Maya Traditions partners with local university student to realize professional internships in their area of study. Here, one of our recent interns, Ana Buch Chavez, shares her experience woking with Maya Traditions, in the area of Community Health: Programs Coordinator Marisol with artisan Vicenta and her grandfather, and local intern Ana on the right My name is Ana Buch Chavez, and I am a student of Social Work. I thank Maya Traditions Foundation for giving me the space to realize my professional internship. As a student of Social Work, one of my responsibilities was the preparation of community
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On a recent trip to the community of Nahuala, we sat down with Francisca to hear her story. She is an inspirational woman who creates the most beautiful textiles. Here is a little bit about her! What is your name? Francisca Tzep Cotiy How old are you? 38 years old. Tell us about your family. I have a husband who works in construction and two sons who are 13 and 18 years old Where do you live? In the small village of Palanquix Guachiaquib´, which is a part of the community of Nahuala. When and how did you learn to weave?
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As members of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), we at Maya Traditions are working to guarantee that our practices follow the 10 Principles of Fair Trade outlined by the WFTO. In addition to working towards these goals, we love sharing with you—our international family, the hard work we are doing.Principle #3 of the WFTO states that organizations trade with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers and does not maximize profit at their expense. As we grow Maya Traditions with support from our community, we are working towards this principle in three ways: Strong relationships
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As a part of our strategic plan, we are working to enhance our Artisan Development Program. Program Coordinator, Isabel Chalcú, is spearheading this project and excited to share some of what she has been working on. The current focus of the Artisan Development Program is to learn more about our artisan and better understand their needs. Working with the majority of our artisans for over twenty years has shown us how their needs are constantly changing. In order to strengthen our relationship with them and understand how they view their current quality of life, Isabel, with support from local university intern
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Posted by Maya Traditions on February 09, 2015
Maya Traditions Foundation has been partnering with local NGO Entremundos to further develop and strengthen our Community Tourism Program. According to the First Principle of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), a Fair Trade Organization must focus on creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers. Our workshop series with Entremundos does just that, further providing economic generating activities for our artisans and healers. Through our connection with Entremundos, our artisans and healers learned how to create a business plan, administer a basic community tourism plan, and how to treat visitors, whatever the cultural differences may be. The ultimate objective of this
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On Wednesday, January 21st, 2015, Maya Traditions organized our annual artisan meeting with representatives from each cooperative. Artisan Development Coordinator Isabel Chalcú shares her thoughts on the meeting: Each one of our cooperatives is an important part of Maya Traditions Foundation. For she, the artisan, represents the essence of our work. Each year, we work harder, facilitating market access and increasing our educational programming, with the mission to empower our artisans and improve the quality of their lives. To start off 2015, we held a meeting with two representatives from each cooperative. Our objective was to understand and analyze our
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Posted by Maya Traditions on November 25, 2014
Maya Traditions was founded upon the hearts and skills of our artisans. Today we share with you a recent interview with Juana Maria from our cooperative La Voz de los Tz’utujiles. She lives and works in the community of San Juan La Laguna on the shores of Lake Atitlan. She, along with other members from her cooperative, produce textiles featuring Ikat designs and natural dyes. Please feel free to share Juana’s story with your friends, family, and customers! MTF: What is your name? JMR: Juana María del Rosario MTF: How old are you? JMR: 24 years old. MTF: Where do you live? JMR: I live San Juan
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Design Intern Averie Floyd here! I recently took a natural dyeing class with Cecilia in San Juan, where they are known for their beautiful naturally dyed colors. It was interesting to experience the whole process first hand. Here are the steps involved in creating naturally dyed products: The first step is to buy or find our natural dyestuffs, or ingredients that can be used to create dye colors. We decided to work with Palo Campeche, or logwood. Cecilia and the rest of the group use a variety of other products including coffee and guava leaves, marigold and even and even
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