On Friday, Barbara joined a group of women cruisers on a trip to Turbaco. The goal of the trip was to help some displaced women and see a school for disadvantaged children. The trip was set up by a local woman who is president of an NGO (non-governmental organization) that was established to improve the quality of life for people in extreme poverty. This group, “Cucuman International Gender Organization”, works with displaced women of the Paraiso Village area in Cucuman, Turbaco. This is an area inland from Cartagena and once the cultural center of the Yurbaco Indians in Colombia.
The women are displaced as a result of some of the guerilla warfare in the area as well as simply by “Husbands” who have left them with the children to pursue “other” interests. We also stopped by a school, San Javier, part of a Catholic parish that helps children in the same area. The priest who runs the school and parish was from Spain but has lived in Colombia for many years. The school provides medical help as well as an education and also helps the parents (mostly single mothers) with training programs and skills.
About 14 women went on the trip and the goal was simply to share some skills and information with them on how they can best establish cooperatives to sell the goods they make. The women the cruisers met with represented various villages within the area – and were the “leaders” of their various villages. Many were quite young.
Getting into the countryside was in very interesting. It’s a beautiful country with rolling hills and lush landscapes. Many rivers and streams crisscross the area. We met on an old farm that is owned by the family of Isabella (the head of the NGO). They have many small homes on the 40 hectares of land that provide shelter for some of these families. Lunch was prepared by some of the women and what we paid for the food also helped feed many of these families.
The children at the school on the day we visited were very young and very polite. It was a “holiday” in the area for the older children – some type of cultural festival.
The kids seemed excited about having all these visitors to their school and happily posed for pictures – getting very excited seeing themselves on the digital cameras. A few a bit confused how they got into those little metal boxes.
The trip was very interesting and it was a good way to meet some local people and interact with folks other than boaters. Hopefully the Colombian women felt the experience was also helpful. They seemed to be grateful that someone even cared they existed. They did manage to sell some of their goods (particularly hand woven bags) to some of the boaters. What is interesting is how little money they get for their product. These beautiful, hand made purses take a woman three days to make and they sell them for 35,000 pesos (about $20). They were glad to get the whole 35,000 – because moist often they only get 17,500 – having to split the money with the person who actually sold the bag in the city of Cartagena. They also made beautiful children’s clothing – both sewn and crocheted. They can only make one product at a time – needed the money from the one they sold to purchase more material for the next product.
The fact that most of these women also have three or four children complicates their lives – having to feed and care for them and still work to provide for them.
It was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to get off the boat and into the interior of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment