The Daniele Agostino
Project
The Intercultural Health Program
Volunteer Doctor ProgramCanadian Embassy in Chile Project
International Foundation Project
The British Embassy in Chile’s Project
Revolving Commercialization Fund and Exhibitions
"Weaving a Better Way of Life: Advanced Textile Courses in Rural Mapuche Communities"
This project substantially improved participants weaving capacities in two manners. First, each participant received a rueca, a traditional spinning wheel fashioned from native wood, and attended a four-month training course to master the use of the instrument. Next, beneficiaries participated in an eight-month course addressing a variety of advanced weaving skills. 75 women from five communities attended the course, and increased weaving productivity up to five times.
In the second part of the program, two communities, both of whom took part in a pilot rueca project in the previous year, joined the five initial groups in a ten-session intensive training course in advanced weaving skills. They learned intricate designs and drawings, the production of market-friendly textiles, and the cultural symbolism of Mapuche weaving. With skills elevated to such levels, participants have been able to market, through the Foundation and independently, high quality textiles for fair prices.
Ultimately, the project has had a large impact on beneficiaries and their families: potential income from textile sales via the Foundation has meant that a community can acquire electricity, that children have uniforms for school, that a family can purchase a basic irrigation system to augment future harvests. Even more, as participants tell us, it means that a woman earns her own money, which, for her, symbolizes a newfound sense of self-reliance and independence.
The
Chol-Chol Foundation For Human Development
[email protected]
