Los grupos femininos de labores de punto

I participated in a Christmas party of a fair-trade organization, called "Capacidad económica en manos de la Mujere" for where some Indian women work. Alix, who is the vice president of the organization, also the director of my Spanish school, invited me as a part of activities of the Spanish course.

Basically those Indian women knit sweaters, ponchos, gloves, hats, bed covers, and all that for kids and dogs with alpaca or cotton. And some other employees, mostly mestizos, of the organization export the goods mainly to the US, but also to some European countries and Japan.

They cost really nothing. One sweater for kid made with alpaca, which looks amazingly beautiful, costs 30USD. Of course if we minus the material cost, the transportation cost, the personal cost for the other employees, and etc., they probably wouldn’t get much. Remember, however, the average salary for Indian women is around 30USD per month. Considering that fact, they are well off in the area, which Alix told me.

They have a very talented knitting trainer. In a week anybody can be an awesome independent knitter through a couple days of his lessons. New designs and demands are always updated by the market of the US. They even conduct micro credit forming small female groups saving money little by little within each group. Now, the organization tries to conduct some workshops in order to give those women the education for health and sanitation.
The women at the party showed me enchanting smiles. Everybody looked confident in themselves. That’s what I want to do here. I want to tell the poor how to improve their lives independently, not teaching them to be passive by giving things.