The Forgotten Artisans of Huancavelica, Peru

So after 8 plus hours, Yuli and I made it to the beautiful pueblo of Huancavelica which is nestled in Central Peru. I feel so blessed to be in the company of Yuli. She shares similar passions of trying to connect marginalized artisans and is the president of a cooperative which works with women who are victims of domestic violence. Seeing she is from Peru, she knows a network of artisans and has been taking me from pueblo to pueblo, connecting me to talented artisans who would otherwise be impossible to meet. Today we arrived and met an artisan by the name of Raul. He is known for his beautifully crafted alpace shawls and scarves. We spent the afternoon in his workshop, putting together new prototypes for future orders. Yuli will send all of the shipments seeing she lives in Lima. If I didnt know her, Raul would be impossible to contact. This is the beauty and frusteration which goes along with living in such an isolated pueblo.
After getting to know Raul, I got a gist for the livlihood of artisans in this area. His man concern is the fact that the government funded organization which is supposed to represent all artisans from this area have gone corrupt and taken all of the funding for themselves. They attend the gift shows in Lima but do not sell the items of these artisans. When Raul used to depend of this goverment funded organization, he would only get close to $5 for a hand made shawl which would take days to make. It is simply not worth it and he feels as though the artisans have no voice. The artisans in Huancavalica are divided. There are those that conform and those that don´t. The voices are weak and nobody listens. Being one of the provinces in Peru, the people are loosing their dignity in the sense that take what they can get for their products. Huancavlica has a plethora of incredibly talented artisans who know how to create such intricate work, but they are loosing battle after battle to be heard. Throughout the day, I felt more and more inspired knowing that I have chosen the right path within my career. These experiences encourage me to tackle the bumps within the road of starting a business.