Sumak Muyo

I mentioned yesterday that my gringa friends Tiffany and Mary lived and worked and studied in an indigenous village called La Calera near Cotacachi. One of their projects that they've been working on is helping the local women's group, called Sumak Muyo ("Great Seed" in Kichwa), with the commercialization of their handmade jewelry pieces. The women in the group are mainly indigenous women, and most of them use the income from their jewelry sales to add a little extra income for their families. Their jewelry uses sustainably harvested palm nuts and seeds from the Ecuadorian Amazon, and all of the profits go directly to the women. I think this is such a cool idea- especially in traditionally machista indigenous communities, it's important for women to have a space together, to contribute to their family incomes, and to support each other in solidarity.

Tiffany and Mary have been working with the women by trying to help them reach a broader, more international audience. Their pieces are truly spectacular, and they can fetch better prices abroad than they can in Ecuador. If you're interested in buying some of their jewelry or just looking at their work, click on this link to check out their Etsy profile page and browse through the jewelry shown on the right. If you're on Facebook, you can help them out by "liking" their page on Facebook, called Sumak Muyo.

Let me know what you think! I'm sure the ladies of Sumak Muyo would love to hear your thoughts, even if you don't buy anything now. I bought the Mishary necklace and I really love it. Happy browsing!