UPAVIM Crafts is a cooperative of approximately 80 women who live in marginalized communities on the outskirts of Guatemala City. The women in the organization are all mothers and homemakers, some widows, and some abandoned. Many of us are the sole providers of economic support for our families.
The mission of UPAVIM is to empower the women in the community, enabling them to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families by providing access to education and employment opportunities, health and child care services, and personal and professional developmental programs.
The challenges for healthy community growth in Guatemala City are numerous... The list would include gang violence, illiteracy, unemployment, malnutrition (children and adults), alcoholism, child abuse, the lack of sufficient education for children, and drug abuse. Yet in spite of these obstacles, the community where UPAVIM is located is named La Esperanza (Hope), and the women of UPAVIM have kept their hope alive. After twenty years their hard work and example are benefitting the communites.
It was first in 1988 with the initiative and help of U.S. citizen Barbara Lorraine, a group of 10 women decided to create handicrafts and sell them in national and international markets. Today UPAVIM exports fair trade crafts all around the world.
Your fair trade craft purchases directly support low-cost educational and medical programs. UPAVIM has also started additional small businesses, including a bakery, soy milk factory, and internet center. International donors, many of them crafts customers, continue to fund scholarships for more than 430 elementary and junior high school students. All of thes projects are overseen by the volunteer run UPAVIM Board of Directors and the 5 program committees. At UPAVIM, the women as members have control over business decisions.
UPAVIM also distributes fair trade products made by a number of groups in rural areas of Guatemala and buys their traditional cotton cloths directly from weaving families and weaving cooperatives. This cuts out middlemen and creates a chain of fair wages and fair prices - from the weaver, to the seamstress, to the customer. We invite you to take a look around our website and enjoy the beauty of the crafts these women/artisans have created. Please know that every purchase makes a difference and greatly enhances the quality of life for these women and their families.
To learn more about our organization and mission, please visit our website at:
English:
http://upavim.org/english/homeeng.htm |
