Lunch with the Ambassador

It's not everyday you get to chill out with the high-ups in our government and much less in an informal setting, but just recently I got the chance to do that.  I can't explain exactly how it all came about.  It could have been that through my email blasting, which I've been doing over the last month, that word got around about my counterpart's trip to the U.S. to participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market and at the opening of an exhibition titled Empowering Women hosted by the Museum of International Folk Art.  Another possibility was a referral from a dear friend of the Cherry Buttons Cooperative, Dr. Susan Schaeffer Davis, who not too long ago brought a delegation of U.S. Americans to Morocco and took them on a tour of events, some of which were attended by embassy staff and perhaps even the ambassador's wife.  Dr. Davis was one of the victims of my email blast to which she responded and said that she had recommended that the embassy staff meet my counterpart, Amina Yabis, if they were ever in the Fez region.

I got a call from Peace Corps staff alerting me of the ambassador's visit a couple of days prior to the expected arrival date, and then shortly after that phone call, embassy staff contacted me.  I was given a date, but few specifics: only that the ambassador's wife wanted to meet Amina and that they were aware that a Peace Corps volunteer was in the neighborhood so they also asked that I be present.  I was told not to contact security personnel as they would be responsible for doing so.  I relayed the information to my counterpart, but I forgot to tell her not to call any security personnel.

The day before their arrival, embassy security called me to give me an approximate time of when they would be there and to settle on a meeting point.  At the time, Sefrou was in full Cherry Festival mode.  The streets were decorated, there was a lot of foot traffic, music playing on different stages throughout the city, fantasia was on exhibit in the evenings, and expo tents were set up all over town, but the visit was not to partake of the festivities.  We decided we would meet at the artisana tent expo where Amina would be present with her cooperative ladies.

The following day there was a bit of drama.  Amina had told the Pasha, the equivalent of the security chief of the region, about the ambassador's visit and that he and his family may possibly dine in her home.  Amina said the Pasha did not take too well to the late notice and rebuked Amina for it.  At the artisana expo, local security personnel from either the police or other services approached Amina for more details, but she had none to give.  She told them to speak to me and I told them exactly what I had told Amina.  They wanted an itinerary that I simply didn't have.  When they realized that we were in the dark as much as they were, they cooled off and later on apologized to Amina.

As soon as the drama subsided, the black Suburbans arrived.  Amina and I went over to meet Ambassador Kaplan and his wife as they exited their vehicle.  On another suburban, members of the ambassador's family got out and we greeted them all.  A couple of volunteers who were planning to meet with Amina for Camp GLOW business came over to the tent and also greeted the ambassador and his family.  The ambassador's wife went over to Amina's booth, greeted the coop ladies and apprentices, and her family got to buying the coop's famous button necklaces and bracelets.

In conversation with security personnel, we determined that Amina would indeed host the ambassador and his family at her home for lunch.  As soon as we decided, Amina took off to get things prepared.

In the meantime, the ambassador and his family took a lap around the artisana expo with only the entourage of the security personnel.  The ambassador's visit was quite a contrast to the visit from the Minister of Artisana who had come through Sefrou only a few months back.  The entourage that followed that man was a good 50 meters long of what we PCV's call The Suits.  When the minister came to the artisana, all the artisans, members of the chamber of artisana, apprentices, and even myself formed a line for the minister to shake our hands.  Security personnel were out in full force with multiple vans shadowing the glossy, black Mercedes Benz-- the typical transport for government officials.  It was just a lot of pomp and circumstance everywhere.

I was happy that the political entourage was not there.  After all, this was not an official visit.  He did not come to make a proclamation or to shake hands with the political hierarchy; the ambassador and his family were here as your everyday tourist.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Jewish cemetery in Sefrou.  I was about to say goodbye and to tell them that I would meet them at Amina's, but they urged me to come along.  I was honored to be accompanying the ambassador and his family, but more importantly I was psyched about the ride in the Suburbans.  For all my criticism of entourages, I was now part of one and I got to say that it did feel pretty cool.  The cemetery attendant greeted everyone with a "shalom" and then he began to blurt out some rapid-fire Moroccan Arabic that I could not understand nor could begin to translate.  Apparently, he thought that I was the tour guide for the group--not the first time this has happened.   The security personnel went over to the gentleman and explained that I was not Moroccan, but American, and that I was still learning.

The ambassador pointed to a grave that he said spelled out his first name Samuel in Hebrew.  The attendant led the group around the cemetery and pointed to graves where the remains had been removed and transported to Israel.  The ambassador said something to the effect that he had read that Sefrou had more of these empty graves than any other Jewish cemetery in Morocco.  In my nearly two years in Sefrou, this was my first time there.  It was interesting to see Hebrew written everywhere and to think that only 50 or so years ago Sefrou had a thriving Jewish population that lived in relative harmony with the Amazight and Arab population.

After the tour of the cemetery, we headed to Amina's home.  Once again I got to ride in the Suburban (it was cool the second time around as well).  Amina greeted the ambassador at the door beaming as she said in her limited English, "Welcome, welcome, welcome, and thank you, thank you, thank you."  We all sat down in Amina's living room and began to chat it up.  RPCV Gregg Johnson was there.  Amina's younger sister and her family were also there.  The ambassador and his family sat in one room while the security personnel sat in another not because there was not enough room, but because it was World Cup season and the other room had the TV tuned to the Paraguay vs. Slovakia match.

The ambassador and his family sat huddled towards one side of the room with the typical octagonal Moroccan table in the middle.  First, Amina's husband walked around with a water kettle and had everyone wash their hands.  Then, Amina began to bring out the food.  She did not do anything outside of what she normally does when she has guests visiting.   She served up the usual garnishes: small saucers of chopped tomato and cucumber, some saffron seasoned rice, some spicy tomato sauce, and a variety of olives.  She brought out the silverware in a tray that we passed around until everyone had one.  She also passed around a basket of bread.  Then, came the family platter of two oven-baked chickens with crunchy fries on top and a thick lemon sauce and green olives at the base--a classic Moroccan dish and one of my all-time favorites.  Not having individual plates to eat from, the ambassador's daughter asked, "So how do we do this?"

I proceeded with my vast knowledge of Moroccan table etiquette to explain how the bread serves as the fork or in essence kind of like a glove for one to dip and grab whatever is in one's real estate or food that is directly in front of you.  Gregg provided some cultural commentary on the tradition by explaining how eating in close proximity to each other and from the same platter was part of the community lifestyle that is exhibited in Moroccan society and how it serves to reinforce family bonds.  However, even with my exemplary demonstration on how to eat Moroccan style or the commentary, everyone went for the forks and went straight for the chicken.  Even though I am a big Moroccan bread fan, I'd much rather eat the meat without bread so I joined them fork in hand in prying the meat from chicken.  After getting our fill of all the garnishes and the chicken, Amina followed it with a platter of watermelon and big, fat Sefrouian cherries.

It was cool to see the ambassador and his family in an informal setting: his family kidding with him calling him "His Excellency" and his youngest grand-child taking bites out of the cherries and spraying everyone around with cherry juice.  It was great to see the ambassador almost eating Moroccan style.  I gave him a break.  It took me a while to replace the fork with bread.

He was happy to see that his security staff also got fed.  He mentioned that in some cases his security staff are not invited to eat.  Amina said that there was no way she would let those men go hungry.  The ambassador was extremely grateful for the food and the company, gave me and Amina his business card, and then we all posed for photos.

We walked the ambassador and his family back to their Suburbans.  I stayed behind with Amina and waved to them as they departed.  Amina was still overjoyed.  She still could not believe that  the Ambassador of the U.S. to the Kingdom of Morocco had dined in her home.  I was happy for her, but I was even more happy for the ambassador and his family who I believe got a different taste of Morocco here in Sefrou.  It was an exciting moment for me.  It was a pleasure to tag along with the ambassador and his family for a bit, being part of the entourage and riding in the Suburbans was a highlight, chowing down some Moroccan grub in typical Moroccan fashion, and just relaxing and shooting the breeze with him and his family.  It was a fine and memorable day in the life of another Peace Corps volunteer.

The Shamal Series: Journey to the Center of the Earth through The Grotte Friouato

Last Halloween weekend a few volunteers gathered to celebrate as best as we could one of our most endeared pagan holidays. We weren't able to go trick-or-treating or to wear any of our superhero costumes; so, our host, Steven, suggested we just do scary stuff the entire weekend.  He suggested we check out a cave near Taza that all the Tazies talk about and then catch a horror flick in the evening.

I headed out to meet everyone late Friday night. We had dinner at a nice restaurant in the heart of Taza's ville nouvelle.  I got myself a tuna pizza that was nice and crispy with plenty of marinara sauce and cheese to complement the tuna. Shortly thereafter, we took a brief walk around town. The Taza medina (old city) is quite stunning with its medieval fortress walls illuminated at night and sitting atop a towering plateau overlooking the sprawling ville nouvelle (french for new city).

In the morning we took a petit-taxi past the ville nouvelle, onto the Taza medina plateau, around the medina arriving at a taxi stand where a number of tan station wagons waited for passengers. We met up with Aziz, an employee of Morocco's Ministry of Water and Forests who also serves as a counterpart for a number of Peace Corps volunteers in the region. We also ran into a couple of tourists, one American and another from the Czech Republic, who were looking to go to the cave, but were waiting for others to fill the taxi. The two young ladies were doing an internship at a veterinary clinic in Fez.  So once we were all together, Aziz bargained with the taxi drivers for a bit and then we were on our way to the Grotte Friouato.

After a 30-minute uphill journey zig-zagging through some beautiful, dense forest passages of pine trees and rocky terrains dotted with stone-stack houses and tiered farming on the sides of the mountains, you come to a wide, open expanse that supposedly is a rain-season lake where winter grains are grown in abundance. We arrived at the base of the Grotte Friouato, checked in with the reception desk, paid 35DH for a flashlight and for the tour, and then made our way to the entrance of the cave.

Not having read anything about the cave, I didn't know what to expect. My only point of reference for this expedition were pictures of the Ozark Caverns in Missouri that I had seen on billboards on I-44 when my family would make the trek from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania for our annual church convention. In those billboards, there was always a little kid pointing to some really cool rock formations as the entire family looked on in utter amazement. The brochures I would pick up from various rest stops also photoshoped the same shot of the kid with his family on a background of wide passageways with railings and lighting that accentuated the rock formations and the many cave pools.  The publicity also showed what looked like a golf cart in one of the shots, and the tour guide and tour group were all equipped with a hard-hat. I wasn't expecting a replica of the brochures here, but when I heard that a number of tourists frequent the cave every year, I figured that those managing the site and the tours were taking precautions to ensure that tourists keep spreading the word.

Aziz accompanied us to the reception and then walked us over to the entrance of the cave upon which he said goodbye to us and wished us good luck. When asked why he wasn't accompanying us, he smiled and said, "Oh no, not me." We entered the cave to a warm stream of air that seemed to be channeling through the entrance. We began our descent to the cave. For the first couple of hundred steps, there was railing available, but then as we reached a more gradual grade, no railing was around and it could have been useful given the uneven and worn concrete steps.

 It was interesting to experience the change of temperature as we descended. It was as if two masses of warm and cool air were sitting idly in the cave, and once you stepped into the cold, you only felt the cold. It wasn't too chilly, but just enough for a fleece.

We took a brief break at the base of the cave, which was actually the entrance to what would be our journey to the center of the earth.  I was already feeling my knees shaking a bit after the 500 or so steps we hiked down.  Then, our guide said, "mn deba l-foq, triq saib swiya" (from here on, the way is a little difficult) and he wasn't kidding.

The entrance to the cave was one of the most challenging parts of the journey.  It was literally a tunnel that you had to squirm, twist, and turn in awkward ways trusting the person in front of you to place your feet on the next step as the view was obstructed by the narrowness of the tunnel and because you could only descend face down meanwhile attempting to retain some balance by grabbing onto the muddy walls.

It was a wake-up call because it made me realize that should anyone twist an ankle, injure their tail-bone or back, or suffer any other accident, there would be no way to get anyone out.  This was just one of the many points during the hike where we looked to the guide and to each other in dismay and wondered if it could get any worse.

We kept descending down some more steps onto some amazing rock formations.  There was sparkle everywhere.  Who on earth had come here and sprayed sparkle all over these rocks?

Brown and white rock icicle-like formations with water drops at their tips, boulders with coral-like surfaces, and undulated cave walls that resembled my mother's vanilla or chocolate icing on the many a birthday cakes she made for me were all part of the amazing show we were witnessing as we descended further and further down into the cave.

Without any sort of markers along the way, we were completely reliant on our guide.  When I entered the cave, I thought how would we be able to get people out if we injured ourselves.  As we kept going down I thought, how the heck would we get back, God forbid, anything should happen to our guide, and the chances of injury weren't unlikely.  The cave floor and the walls we used for support were muddy and very slippery. There was no light in the cave save our flashlights, no railing anywhere to be seen, and for sure no way to communicate with anyone on the surface.  Fortunately, our guide was fearless.

He led us through the nooks and cranies of the cave with ease, lighting passageways, and cautioning us to thalla f rask, which generally means to take care of yourself, but in this particular instance, he meant each word literally: thalla is the transliteration for the verb to take care; the "f" sound is the preposition that follows the verb; ras is the word for head, and the "k" sound attached to the word adds the possession "your".  After banging my head a couple of times through the tunnels, I began to understand why those silly-looking hard-hats were on the brochure and made me wish I had one.

Later on with tired knees, we reached what I deemed to be the Bridge of No Return.  It was a 2x6 wooden plank placed over a deep crevice that you could not see the bottom to, and to make matters worse, the plank was not bolted or holstered.  Our fearless guide walked through it so easily I believe he could have performed several scissor kicks and back flips without a glitch.  Then came Steven, he looked at it and looked back at the group and could only laugh.  I was genuinely freaked out.  My knees were already trembling a bit with every step, and now I faced this wobbly plank.  I took a deep breath and took baby-steps to the other side.  We all made it safely, hamdullah (thanks be to God).

After we crossed the bridge, we came upon a number of shallow cave pools that at the time were a little empty.  To cross each pool, we would walk around the narrow fringes of it and we encountered more wobbly planks, but it was not as terrifying because we could at least see where we would fall.

We finally reached the end of our downhill hike to the center of the earth.  We had descended nearly 2 kilometers.  Surprisingly, there was railing at the end of the hike signaling that this was the furthest one should go, but technically the cave goes down even further and I believe they have yet to reach its bottom as of yet.  We turned off our flashlights for a bit to experience the pitch-black darkness and silence that surrounded us.  It was one of those overwhelming moments that your mind has a hard time grasping.

We thought at first that it would be a difficult uphill climb, but it turned out to be a much easier trek.  We tip-toed across the cave pools, took our time crossing the Bridge of No Return, powered through the steep inclines, and snaked up through to the cave entrance until we saw the reassuring light at the end of the tunnel.  We took another deep breath and marveled at our feat.  I walked over to the guide and asked him how many times he has gone all the way down and he said that he did it at least twice a day in high season.  Anyhow, I still felt that I had accomplished something.  Now at the entrance to the cave, I felt that should I injure myself that I would have a chance of surviving.

Finally, to celebrate our journey to the center to the earth and back, fittingly we took ghetto-esque shots and then climbed to the top of the mountain for some sun salutations.

Right next to the cave's main entrance, there was a balcony cafe that we crashed for a bit.  The park staff served us the classic sweet-as-molasses mint tea and then we busted out some bread and tuna.  After getting our fill, we took a brief ride to Bab Boudir, another forest preserve where the East and Middle Atlas Mountains converge.

Our taxi took us back to Taza where we parted ways with the two veterinary students.  I headed back to Steven's spot with the other volunteers where we proceeded to cook some dinner and carve a pumpkin. To cap the night, we watched an old Halloween classic: The Exorcist.  It was a good ending to our more than scary perhaps reaching the level of terrifying Halloween weekend.

To learn more about Taza and the Grotte Friouato, please visit this link:

http://www.morocco.com/blog/taza-and-gouffre-du-friouato

Photos are a compilation of PCV shots and those of our veterinary friends. 

The Cherry Buttons Coop of Sefrou, Morocco, Is One of Ten Coops To Be Showcased at The Museum of International Folk Art

The Museum of International Folk Art just posted a news release listing the ten cooperatives that will be part of the upcoming exhibition titled Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities. The Cherry Buttons Cooperative of Sefrou, Morocco, is honored to be part of a remarkable group of cooperatives that are making a difference in their respective communities. Amina Yabis, the cooperative's president, said that she is looking forward to sharing her story and learning from others.

Amina's desire to learn was one of the main reasons why I decided to work with her coop.  When other associations or cooperatives approached me for money or equipment, she asked me to help her improve the marketing of her coop.  She felt that new ideas and new connections would be worth more than any grant I could bring.  She is well aware of the Peace Corps goals, which are more about providing new ideas and technical training rather than hard dollars.

The first volunteer Amina worked with back in 2000 provided organizational development assistance that helped her association and cooperative take root.  Another volunteer came shortly thereafter and helped her streamline her production and diversify her product line.  Later, a group of volunteers from the region pitched an idea of a young girl's empowerment camp and Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) was born.

When I arrived nearly two years ago with my broken Arabic and unsure as to what I would do or who I would be working with, Amina welcomed me to her home, introduced me to her family, friends, coop members, and invited me to her home numerous times for some hearty home-cooked meals.   She made me feel at ease and her family made me feel as another member of the family.  Also, it did not matter that my attempts at Arabic sounded like gibberish.  If we needed to speak in a mishmash of French and Arabic, then that's what we would do.  Communication was the goal whether it was verbally or non-verbally.  That's the true essence of what we Peace Corps volunteers call a sympathetic interlocutor.

Over the last year, we set out to improve the marketing of her coop.  We set up a website/blog prior to her trip to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (SFIFAM) last year, http://cherrybuttonscoop.wordpress.com.  Some of my friends from the U.S. and Europe traveling through Morocco as well as other PCVs passing through Morocco´s shamal (north) came to take professional photographs of her products and her coop.  Fouzia Chkar, a superb translator by trade, worked with me to produce the French language version of the coop' website, http://boutonsdecerises.wordpress.com.  We engaged in a number of product development exchanges with U.S. textile vendors that have not panned out as of yet, but have taught us a great deal about what other markets are seeking and what we need to do before proceeding with any major exporting opportunity.  A product catalogue is in the works.  I will also begin training a few cooperative members on the basics of digital photography, Wordpress web development, customer service, and marketing.  Inchallah (God willing), before I take off late this year and hand over projects to the next volunteer, the cooperative will be able to launch their catalogue, maintain it and update it, post updates on the blog section of their site, and begin to generate domestic as well as international sales.

This invitation to the museum exhibition is a testament to the hard work of Amina Yabis and the ladies of the cooperative.  It all began with an idea to bring equity to the marketplace for the women of the Sefrou region.  The women were the primary producers of a fine handicraft, but middlemen rather than the women were the primary beneficiaries.  In just over ten years, it has opened many doors of opportunity for many women who have come to her cooperative to learn to weave on a variety of looms, to dye wool, and have benefited from the exchange of ideas in other Peace Corps and NGO-sponsored workshops.  With the skills and a renewed sense of confidence, Amina and several coop members have ventured out of the home and traveled hundreds of miles to major craft fairs in Marrakesh, Casablanca, and Fez.  Today, the coop is considered a model women's cooperative in Morocco and is showcased as such by the Regional Delegation of Artisana of Sefrou.

I want to thank the many volunteers, foundations, government and non-governmental organizations, individual donors, and the amazing staff of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market and the Museum of International Folk Art that have given so much of their time and resources to create these amazing opportunities.  A big thanks to Dr. Suzanne Seriff for her patience in working with Amina and me and for her dedication to the project.  Thanks to all.

Please take a moment to read through the museum's latest release for more information on the extraordinary stories that will be told at the museum's exhibition opening.

Museum of International Folk Art

The ten women's cooperatives in the exhibition

EMPOWERING WOMEN: ARTISAN COOPERATIVES THAT TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES

(Santa Fe, NM, June 11, 2010)-Ten women's artisan cooperatives will be represented in the Museum of International Folk Art's Gallery of Conscience inaugural exhibition, Empowering Women. These co-ops are from Swaziland, South Africa, Nepal, Lao PDR, India, Peru, Bolivia, Morocco, Kenya, and Rwanda. You may read more about the exhibition here.

Swaziland: Phez'kwemkhono Bomake-Ncheka Cooperative

Today more than 50 local women work in the cooperative making baskets to earn money for their families and to provide support for the community's many AIDS orphans. Their earnings have transformed the lives of hundreds of AIDS orphans funding education, clothing, a soup kitchen, medicine, home-base care for the bedridden, and hospital services.

South Africa: Mapula Embroidery Project

With embroidery members of this collective call attention to the joys and hardships of their homeland. Scenes range from the nostalgic depicting animals and village life to current issues such as crime, AIDS, unemployment, to alcohol addiction. Maria Rengane, founder of the Mapula (Mother of Rain) Embroidery Project said; "I would like to spend all of the years of my life helping communities do things like this project for themselves. This is how you build a strong successful nation."

Nepal: Janakpur Women's Development Center

The women of the Mhathili culture were renowned for painting designs on the mud walls of their village homes for weddings, festivals, and other special occasions. When Claire Burkett, a New England college graduate arrived in the Nepalese lowlands in 1989, she thought if the women painted their beautiful, spontaneous images onto handmade paper, they could be sold to an outside market, and increase their socio-economic status. Today, more than forty women travel daily to the Janakpur Center, a huge step for women who were not allowed to leave their homes.

Lao PDR: OckPopTok

Ten years ago this coop was founded by a London fashion photographer and the daughter of a master weaver from the Mekong region of Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. OckPopTok means "East Meets West." OckPopTok has grown from a one-room weaving studio for local weavers to an internationally recognized heritage destination, gallery, retreat center and women's weaving collaborative for more than 200 artisans in three provinces and seven villages. This cooperative is as likely to sell wall hangings inspired by Mark Rothko as the traditional skirts woven with Laotian motifs.

India: Self-Employed Women's Association Trade Facilitation Center

SEWA includes more than 3,500 artisan shareholders in 80 villages in India's western state of Gujarat. The women - all skilled home-based embroidery and textile artisans - are the producers, managers, and owners of their collective livelihood. The women run every phase of the business and their success has translated into building a legacy of respect where previously they were known either by their father's or husband's name and are now known by their given name - part of the tradition these women want to pass on for their daughters.

Peru: Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco

Hand-woven textiles in the Peruvian Andes are an important social and ethnic marker and a significant part of the cultural heritage of the region. Nilda Callanaupa, granddaughter of a master weaver who herself was weaving by age seven, founded this coop in 2005 to preserve traditions that were dying out. Today the CTTC is in nine regions of Peru, each supporting its own cooperative structure and a state-of-the-art museum of Andean textiles and a weaving training center, the CTTC in Cusco has become a destination for tourists and community members alike.

Bolivia: Cheque Oitedie Cooperative

The 45 women in this cooperative plant and harvest the bromeliad and produce and market hand-woven and dyed fiber bags to an international market. The group's sales amount to more than 60% of the total community income and now they manage a collective bank account for the first time.

Morocco: Women's Button Cooperative of Sefrou

Amina Yabis, a typical Moroccan Muslim housewife and mother of four boys ran unsuccessfully for public office in 1997. This left her with a clear realization: women needed first to have access to the cash economy to be successful in public life. Over the next few years Amina organized more than 400 women from her province into a craft association called Golden Buttons. Economic success led to the formation in 2000 of the Women's Button Cooperative of Sefrou, a for-profit cooperative that was the first of its kind organized by women. The cooperative has ventured into other crafts and training programs to expand opportunities for Moroccan women for successful engagement in public life.

Kenya: Umoja Uaso Women's Group

The beginning of the Umoja Uaso Women's Group in Kenya was not about art. It was about survival. Rebecca Lolosoli and 16 other home-less women founded the village of Umoja Uaso in 1990 as a refuge fro Samburu women who ere victims of rape, beatings, forced marriage, genital cutting, and other violent domestic crimes. Umoja, which means "unity" is now a safe have for women and girls fleeing abuse. The women of Umoja sell their tribe's elaborately beaded jewelry and crafts, both traditional and contemporary, to provide for themselves and their children. They have established a sickness and disability fund, a community center, and a school for their children.

Rwanda: Gahaya Links Cooperative

In 100 days of explosive ethnic violence in 1994, Rwandan Hutus murdered some one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, leving hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans. Ephigenia Mukantabana lost 65 family members but has forgiven her family's killer and now works side-by-side the imprisoned man's wife as fellow members of a basket-weaving cooperative. Beginning with 20 women the company has now grown to a network of more than 4,000 weavers across the country, organized into 52 cooperatives. Ephigenia credits teaching her art to both Hutus and Tutsis as the balm that restored her shattered life. She says; "Art heals the hopeless soul. Weaving is hope for tomorrow."

Media Contacts

Suzanne Seriff, Ph.D
Sr. Lecturer, Dept. of Anthropology,
University of Texas at Austin
Guest Curator, "Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives that Transform Communities"
seriff@aol.com
512 459-3990

Steve Cantrell, PR Manager

505-476-1144

505-310-3539 - cell

steve.cantrell@state.nm.us

steve.cantrell@state.nm.us

###

The Museum of International Folk Art houses the world's largest collection of international folk art, with the ongoing exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond in the Girard Wing. Changing and traveling exhibitions are offered in the Bartlett Wing and exhibitions highlighting textiles are featured the Neutrogena Wing.  Lloyd's Treasure Chestoffers visitors interactive displays about collections and how museums care for collections. 

Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities

More good news to pass along. On June 29, Amina Yabis heads off to America to take part in the opening of an exhibition on July 4 titled Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities at the Museum of International Folk Art, and then will participate in the 7th annual Santa Fe International Folk Art Market from July 9-11.

Over the last couple of months, Amina and I have been in touch with the museum curators sending photographs and quotes for the exhibit. We had a little difficulty getting the right shots at first. Fortunately a couple of friends who happen to be avid photographers came to visit me from Spain and as I do with all my guests, I put them to work. They took some marvelous pictures of the women of the cooperative. The museum was pleased with the collection and selected a few of the shots so big shot-outs to my friends Lisa Anaya and Oriol Llados for their contribution. 

Once again another big "THANK YOU" to RPCV Gregg Johnson for his help in putting the application packet together back in October of last year for admission to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. The Cherry Buttons Cooperative received their invitation in January and in February we sent all the forms to confirm her participation. This time around the coop will have a full table displaying Sefrou's famous hand-woven buttons, button necklaces, Moroccan slippers adorned with buttons, and their multi-color scarves and natural dye chales. If you're in the neighborhood, I invite you to drop by and also to drop some dollars at her stand. 

What Amina Yabis has done with the cooperative is truly remarkable. In just ten years, the cooperative has grown from 10 to over 40 members, provides steady employment for a number of women, welcomes new weaving apprentices every year, provides natural dye trainings throughout the country, and travels to expos all over Morocco, Europe, and the U.S. Also, this year the coop's sister NGO, the Golden Buttons Association, will be holding it's 4th Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) in July. Amina is grateful for the support of Peace Corps volunteers, PCV families and RPCV groups who have supported Camp GLOW, partner NGOs like the High Atlas Foundation, Maiwa Foundation, the Santa Fe Intl. Folk Art Market who through their skillful fundraising financed Amina's first trip last year, and is of course grateful to her family who has pitched in with the cooking and housework to enable her to carry out her work.

Please take a moment to read through the museum's official press release on the opening of the exhibit and if you can, pass it along to your friends.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2010

MEDIA CONTACT
Steve Cantrell
505-476-1144

A quiet revolution is taking place around the world led by women artisan cooperatives. Taking the initiative to collectively produce, manage, and market their crafts, they have enriched their lives and become powerful forces in their communities. On July 4, 2010 the Museum of International Folk Art inaugurates its’ “Gallery of Conscience,” a space dedicated to exploring contemporary issues affecting folk art production and consumption.

Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities kicks off the first annual International Folk Arts Week – a week of demonstrations, lectures, folk music, performances, and other programs held in conjunction with the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market running July 9 through July 11, 2010.

Focusing on ten cooperatives that illustrate how the power of such grassroots collaborations transform women’s lives, the exhibit brings together first person quotes, stellar photos, and stunning examples of the cooperatives’ handmade traditional arts to tell stories of how women folk artists are working cooperatively to:

• Preserve and reinvigorate their traditional arts

• Generate steady livelihoods for their families

• Give back to their communities

• Become leaders in public life

• Overcome domestic violence

• Develop literacy programs for themselves and their children

• Heal the traumas of war

• Sustain their natural environments

• Save for the Future

The featured cooperatives are drawn from three continents and ten countries including India, Nepal, Swaziland, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Bolivia, Lao PDR, Peru and Morocco. Featured folk arts include embroidered story cloths, hand dyed sisal baskets, beaded neck collars, hand carded and dyed wool weavings, cultivated bromeliad bags, and folk paintings of village life.

“As the largest folk art museum in the world we have a responsibility to create a forum to discuss current issues that folk artists are facing around the world. This ‘Gallery of Conscience’ will be devoted to the examination of issues that threaten the survival of the traditional arts, bringing them to the attention of our visitors,” says Marsha Bol, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. “We intend to address, over the course of the next few years, such issues as: the ecological implications of the acquisition of materials used in producing folk arts, the impact of political conflict and war on folk arts, and various economic and social issues that threaten to disrupt folk arts. We will also exhibit examples of successful solutions to such circumstances.”

There is a strong connection between this exhibition and the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market which has; “…always [been] a supporter of cooperatives, recognizing their power to bring both cultural and economic sustainability to communities,” said Folk Art Market Director Charlene Cerny, “Most of the cooperatives at the Market involve women.”

When anthropologist Dr. Suzanne Seriff was asked to guest curate an exhibition on women’s artisan cooperatives at the Museum of International Folk Art she had a unique perspective as head of the Folk Art Market’s Selection Committee. Seriff was; “…struck by the large numbers of women's cooperatives applying to the Market, and their incredible stories how working collaboratively changed their lives. In this exhibition I wanted to bring some of these larger stories to the public, to give the women a chance to speak for themselves—in their own words about their work and their lives and how women all over the world are improving their lives, families and communities with the power of cooperatives."

Nicholas Kristof recently wrote in the New York Times how these women’s artisan cooperatives are change agents in the developing world. One Moroccan woman teaches a village to read. An embroideress from Gujarat takes out a loan for the first time at the local bank. A Hutu woman from Rwanda works side by side with a Tutsi to make the peace baskets that are working to heal their war-torn country. In Swaziland, the village women use profits from the sale of their handwoven sisal baskets to feed and educate the hundreds of children in their village orphaned from AIDS. In Bolivia, displaced Ayorean women learn to cultivate the bromiliad plants that were once native to their jungle habitat and from which they weave their native dress and hand dyed bags. Women artisans from all over the world are using the power of artisan cooperatives to reach new markets and transform their lives.

Two representatives from each cooperative featured in the exhibit will participate in a full week of demonstrations, discussions, lectures, and artist-led exhibit tours beginning with a facilitated roundtable discussion with the curator during the opening on July 4, 2010 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. The opening will be hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities runs July 4, 2010 through January 2, 2011.

Press Release: Peace Corps Volunteers Lead Camps for Girls

My Dear Friends,

Just came across a news release about Camp GLOW happening around the world.  As you'll see, every camp has a specific focus or theme, but they all share the same vision of empowering young girls and young women by instilling confidence, providing them with the self-awareness tools to be able to identify the needs of their community, and passing on the information they need so they can be change agents in their community.  It's truly remarkable to see Camp GLOW taking place in so many parts of the globe.  

On Friday, May 27, our Camp GLOW Morocco Planning Committee is meeting to iron out our recruitment strategy, a two-day camp counselor training, and a schedule of camp activities.  It's exciting to see all the pieces of the puzzle come together.  As far as fundraising is concerned, we're still in need of individual donations for the camp.  On June 1, the High Atlas Foundation is planning on sending a report on our balance.  If you're planning on donating, please do so by that date.  If this month is tight, no worries.  Fundraising will continue until the 1st of July.  To do so, simply click: http://www.highatlasfoundation.org/donate (Go to "make secure donation" in the middle).  Afterwards, VERY IMPORTANT, please send a quick email to haf@highatlasfoundation.org to let them know that your donation is for Camp GLOW.  HAF is a U.S. 501c3 nonprofit organization and will send receipts for tax purposes to all donors.  

If you already donated, thank you very much for your support.  If you wish to be kept up to date on the recent developments of the camp, you can subscribe to this blog or join our Facebook Cause: http://www.causes.com/causes/461569

I wanted to leave you with another link. This one is for photos of Camp GLOW 2008:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cerises.sefrou/GLOW?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKogdbj5Y2I8QE&feat=directlink

Thanks once again for your support.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 31, 2010 – Peace Corps volunteers in over 60 posts worldwide are empowering young women by organizing Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) programs that encourage self confidence, challenge campers to think beyond traditional gender roles, and address the unique societal and health issues that young women face in their communities.

Every Camp GLOW empowers young women to embrace leadership roles, develop relevant skills, and aspire to achieve their dreams. Many camps aim to connect girls with successful host country female role models. GLOW Camps also provide a structured environment for cultural exchange, mutual sharing and fun. Individual Camp GLOW programs are unique and allow Peace Corps volunteer organizers to shape the program to addresses the specific challenges that the young women face in their local communities.

The first Camp GLOW was established in 1995 when Peace Corps/Romania volunteers and the Romanian teachers they worked with came together to address the unique challenges that local young women faced.

Over the last 15 years, Peace Corps volunteers worldwide have since seized on the successful Camp GLOW model and implemented their own programs. The following are success stories from five of our posts.

Armenia

Last year, Peace Corps/Armenia volunteers Mari Chiba from Portland, Ore., Grace McSoley from Cranston, R.I., and Cassie Warholm-Wohlenh from Lindstrom, Minn. partnered with a local youth center to organize a Camp GLOW. Dozens of girls from ten different regions participated in the five-day camp. In an effort to expand the camp and allow more girls to attend, the Peace Corps volunteers applied for a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant to raise funds for an eight-day camp with over 50 participants. Click here to read more about, and donate to, the project.

“In Armenia, GLOW Camp is the beginning of a year-long program that continues to support participants after camp to help them develop and mature,” said Chiba. “We publish a newsletter that collects articles from former participants, hold seminars during the year, have a junior counselor program for former participants, and have a small grants program that enables our participants to develop their project management and leadership skills.”

Belize

Over the last two years, Peace Corps/Belize volunteers Olivia Szymanski from Menomonie, Wis., Katie McFarland from Charlotte, N.C. and Virginia Gordon from Hingham, Mass. have helped organize a Camp GLOW. The camp addressed healthy relationships, gender issues, nutrition, body image, self esteem, team leadership, arts, and HIV awareness. Once the four day camp was completed, the girls were encouraged to apply their leadership skills and Camp GLOW programming to create “Club GLOWs” in their local communities when they return home.

Tonga

Peace Corps volunteer Sandra Phillips from Cooperstown, N.Y. worked on two successful Camp GLOW projects during her service in Benin. This year, as a third year extension volunteer in Peace Corps/Tonga, Phillips is organizing a Camp GLOW that will include nearly 250 girls from over four island groups.

"Camp GLOW is by far the most rewarding and inspiring project I have been a part of during my Peace Corps service,” said Phillips. “The transformation of the campers over the course of just one week is incredible to watch and their impact on the communities they return home to is equally amazing.”

Dominican Republic

Last July, 62 young women attended Camp GLOW in the Dominican Republic organized by Peace Corps volunteers Mariel Beasley from Durham, N.C., Alison Driver from Seattle, Wash., and Regina Cruz from Clermont, Fla. The campers were encouraged to become community leaders and role models for other young women. For many of the campers, it was the first time that they had slept in a tent. On the second night, when the tents were washed out by torrential rain, the girls applied the leadership skills they learned and gained confidence in their ability to confront the challenging sleeping situation.

Ukraine

In August 2009, returned Peace Corps volunteer Cindy Divsalar from El Paso, Texas helped organize a Camp GLOW for 35 students in a village in northern Ukraine. The students came together to learn about leadership, human rights, gender equality, and environmental protection. They also enjoyed fun activities like a scavenger hunt, zumba fitness classes, and a “girls night in” themed slumber party with a movie.

“Peace Corps volunteers helped raise my self-esteem, and taught how to protect it and how to believe in myself,” said Olga Korshak, a Ukrainian student who participated in Camp GLOW. “Camp GLOW changed my way of thinking. It helped me understand that each of us is unique and wonderful. After this camp I became more optimistic and self-confident, and I am very grateful to the Peace Corps volunteers for the great opportunity to participate in this camp.”