The new tallit on the loom.

The weavers from Agua Caliente are really excited.  They're excited because their new looms have been installed which they purchased, in part, using a MayaWorks microcredit loan.  MayaWorks also provided some grant funds to help the women with the purchase.

With these looms, the weavers will create a new product [...]

Eufemia and her daughter in their home in Agua Caliente.

I just returned from a visit to our artisans in Guatemala and, as always, I feel renewed by their stories.  It’s incredibly inspiring to learn about the trials and tribulations of the women and how they overcome adversity. Take, for instance, the story of Eufemia.
Eufemia’s [...]

María Arcadia is an example of the power of a successful microcredit project.  With her first MayaWorks' microcredit loan, she purchased a cow and sold milk to the members of her small community of Agua Caliente.  That was in 2010. María Arcadia still has the cow and is still providing milk for her village but, just [...]

Weaving clerical stoles creates steady income for Maya women of Santiago.

MayaWorks’ fair trade clerical stoles are hand woven by indigenous Tz’utujil artisans of Panabaj Santiago along the majestic shores of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.  Fifteen artisans have been perfecting their liturgical stoles on treadle foot looms since 1970 when Catholic priest, Stanley Rother, encouraged [...]

We are wrapping up the school year here in Rhode Island and it’s hard to gauge whether students or teachers are happiest about that fact! The end-of–the-year is happy chaos, but I always try to take time to reflect with my students on what they have learned throughout the year.  Students in our seventh grade [...]

MayaWorks Spring Newsletter

Mother’s Day is this weekend and I am lucky enough to be flying to visit my own mom. We will take a walk, have brunch, linger over coffee. We will reminisce about my growing up and I will surely solicit advice on the raising of my own three kids. It will be lovely and we will [...]

Tricia Kelly's Spanish students host a MayaWorks sale to hone their budding language skills while learning about the impact of fair trade on the developing world.

Do you remember your middle school or high school Spanish classes? If they were anything like mine, you were reading old textbook stories about Pablo and his family in [...]

MayaWorks provides daughters of artisans scholarships to help defray the cost of school attendance. Although education in Guatemala is free, parents must pay a registration fee, purchase school supplies and cover transportation expenses to get their children back and forth to school. In many of the communities where MayaWorks operates, children cannot attend school beyond the [...]