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Kamajachel is community of women in Panajachel, Guatemala who wish to bring back and to preserve the ancient practice of natural dyes in order to color the textiles that decorate the diverse pieces that decorate the bodies of many including native people, tourists and others who admire this intricate art of dyeing and weaving.
This project supported by Project Nuevo Mundo‘s Earth Odyssey and JUSTA is meant to implement a natural dye garden that opens the doors to visitors and to serve as an educational experience for those who come to witness the process of picking the fresh plants and then “cooking with colors” to bring weaved traditional clothing to life. Guided tours of the garden will serve the women as a way to empower themselves with an added source of income and financial independence.
Goals of Project:
- To Identify the needs of the women
- To educate the next generations
- Develop a long term management strategy of regenerative model
- To establish a local group to carry on the vision
- Maximize space on site
Benefits For The Women:
- Implementing a Regenerative Business Model
- Preservation of Natural Dye Methods
- Environmental Impact
- Enhancing the community hub for indigenous to share their ancient wisdom
The Earth Odyssey and JUSTA are ecstatic to begin a project like this that will inspire and empower indigenous women to become self-sustainable through creating regenerative livelihoods while preserving ancient methods. While the Earth Odyssey team gets to share their knowledge, they’ll have to opportunity learn ancient artisan techniques and connect with a collective of empowered women.
Stay tuned for updates and please donate to help make more projects like this possible for Earth Odyssey to complete!
http://projectnuevomundo.wordpress.com/donate-to-us/
This is a very worthwhile project and can be modeled on a few other groups doing the same thing with natural dyes around Lake Atitlan. Love the fact that you will be growing the plants used, too! Keep us informed… and let me know if you need volunteers for this group, too.
Thanks! We are looking for a volunteer coordinator right now to help us maintain volunteers working on amazing projects around the lake after we leave.
I would suggest posting the date(s) you need someone and if Spanish and English is required, or which language is required on a few of the Lake Atitlan FB sites. Here’s one for Panajachel.
There’s also a volunteer website online that thousands of people use all over the world; don’t know the name, but Mayan Families gets 3 to 15 applications PER DAY, so you might contact them to find out some of the main sites to advertise on, and ask them if they have received any applications they won’t be using that might be helpful for your project.
Facebook: Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (Events, News, Volunteering, etc)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/panajachel/permalink/249678415203084/
You can also contact Cynthia Davis (on FB), who puts out the Cruz News and ask her to post a notice in her email bulletin.
Carolina Godoy, https://www.facebook.com/gypsymoon2 on Facebook, told me about your project with the natural dyes. I’m not sure if she has time to be the volunteer coordinator, but you could certainly ask her and find out where to post, too!