artisans; Women and Development (WID)/Gender and Development (GAD); business development
I met Chantal in a neighboring village and due to our shared connection in the arts, I focused some of my work as a small business development PCV on promoting her and her craft. When I met her she only dyed and sold the printed batik cloth she...
This is a picture of my host mother's eldest sister weaving silk on the loom outside of her house. This practice is traditionally passed down to women from generation to generation. Women all over the village (mainly the elders) can be seen making...
Women from a small village on the island of 'Eua spend the day painting tapa cloth. These cloths can be up to 50 feet long and are made from the bark of a tree. The cloths, once finished are given as gifts at many events, such as weddings,...
The first official meeting of our Mayan women's arts collective- part of the larger cultural preservation/ tourism project called Runawal Tinamit, Aldea El Pajuil, Chicaman, El Quiche. El Pajuil, where my primary project was based, is a small ...
As a small business development Volunteer, I worked with weavers in a rural village in Morocco. The hills surrounding our village were filled with cave dwelling nomads. I became very close with one of these families, the Lahcen Eshu family, and I...
As a small business development Volunteer, I worked with carpet weavers in developing their organization. I also worked with cave dwelling nomads that lived in the hills surrounding the village. This is Zahra, one of the nomads who is a weaver....
Zoya works in a small room just off the shortcut I take into town every day. She says she learned how to sew when she was 17 at classes she took at the cultural house in Yeghegnadzor over 30 years ago. She along with her soviet era sewing machine...