Chirijquiac Group (Guatemala)
The women in this cooperative in the Chirijquiac village in Guatemala, make different kinds of products for Mayan Hands. Some of them weave on a very ancient loom and make belting material that is used for making lanyards, eyeglass straps, key chains, etc. Others weave on a treadle loom and make napkins. Still others are exquisite embroiderers; they embroider intricate pictures of women at the market, with a turkey or flower in their baskets! These embroideries look like painted pictures.
The women are excited now to embroider the word Shabbat on Mayan Hands’ new challah covers, because they’ll be able to earn a better return for their work than with the pictures which are extremely labor intensive.
