(Note: Diego Chavez is an artist, community leader and MayaWorks group leader in Santiago Atitlan.)

Following up with Santiago Atitlan:  I have attached a rough draft of the summary of the needs of the artisans in Santiago Atitlan that I heard about when conducting the interviews. (see below)

I spoke with don Diego yesterday and he spoke to me about the needs of the artisans, he will be able to have a more “real” (or accurate) idea of the needs after next week since the families with then move to their new homes.

There are other organizations/institutions that are helping the victims. For example, in the interview with the women they said they did not have any clothing, but now the majority of them do.

Don Diego’s suggestion is to bring all the kitchen utensils and conduct another round of interviews and see if the artisans have the same needs, if they have changed, or if there are new needs.  

Don Diego has taken responsibility for the construction of the 16 looms for the artisans so they can work. 

In order to follow-up with this I am considering traveling next week to Santiago Atitlan to bring the kitchen utensils and bring the 50% upfront payment for the 16 looms to Don Diego that he will finísh in 1.5 months.  I will also conduct a second round of interviews with the artisans.

Written by: Mirian Otzín

October 26, 2005