Ñaña update

As I wrote in my previous posting, I had no idea what I would find when I went up to the Ñaña workshop last week after having been away for almost a year. I had been communicating with the knitters through email and the occasional phone call (their missed calls always registered as unavailable, but I could tell it was them from the whispering and muffled "Emli?" left on my answering machine each time before an abrupt hangup). However, I didn't have a very clear picture of what was going on.

Betsi, the knitter who just opened her own store, was previously the instructor of the group and left unexpectedly due to cuts in funding shortly after I left. I was really worried about this, because she had the most experience of all the women in the group, and I didn't know what it would do to morale or their progress learning new techniques. Then I heard from them in early June that they had just finished classes. How long? With whom? No response. Andrea, the knitter who is now heading things up, also mentioned in passing during a brief phone call that she had been to Lima for PeruModa, a national fashion exhibition. I couldn't get many details out of her other than how much she had liked it.

It turns out that both the classes and PeruModa were part of a program put on for the women of Ñaña by FONCODES, a governmental organization dedicated to women and development. The classes covered not only knitting techniques, but costs and prices, group organization, and color and design trends. On top of this, I found out that the priest in Alto Cayma is now encouraging them to move towards being more self-sustaining and independent. I could not be happier.

So now the question is -- what needs to be done in the next 7 weeks to help them continue moving towards this goal? We've decided to pare down our inventory for the online catalog so we can focus on perfecting the items that will appear-- assigning codes, selecting colors, setting measurements, etc. -- so everyone is on the same page and we are not spread so thin trying to keep a million different products straight. I am also working with two new knitters, who are younger and have some experience with computers, familiarizing them with Skype, Excel and Word so they can keep track of orders, designs, inventory, etc. I don't really have any background in this area, so I am now busily trying to read up on finances and accounting so we can figure out a system that works for them. Luckily, my host dad studied business in college, so he has loads of books and experience to contribute to the process.

In addition, we are starting up our weekly meetings again, this time with a twist. Before leaving Iowa, I was invited by Randy Gabrielse of Ames to attend a Beyond Welfare supper and meeting to see a different model of community. The principles and format of the meeting really impressed me, and I offered them to the ladies this last week as an option for our own meetings.

Specifically, we will try to switch leadership each meeting to give women who aren't used to speaking up or leading a group the opportunity to try it and develop their own leadership skills. We'll start each meeting by going around the circle and sharing something good/new in our lives with the community as a way to foster a positive outlook and learn more about what is going on in the lives of fellow community members. There will also be an opportunity for each member to make requests for specific needs and wants, encouraging the women to continue to look to one another for support and giving them the opportunity to help one another. And finally, the meeting is closed with everyone taking the time to thank the people around them--for coming, for helping them out during the past week, etc. The goal is to help them become a more self-reliant community in which they turn to one another for support rather than depending on outsiders and are better able to appreciate one another and themselves.

It's a lot to get started on before the end of August, but I am encouraged that we are already far ahead of where we were when we started working together last spring. As always, it's a step. Poco a poco.