As you may know by now, crocheting is our most popular and most requested class here in Cajamarca. But for many of our women, taking the 45 minute bus ride into the city can be time consuming and a penny pincher. A strategy that I am implementing this year to deal with these issues and to also promote solidarity in our village banks, is to offer those banks located the farthest with an opportunity to form a crochet group. The idea of a crochet group is to contract a teacher to travel to where our banks are located and help our women create products of their choosing. During the past two weeks, I've created five groups based on personal requests from bank members. The women are ecstatic and look forward to their weekly sessions. It's also a good excuse to break the monotony of daily chores and to spend some time with friends. Yesterday, I went with one of our new crochet teachers, Charro, to visit village bank Senor de los Milagros. The women had a hard time chosing which item they wanted to learn how to make first. It was a tie between a beautiful sweater and a fashion-forward bolero. So Charro decided to divide the groups into two and teach both lessons. The group will meet Thursdays at 3:00 PM. Did I mention Charro is also a beautician and will be offering free hair cuts and coloring to her group to keep them motivated, pretty, and confident? Can't wait to send the pictures from next week.
~Des
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