Posted by Maya Traditions on November 19, 2010
On Tuesday night we had a party in La Sala to celebrate the graduation of eight of the students on our scholarship program. It was a fun night with the participation of all the high school students from the sixth communities, a total of 26 teenage kids… Each community prepared different performances for the night and we had a little competition on 5 categories: mimic, singing, traditional storytelling, poetry and traditional dancing. Some of the performances were celeritous and others very dramatic. I really enjoy the traditional dancing category. Quiejel delighted us with a dance called “stealing the girlfriend” with
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 18, 2010
This week marks the anniversary of the loss of our Founder, Jane Mintz. While I never had the chance to know Jane, since taking on this position as Director of her Foundation, I have seen the amazing legacy that she left behind. Known around here as Juana, she has clearly not left the hearts and minds of the many lives she touched.Not only was she a talented weaver, social worker, and friend to many, she also was an incredibly giving soul.Over the years, Jane helped so many Guatemalan families by providing them with support and encouragement during very dark times
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 17, 2010
On Thursday November 11th I visited the communities of Chuacruz and Patanatic to continue with the replications of the Leadership and Initiative Workshop. The format of the workshops was then same as the previous workshops I had attended The groups, led by Maya Traditions’ scholarship students discussed the various problem in their communities, made lists of these problems, and then identified one problem that they collectively decided is the most important. The causes and effects of these problems as well as the possible steps to work towards a solution were then discussed. As in the previous workshops in the communities,
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 16, 2010
San Juan La Laguna is, in my humble opinion, the most picturesque village around Lake Atitlan. The shore line is covered in reed and the horizon is dominated by a tree covered hill known as “indian nose”. You can find coffe fields all around and the houses are painted in different colours, some often decorated with huge murals by local artists telling stories about traditional Maya lifestyle. Andres and Gaspar come from San Juan. They are both studying Art at Guatemala City with the help of Maya Traditions´scholarship program. This is not easy task for them, art materials are expensive and the cost of living
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 15, 2010
This past Friday we had some visitors from a local school, Panajachel Colegio Internacional, visit the medicinal herb garden. Miguel (wearing cap) at the top is explaining to the students about the demonstration plot at the entrance to the gardens. In this area are small samples of the many varieties of plants grown in the garden. Next the students were led into the greenhouse to see the collection of plants that are grown for selling and replenishing the gardens. We then proceeded up the hill to look at the tablones/garden plots of the production herbs that are used for harvesting
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 10, 2010
Last Wednesday, November 3rd, I traveled with Dora, the director Maya Traditions Education Program, Esti, another volunteer, and Professor Tereso Joj, to the community of Chirijox to participate in the first of the replications of the workshop Leadership and Iniciative, given by Maya Traditions’ scholarship students in their home communities. Chirijox is located in the department of Solola where 94% of the population is indigenous and approximately 76% of the population lives below poverty line. A major problem in Chirijox is unemployment, as the majority of the people who study, pursue a career in education, and there are not nearly
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 08, 2010
Last Friday we visited the weaver’s community of Qiejel. They had organized a meeting, as part of the “Initiative & Leadership” workshop, to analyze community problems, choose the most urgent one and work on possible practical solutions for it. They talked about deforestation, about how the land is not so fertile anymore and the crops don’t grow as they used to; They also talked about how the medical centre is closed because they have no doctors and the ones that come for vaccinations do not speak K’iche language; They also considered the fact that they only have public transportation out
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 02, 2010
As you may have already read in the blog, Maya Traditions is organizing a concert/event on the 11th of December in support of a new environmental program.Part of this project will be workshops with our women weavers on how to create new products out of trash like plastic bags, cans, etc So this week I would like to introduce you to Ana. Ana is a weaver herself, she has a contagious energy and a great creativity. She can make beautiful bags out of plastic trash or fancy earrings from can tops, and she will be teaching these new skills to
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Thanks to our friends at PEOPlink, we now have a small catalog of some of our featured items online! We are working to update and upload even more products in the coming month.Our retail link will launch this week at http://catalog.openentry.com/mayatraditionsb2b. You can purchase by credit card through paypal at this site.Our wholesale link is: http://catalog.openentry.com/mayatraditionsb2b. Prices are not listed for wholesale as wholesalers need to confirm their status; however, any interested wholesalers may inquire for price from [email protected]. We have a variety of shipping options.We will also make special offers on these sites, so check us out for updates!Remember that all
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