the teaching of teachers by asking the participants to sign a contract agreeing to teach at least one member of the community the skills they had acquired as a result of the taller. As soon as the contract is signed by the community member (new student), indicating that the participant has complied with the teaching of teachers component of the taller, they will receive a certificate from Peace Corps with the name of the taller, the hours completed, the teacher’s name, and the date. In addition, I asked each participant to indicate their interest in receiving Gestion Empresarial classes to learn basic concepts of business, administration, marketing, and accounting. The idea here is that the participants would continue producing purses or baskets and start a small business- either independently or jointly.

We worked from 1-5pm on Sunday, breaking for refrigerio, and all day on Monday from 9am-5pm, breaking for lunch and refrigerio. Each participant was asked to purchase their own materials, which totaled between 2 and 3 mil colones depending on the availability of scissors, clothes pins, and curtain rods in their houses. In addition, the refrigerios and lunch were a collaborative effort.

I’ll leave you with 5 frustrations/struggles and 5 highlights/success stories but, whether or not the participants left with a new purse to show off in Santa Cruz, I will never forget the feeling of satisfaction, pride, and joy that overcame me, in a town that “no quiere nada”, at the sight of 15 women, rods and newspaper in hand, baseball caps puesto, boarding the bus to head down to the Evangelical Church to begin a two-day taller that required faith, patience, and muchas ganas.

5 frustrations/struggles:

1) Getting together with the Mujeres Activas and Artesanas just 10 days before the taller to discuss details of food, location, and schedule and watching the hands go up with excuses about why they couldn’t participate and complaints about the intensive schedule.
2) Watching the Mujeres Activas and Artesanas set up at different tables despite the fact that the President of the Artesanas and I had already discussed the fact that this taller would be a good opportunity open up Uniendo Esperanzas to new members as they are experiencing an increasing demand for their product and a decreasing supply due to the lack of commitment among their members to work.
3) Losing the attention of the majority of the group when a domestic dispute broke out at a nearby house. “Rubber necking” takes on new meaning in rural Costa Rica.
4) Hearing them call Georgina over like a dog “tsstsstsstss, niña” when she was clearly attending to the needs of another person.
5) Combating the negativity when we hit some hurdles putting together our purses. “Qué pereza” and “ya me voy” until Georgina and I stepped in to fix a few bad weaves.

5 highlights/ success stories:

1) Seeing Elvira help some of the women get their baskets started and Luisa making pajillas for others who were short of the 40 required to start the bag activity.
2) Seeing the look on Georgina’s face Monday morning when all but two or three women walked in having done their homework with their 40 pajillas rolled to perfection eager to make the most of the day.
3) Hearing discussion of the various uses of the baskets- for tortillas, for eggs, for mail and magazines.
4) “Vamos guilas, a planchar!”, said Enilda, referring to the flattening of the newspaper rolls.
5) Seeing one of the ADI members return from a meeting with her newspaper purse on her shoulder- unpainted, unfinished.