Saving the ladies in a boat!

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Have you ever heard of ' Friendship Bridge'? Yesterday our group from Culturexplorers visited their offices here in Panajachel. One of their main purposes is to give small loans ( $100-$150) to women to encourage them to start their own home business. Some run little stores out of their homes. Others weave and sell in the markets and on the streets. Many of the women are widows as their husbands were killed during the wars in the 80's and 90's. Some have as many as 5 or 6 kids to support.
Part of their obligation for getting a loan is that their children have to attend school and they ( the women)have to attend health, sanitation and cooking classes. We were lucky to be able to sit in on one of their classes in the little village of San Jorge. There were about 24 women ranging in age from 20 - 45+ and a few little children. They were finishing up a class on herbs and health. The leader asked us all to stand up and form a circle. We had to pretend we were in a boat and lots of waves came and tipped it over. We could only save one person. We had to find out about them and introduce them to the group and vice versa. We were all a bit shy at first. We stared walking ( like in musical chairs) and waving our arms like we were surfing in waves. The leader shouted to find a person. I headed towards one woman and other grabbed me by the waist. So I ended up with Neva and Genova. WE asked each other a lot of questions. It seems being a grandmother has a magical quality as they were all very impressed that I had 4 grandchildren. We all had a wonderful time introducing our ladies and they us.
Later we walked up and up and up the mountain side on a rocky dirt path, past ladies doing their laundry at the pilas, to Neva's home to see her home business. It is two rooms with dirt floors for 7 people. Two of her daughters were stringing beads for the baubles that are sold all over town. A son was sitting babysitting a smaller child. In the dirt yard, her weaving was strung to a tree with her backstrap on the ground waiting for her to make a scarf or table runner or some other object to sell. It certainly gave me new respect for these women who after making the objects, walk or ride a bus to town and then walk the streets for hours trying to sell them. I, for one, won't try to bargain them down to the last penny. The difference of a $1 to me is nothing but to them can mean being able to feed their children. Something to think about the next time you want to 'gloat' over how little you paid for a lovely handmade object. A great experience.
Carolyn

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