Mayan Hands

Mayan Hands is a fair trade organization that has been working with Mayan weavers since 1989. They now work with approximately 200 weavers, organized in groups of 12 to 50 women, living in eleven different communities around the western and northern highlands of Guatemala. They also work together with other organizations to offer opportunities to the weavers – including scholarships and school supplies for their children, home improvements, micro-lending, training in new skills and techniques, and classes in gender awareness, domestic violence, conflict resolution, and herbal medicine.

All over the world, people hail Maya weavers as talented textile artists, but most of them live in conditions of extreme poverty, often making no more than $3 or $4 monthly, barely surviving. Mayan Hands’ mission is to assist these women in their quest to raise themselves out of poverty. Working with fair trade, the women can count on a modest, and just as important, a regular income that enables their families to eat better, send their children to school, improve their homes and even save a little. Selling their hand woven textiles at a fair price, the women are gaining control over their lives.

Their Judaica products include handwoven and embroidered challah covers, embroidered matzah covers for Passover, assorted kippot, woven bookmarks, paper cards, and embroidered napkins.

Mayan Hands is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.

Mayan Hands wholesales their products to retail outlets, sells their products on-line, and through consignment where individuals sell their products in their communities.

Mayan Hands
9607 Dr. Perry Rd., Suite 114
Ijamsville, MD 21754
301-515-5911
info@upavimcrafts-mayanhands.org
http://www.mayanhands.org/

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