Here is a video of the women’s cooperative, a group of women from Banado Norte who make crochet and are paid for their work.
The women have named the brand of jewellery “Jeguaka”, which means “jewellery” in the indigenous language of Paraguay “Guarani”. All of the funds from the sale of these crafts go directly back to the women who made them.
If you are interested in purchasing some handicrafts made by these women, please get in contact with us!
In the North of Asuncion, near the river, there lies a small urban community called Banado Norte, which some people refer to as a favela, a slum, a barrio, or a shanty town.
For six months, this was my home. A small school community called ‘Fe y Alegria Caacupemi’ lies at the end of the road, just 300 metres from the river. A house to the side of the school is where the teachers and volunteers live; a fulltime vocation of teaching and being with the community.
Paraguay is a poor country, one of South America’s poorest, and it frequently features in the top ten most corrupt countries in the World Corruption Index.
Privilege in this country is inherited, or gained through corruption. There is little opportunity for the indigenous Guarani who come to the city in search of a better life to better their situation.
Only one in ten people in Banado Norte are formally employed. Others work as ‘recyclers’, gathering rubbish to sort and resell. Banado Norte is a bilingual community, Spanish and Guarani and a mix of the two are spoken by most of the people, and the schools teach in both tongues.
My work here in this community of Banado Norte was to start a small summer project for kids, to give them an opportunity to learn music, art, drama and English during their summer holidays. Throughout a two month period, I spend 6 hours each day with the kids – kids aged from 3 right through 18 at times. We started with a nativity play, and painted murals. We decorated the walls of the school with a mural of the community. We wrote songs together, and attempt to get guitars for the kids. We ended up with 8 guitars just a week before the program ended, but, it was better than nothing.
There is nothing groundbreaking or particularly inspiring about spending a few months in a community when you know you can come home at the end of it. These people live this life each day, and the most inspiring people I’ve met are those who literally lay down their lives for their people. I met doctors, journalists, priests, teachers and shop owners who were sharing their lives in an evangelical way.
Now, since returning, I have established a small NGO called Movinghearts, which is a fundraising organisation from which all funds go toward development projects. So far, we have managed to fund a young student to study at University, and he is now in his second year of journalism studies, a radio program and a women’s cooperative.
This is very much like the scripture theme from today. We are a small NGO, which was established from a very grass roots place. It was established when I returned to Australia penniless, and began to make handmade cards to sell in Catholic parishes and to friends to raise money for future projects. Since then, I have recorded a CD which has funded a university scholarship and established with the women of Banado Norte a cooperative – and they do the craft work which is then sold for a fair price in Australia. In many ways, this is an effort, something small that the Lord has blessed. Suddenly, after years of effort and after years of poverty, hunger and need – people are able to live with some dignity.
