Initiative

	Parents and kids come to the warehouse to pick up their bikes

Las Rosas de Concepcion is an initiative to help   Mayan womens cooperatives in Concepcion Chiquirichapa, Guatemala, design products and find markets for them.

The women of the cooperatives are true artists, who have a tradition of making beautiful embroidered “typical” outfits. Their signature is roses. Thus the name: Las Rosas de Concepcion. The roses of Concepcion.

Under the leadership of Ms. Telma Juarez Mendez who works for the Guatemalan non profit called CADISOGUA- which is an umbrella organization for development associations in South West Guatemala, working primarily with the Maya of this region-  this transnational project has emerged.

Ms. Telma Juarez Mendez has participated in all of the workshops in Xela, Guatemala offered by the Israeli nonprofit, The Center for International Migration and Integration-CIMI. For more information on these workshops please visit www.cimi.org.il and www.consulhonorariaguatemala.com. The idea behind the workshops was to engage Guatemalans that live in the United States (the Diaspora) to promote transnational development projects in Guatemala with Guatemalan counterparts.

It is in the first workshop, that Honorary Consul of Guatemala in Palm Beach County, Aileen Josephs, met Ms. Telma Juarez Mendez and was impressed by her work with CADISOGUA and her portfolio of eight Maya womens cooperatives. (click for more information on CADISOGUA).

Telma explained her work and in particular the need the women have to design products that would sell in the U.S. or other countries.  This is where the bridges that are created with the movements of people began  to emerge. Aileen Josephs, an immigration attorney who has worked in Palm Beach county for 19 years with the Guatemalan population and is now Honorary Consul of Guatemala in Palm Beach County, reached out to a friend, boutique owner and designer, Ms. Kristina Saltzman to see if she would be interested to travel to Guatemala and visit the women’s cooperatives to see their products and help them design products that would sell in the USA and other markets.

On July 2009, Kristina Saltzman, owner of Native Sun boutique in Delray Beach, Florida travelled to Guatemala with Aileen Josephs to meet Telma Juarez Mendez and the  talented women of these cooperatives in Concepcion Chiquirichapa, a municipality in the Quetzaltenango Department of Guatemala. This municipality is part of 81 municipalities in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. The women awaited Kristina with their embroideries and Telma translated from Mam to Spanish for Aileen who then translated to English for  Kristina. Kristina went to work right away, fell in love with the women, their art, their talent and with gestures, smiles and  laughter- the magic began. Kristina designed bracelets, bags and necklaces and the first shipment showed us the great potential. (click for photos of this visit).

The idea is to create employment for these talented women, many of whom do not know how to read and write and have no potable water. The main goal is to help create markets for the goods they make in this distant community in the highlands, so that their children are not forced to migrate and risk all, including their lives. The vision is to create a community that is self sustaining. The hope is that with the money made by their hard work in making this beautiful jewelry and bags, they can invest for the well being of their families as well as their greater community. They can build a needed school and pay needed teachers. They can engage nongovernmental organizations to provide them with potable water. Together we are planting the seeds so that the next generation does not live in the extreme poverty that many of these beautiful, talented women and their children endure today.

Your purchase of this jewelry and bags will create great opportunities in an area of the world in great need. You can purchase them for yourself or you can ask us about wholesale prices and sell them at a profit for yourself. Women helping women. Join us in this initiative as we together seek to help one village at a time.