A letter from Alexandra Buck in Peru
August 2009
Dear Friends,
It’s a hat, a 70-percent alpaca, ruby-red, hand-knit, Peruvian chullo. It’s made by the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Group Tupac Yupanqui, from the high Andes, an hour walk from the closest town in the poorest district of Peru.
We spent a day with Quechua-speaking Lucy and her mom, Juana, as they knit the first of the new products while caring for the children, tending the cow and harvesting beans from their fields.
The first time I met the Group Tupac Yupanqui in Tascana, Huancavelica, was February, two weeks after arriving in Peru. Due to rain and mudslides, we walked four hours at 3,500 meters to visit a group of five artisans. We saw their products: traditional knit scarves, hats, gloves. We talked, in a splendid mix of Spanish and Quechua, about the group dynamics, product development and pricing.
The group was committed to fair trade principles. They wanted an alternative to the companies that enter rural communities, solicit labor, pay inhumane wages, steal designs and administer in an authoritative structure. I wanted to help make this hope a reality for them.
The second time I visited, the sun was shining in April. Inside their workshop/potato storage, two women sat with my colleagues Katie Rains and Jorge Travezaño and me as we explained a series of new products that Katie had developed based on their traditional designs which would be appropriate for export.
Tupac Yupanqui incorporated more neighborhood women into their group in order to complete their big order.
Katie and I returned later that week to check on their progress. Our plan didn’t manifest as we expected: due to lack of orders, the members of the group were participating in a public works project, not knitting. They only finished one of six new products. We were disappointed.
The next weekend in Lima, however, visitors from Huancavelica unexpectedly brought me all the finished products. Seeing the pictures of these products, Bridge of Hope’s partner and client in the United States, Partners for Just Trade, made their first order of alpaca products from Group Tupac Yupanqui.
Another overnight bus to Huancavelica, 10 hours from Lima. The entire Bridge of Hope team, five of us, gave the specifications of the new products to the artisans in a flurry of Spanish, Quechua, and English. There were many details: design, color, sizes, quantity. In a culture where written records aren’t common, one literate artisan struggled to write the details in an old notebook. With patience, we repeated the order, corrected her confusions and waited for her to explain in Quechua so that everyone understood. It took hours. They had six weeks to produce 450 pieces. And they told us they couldn’t do it. It was harvest season, and they were going to be busy. Our hearts sank. Jorge, the Bridge of Hope Program Coordinator, stood up.
You can do it, he said to them, you have to do it. Call for more knitters in the community. Involve your neighbors. Teach them about fair trade. Pay them fairly. This is a challenge for all of us, but we want to help you meet it.
The finished goods, in perfect condition.
I had to trust the potential I saw in the artisans. I had to trust my colleagues to be committed to accompanying them in this whole process. And I had to trust that ultimately, this was in God's hands. Six weeks later a package arrives from Huancavelica: knit gloves, hats and socks. We count. Yes. We check designs, colors, quality. Yes.
Yes! They did it. Harvest season, new designs, doubts, lack of materials, no capital — all are just small annoyances now as we look at a table filled with the tangible success of this group.
This will change their lives not just because of the income, but by working through the fair trade process, these artisans have developed a self-confidence they never had before. They learned to document an order, buy their own materials, manage their time, improve their sizing, set a budget and incorporate their community.
Perhaps it’s just a hat. Perhaps it’s just one group of less than 30 people in a country where more than 44 percent live in extreme poverty. It’s a world where half the world's population live on less than $2.50 a day. But this hat has transformed a community. Now that this group has seen the success and power of working together, completing a goal, standing up for their rights, developing their skills, staying committed, venturing into new arenas and believing in themselves, they’re living with changed consciousness, which they will pass on to their neighbors and children. They've lived an experience of a just exchange, of the global fair trade movement.
This small example illustrates the larger need for humanity within globalization. It is possible to treat people with respect, even in economic transactions. We can all support this vision, whether in our daily interactions, our consumer choices or our political voice. Especially in the United States, we have the opportunity and responsibility to represent our principles through better policy. You can tell your Congressperson to support the new U.S. TRADE Act, which puts criteria of community development, environmental care, labor and human rights, and democracy into all trade acts
Yet many people do not have the opportunity to develop in this same process. By supporting structural change, we can affect greater numbers of people in significant ways. Here in Peru, I must be willing to walk up the mountain and sit with the people who are affected by U.S. policies, listen to their needs, and be creative in finding solutions. Maybe you can’t hike through the Andes, but you can listen to the stories of my fellow mission co-workers who will be visiting PC(USA) churches throughout the United States during World Mission Challenge, September 25 – October 18, 2009, and at World Mission Celebration, October 22–24, 2009, in Cincinnati, Ohio. And wherever you are, you can support our work to make our globalized world one with greater respect, humanity, solidarity, opportunity and justice.
I wear my new hat as Bridge of Hope fair trade facilitator. A beautiful fair trade Peruvian chullo.
Alexandra
