A Cultural Snapshot

Apologies for the long silence. Things were busy with Lindsey and Brian's visit followed by Teresa Krug and Jeff Rothblum's brief tour. I swore I wouldn't do this, but it's not looking like I'm going to have time to sit down and write much about travels with Lindsey and Brian so I think I am just going to direct anyone who is interested to their blog. They've made a lovely start on sharing the highlights of our trip, and I know Lindsey won't rest until they make it through Cusco. www.brianlindseyjungman.blogspot.com. I promise to provide an update of the goings-on of Ñaña as well in the next couple days, but tonight I am going to write a little about Peruvian culture from a more personal perspective in honor of Independence Day celebrations this weekend.

After work Friday evening, I visited one of the knitters, Sebastiana, in her home to have tea. She leaves for Cusco next week ("her land," as she calls it) to visit her parents, and when I declined her invitation to join her on the two-week trip, she invited me over to chat before she left. I was surprised when she told me she had invited me because she wanted to tell me her story and share the customs she grew up with in Cusco. She spread out a pile of photos on the table: pictures of her with her three sisters and brother harvesting potatoes; another of an open expanse of land against a blue sky; others of her dressed in beautifully colored dresses for carnaval. Using the pictures, she began to tell the story of her life, which is the story of many in Peru (I'm afraid I don't have the pictures with me now, but I am hoping to scan them when she returns so I can share them with you. For now, please use your imagination).

As I've written before, nearly all of the knitters came to Arequipa from neighboring rural departments (more or less the equivalent of a state). Many came when they were young, leaving their families behind to look for jobs as empleadas (housekeepers or childcare providers). Others came with their families in search of better medical care or education. All of them brought strong and varied traditions from their respective regions—music, dances, clothing, food—but also left much behind.

Sebastiana, one of the younger members of Ñaña, first came on her own from Cusco when she was just eight years old. She found work in Arequipa taking care of the children of various families to help support her own family. Whenever possible, she returned to Cusco and the land where her family tended sheep and alpaca and grew potatoes in the mountains. The home in her photos was made of adobe, the roof thatched with icchu, which is the same grass eaten by alpaca to give them their special insular wool.

Photos of the open expanse of land reminded me of Iowa, but she explained that the lush green only appeared during the rainy season. In the dry season, life was hard, and in years when it extended longer into the next season the alpaca and sheep often died and money was not sufficient to support five children. This is why she first began working in Arequipa.

The alpaca, the gentle relative of the llama, whose warm, soft wool is used by the knitters of Ñaña (the Colca Canyon posting in Brian and Lindsey's blog has photos), is central to the culture of the Andes. Sebastiana pointed to perhaps a fortunately blurry photo of herself bent over an alpaca, holding a knife and smiling for the camera. She shrugged and made a cutting motion across her neck. As important as the wool is in knitting their clothing, the meat and skin of the alpaca are of equal importance, and their death a fact of life. Whatever was left after her own family's use was sold to others in their town.

Mixed in with the other photos were several of carnaval, a celebration brought by the Spanish which takes place in February, about 40 days before Easter. In many of the photos she is dressed in a beautiful dress and hat with multi-colored braids spilling over her shoulders. She explained that the braids are special to the Cusco celebration. During the celebration everyone from the nearby town gets together to dance the tupay, a traditional dance which she has passed on to her own daughters. They make an offering of a single potato to Pachamama, Mother Earth, a ritual called "paying the earth." As this celebration shows, religion in Peru is highly syncretic, which means that indigenous religious traditions have blended with the Catholicism practiced by 90% of the Peruvian population to form a very distinctive mix. Thus, what began as a Spanish celebration related to Lent is now also an occasion to make offerings to the Pachamama.

Then she pointed to two photos, one of herself in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, the other a younger version in a brightly colored sweater and skirt with thick woolen leggings. "This is what I wore when I first got here," she explained, pointing to the skirt and leggings. "I didn't have the more modern clothes that they wear in the city, but bit by bit I changed and eventually left the other clothes at home in Cusco." I asked her if she still wears the clothes she grew up with when she returns home, and she laughed saying that she puts them on first thing after she arrives each time.

Language is another aspect of life that is often left behind. There are many indigenous languages still spoken in Peru, but the most prevalent is Quechua, the official language used by the Incas to rule various tribal groups. This was the language Sebastiana spoke exclusively until she was 8 years old and came to Arequipa. At that time she was forced to learn Spanish without ever learning to read and write in Quechua. In the city, she would sometimes speak in Quechua, but stopped because people seemed to look at her suspiciously. She still speaks it with her parents when she returns home, as they never learned Spanish, but her daughters know only enough to understand what is said, not to respond. As she told me this, she wondered aloud what would happen to her culture if Quechua died out. For example, the words they use in their offerings to Pachamama are Quechua and would lose their meaning translated to Spanish.

She told me at the end of our visit how happy she was to have finally shared her story with someone. Surprised, I asked if she had ever told the other knitters what she had just finished telling me. She responded that they all have pretty much the same story, so they don't really see much point in sharing with each other their lives before they began working in the workshop.

“I have suffered a lot in my life, but there have also been a lot of wonderful times.”

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.

Not a lot to report just yet, but I thought I'd get a good start and post now before I get too overwhelmed.

I arrived in Arequipa early Saturday morning after another long overnight at the Lima airport. Luckily, all of my luggage arrived without any problems (no small feat these days), and Max and Roxana, my host parents the past two visits who have welcomed me again this summer, were waiting at the airport to bring me home.

I'd been pretty anxious in the days leading up to the trip because opportunities for Spanish conversation had been extremely limited and I didn't know what to expect once I found myself immersed once again. It's still very up and down, but for the most part much better than I'd expected.

This morning I was able to go up to Alto Cayma to visit the knitters, and it was wonderful. They are doing really well, although a lot of changes have occurred. We'd been communicating by email while I was gone, but I wasn't at all sure what I would find when I returned as surprises are always popping up. Things seem to be running as smoothly as ever, though, and the women are in good spirits and ready to get started on our next project. One of the most exciting developments was that they recently completed classes sponsored by a local governmental organization dedicated to women and development. As soon as they finished telling me how pale and skinny I am these days, they got down to business showing me all of the new designs and techniques they've taken from their classes, along with newly-purchased mannequins and display cases. Things are moving along well.

And finally, the pitch. We are very much in catalog limbo right now, with several versions floating around and the website still in the works, but if you'd like to place an order you can go to my flickr page for a fairly complete version (http://www.flickr.com/photos/efifield26/). The knitters are chomping at the bit to get going on new orders, so please email me if you'd like to purchase anything (or if you have any questions about the products). If you get your orders in soon, there is a good chance we will be able to send them back with Lindsey and Brian in mid-July after their visit. Otherwise, I will bring them with me at the end of August.

All right. That's all for now, but I am hoping to keep this updated more regularly so that I don't fall so far behind. I hope all is well wherever you are. Take care.