The Women Behind it all.....

The coop is which I work is run by three unbelievable sisters. They are sweet, organized, sincere, business savvy and have good intentions! One sister is based out of Lima, where she runs around and takes over the shipping and the marketing side of things. Another sister, works at the cooperative and she works with the women and teaches them how to embroider. The other sister takes over production and assembles all of the products in her small workshop. Its really unbelievable how well they work together.
Then there are the other women behind the cooperative, who make the beautiful belts and bags, and who live in marginalized and impoverished communities. These women are the artists who creates such beautiful work. They have been taught over the years and mainly learn by watching their friends and family weave over the years. Weaving and embroidery work is in their blood. On average, these women are of about 30 years old, have 3 or more children, live in extremely impoverished areas with limited water supply and often suffer from domestic violence.
After meeting with all of these women, I got a better idea for what their lives are like. The prominent issue they mention, is needing more work! That was said again and again! It is a difficult situation because even if I had more work, they still have domestic duties which take up most of their day and time. They have mouths to feed, clothes to clean, floors to sweep, and all other duties within the house. Education is lacking, seeing they often dont realize that if they were to have less children, or just one, that life would be much easier and more economical. I met one out of 50 women who did not have children and she was very educated. She is a nurse. She said that the other women see her as an outcast, where she was seemed to be radiating with happiness.
The most difficult situation is when you see a woman with 4 or 6 children and know that the husband has left for another women. This is often the case. This traps the women to live a rough life. How are they supposed to work and take care of all the domestic duties¿ This is where a tight family comes into play. Most of the women live in close communties and seem to be very supportive of oneanother.
I met with another women who was fundamental in her religious beliefs. She was around 32 years old, with 6 children, and her husband was around but only able to make a meager wage. She did not believe in taking or giving anti septics of any sort, therefore her children were suffering greatly because of this. She cant make ends meet because she doesnt have enough time in the day to embroider a sufficient amount for her family. I felt her sympathy to a certain extent.
So in the end, the women seemed to be very happy to even have a job and for that job to be weaving. It does allow for a wonderful way to meet with their friends and chat. This is really the only job which allows them to live a domestic life. In this sense, I was inspired to get home and start selling!