Once upon a time I met the women with hearts of colors. While traveling on the Earth odyssey, at the edges of lake Atitlán the most beautiful lake of Central America, at the feet of 3 powerful volcanos there is a small town called Panajachel translates to " Place of White Zapote Trees"
Here is where I met the women artisans who form a collective called Kemajachel translated to "fabrics from Panajachel". These ladies are the weavers of color and beauty.
These women can be consired illiterate, uneducated, and / or all the other labels that has marginalized them, by a society that has imposed the status quo according to the remanding ideas of the conquistadors of old, dominated by a patriarchal culture, that believes in the power over nature, profit over resources, and all the ideas that are devastating our natural world in the name of " development "
These women may not know how to read the indoctrination of a language that is not even their ancestors legacy, but they have other capacities and skills that they are not willing to loose.
These women have now joined in solidarity, they have a collective dream to grow and become strong together. Proud of their art, their work and what they have the knowledge to do. Each one of them is a creatress of artistry, they make masterpieces out of fabrics, plant colors and textile weavings that they craft with their hands & hearts.
These women believe in the abundance of the Mother Earth and are now in the mission to re-waken their traditional knowledge out of the trance of the industrial imposition of only relying on synthetic chemicals that pollute the environment to make the colors that they need to imprint all that they create with grace and natures color palette .
Thanks to the Project Nuevo Mundo, the Earth Odyssey as well as Just Global Designs non for profit organizations Our Mobile Eco Village was able to help to make regenerative design community projects happen in Guatemala.
I am honored to state that our team of eco-nauts was able to be of service to this collective, by designing and implementing a natural dye garden. For these women to educate others on this ancestral process of ecological fashion art !
The following is a recall of our , permaculture regenerative design process
Step 1 Getting to know the dreams and hopes of the women with hearts of colors
Step 2 Sector Analysis (Getting to understand the land we are working with)
Step 3 Mapping our site
Step 4 Team work sketching overlay's
Step 4 Plants walks harvesting native natural dye cuttings
Syep 5 Gathering Resources
Step 5 Marking Out Our Design Patterns
Step 6 Implementation Time
Building the Soil !
Installing rain catchment & irrigation
Step 8 Building the rocket stoves
Step 9 Having Fun
Step 10 Huge Pot Luck Celebration after a Day of Work !
Before
After
At the end of the hard work, I get to enjoy a stroll through the garden !
Ahh time to relax !
It would have not been possible for the amazing team work !
In Permaculture we like to say " many hands make light work "
That is ooohh sooo true !
Thanks to the Kemajachel Women's Cooperative , Project Nuevo Mundo, Justa
& The Earth Odyssey Kemajachel Project Team !
Gerardo Ruiz , Jessica Perlstein, Charlie Tide, Elspeth Reddish, Alejandro Starchild & Curtis Perrin.
Love to all the
Earth Odyssey Family.
