Economic Growth Peru Project #12229

Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon

by Center for Amazon Community Ecology

Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon

Project Report | Feb 8, 2023
Reflections from Yully - Amazon Ecology Program Coordinator

By Yully Rojas, Tulio Davila, and Campbell Plowden | Amazon Ecology Project Team

Yully started working with the Center for Amazon Community Ecology in 2009 and soon became our field and program coordinator. She has done or helped coordinate every major activity in the forest and communities we have been involved with including research on copal resin, producing essential oil from rosewood leaves, planting chambira palm trees, helping artisans make and sell better quality handicrafts, and leading non-violent communication workshops. She has always been willing to get her hands dirty or her body wet, keep working at a task until it is done, seek creative solutions to tough problems, and deal with her colleagues and our partners with honesty, compassion, and respect. After organizing multiple deliveries of food and medicines to partner villages during the peak of the pandemic, she got very sick from COVID, and then got back to work. As she approaches her 14^th year with Amazon Ecology, Tulio asked her to share some of her background and reflections on her work with us in the Peruvian Amazon.

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I remember that I met Campbell who was the director of an NGO called CECAMA (Amazon Ecology’s short name in Peru) in July 2009. He was looking for someone to join him to survey the resin on copal trees, and my partner Victor put him in touch with me. I had just returned from a trip as a field assistant to Norwegian students studying aguaje palm forest ecology. When he invited me to participate, I didn't hesitate since the trip involved going to a few native communities along the Ampiyacu River. It would be a great chance to get to know those communities and their people.

While I was studying nursing before college, I had my first contacts with people in rural communities. I began to listen to their stories, and my interest in Amazonian communities was born. I realized that technical nursing was not for me. I wanted to be in the field in communities where I could interact with the people. When I was 26, I decided I needed to study something relevant. I couldn’t afford a private university so my only option was to go to the National University of the Peruvian Amazon (UNAP) – the public university in Iquitos. My first choice was to study anthropology, but since UNAP didn’t have this program, I pursued a degree in Agronomy.

Another wonderful experience was having my first daughter. I had to stop my studies for a while, but when I came back, I gave them everything. I started making trips as an assistant for foreign students. I got some field experience, but I still lacked what I most wanted - the chance to get to know Amazonian people.

This brings me back to my first trip with CECAMA.

I made my first trip (and every trip since then) to the Ampiyacu by boat. I had time to talk with Dr. Campbell. I learned he had a PhD in Ecology so I call him “doctor” to this day. In those five days, I met Bora and Huitoto native residents from communities of Puca Urquillo and Brillo Nuevo. We looked for copal trees and resin in the forest, and I saw women artisans do phenomenal things with chambira palm fiber. These experiences inspired me. I said to myself - I want to do this, either with CECAMA, another institution or on my own. I really want this. I want to dedicate myself to this.

I had to wait a few months before Dr. Campbell offered me a job with CECAMA, but I accepted immediately.

I then moved on to another stage of my life of learning hand in hand with artisans. I learned about their family relationships, their economic problems, their daily difficulties, their dreams, and their longings. I learned and trained. I became an expert in craftsmanship. I can now identify and tell an artisan about the small details that make the difference between a craft which is OK and a really well-made one even although after many years I can still barely weave a little bird. I dedicated myself to gaining the artisans' trust and earned it by being honest and always letting them meet the real me without masks and all of my imperfections. Communities became my second home, and artisans became my second family. I have accompanied them all of these years and witnessed how much they have improved. There were very few male artisans in the early years, because they said that making crafts was an activity for women, but as they’ve seen the potential of craft-making grow over time, more men have changed their attitude and now openly dedicate themselves to this art. I have also witnessed how many women have become more empowered, become leaders in their communities, and have stronger visions of a better future for their children. I am excited just to contemplate these changes.

I now have 51 years on my life’s path with almost 14 years on this part of my journey that continues. I look back and see Yully who met Dr. Campbell in 2009, and I would like to tell him that he made the right decision.

Yully and Campbell Plowden in the forest

Yully and Angel examining copal resin lumps

Yully and Beder measuring chambira palm leaves

Yully doing GPS training in Brillo Nuevo

Yully reviewing crafts with Bora artisans

$Yully explaining fractions at artisan workshop$

Yully explaining fractions at artisan workshop

Yully helping Nicolas at computer workshop

Yully reviewing bird ornaments at artisan workshop

Yully and Marianela at Amazon Ecology office

Yully paddling disabled motor boat with floorboard

Yully enjoying fresh pinneapple in a partner field

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Oct 18, 2022
Creating better ways to make birds and butterflies

By Campbell Plowden | Project Leader and Executive Director

Over the past five years, some very talented artisan partners have steadily made more and more beautiful and life-like bird and butterfly ornaments with chambira palm fiber. Our experienced facilitators have also been increasingly successful at showing other artisans how to make these ornaments at our workshops. We have had a hard time, however, getting large numbers of these ornaments for sale.

One of the main reasons for this shortage is that it takes a lot of time for even a good artisan to make one of these woven animals really well. While more artisans can now make these top-quality crafts, some choose not to because other buyers will pay more for the same kinds of crafts made more quickly with less attention to the details. Even our “rejects” are much better than the mediocre animal ornaments found in the souvenir shops in Iquitos.

We are trying to charge more for our premium quality crafts to incentivize the artisans to do their best work. This may work to some extent, but even socially conscious buyers have a limit to what they are willing to pay for a fair trade ornament. Fortunately, we are developing three new techniques with artisan partners to make their ornaments with greater efficiently, quality and consistency.

Artisans usually use a woven sample or photo as a reference to make a bird by themselves from start to finish. In a workshop, a facilitator provides some guidance for this process, but even artisans working together often produce a variety of shapes, sizes and styles. In the past month, we used a local version of an “assembly line” or "chain" process at two workshops to make four kinds of birds. We first tested this method at Brillo Nuevo where our facilitator Pablo organized six artisans to make a batch of Atlantic puffin ornaments. Two of them made six equal bodies and heads while their teammates cut and bent wires to make sets of wings, tails, and feet. Once the main pieces were put together, individual artisans took over filling in the details under Pablo’s guidance.

The experiment was successful. The group produced six puffins with higher quality and consistent design in much less time than it would have taken each person to do their own. It also allowed one less-skilled artisan to make an important contribution to the group instead of floundering on her own. To be sure, this method requires good cooperation, coordination and appropriate division of tasks to function well. The participants, however, all felt very good about their collective effort and results.

We repeated the process at the next workshop in Amazonas where small groups made woven ornaments of purple gallinules, kestrels and orange-breasted falcons. Pablo showed three other facilitators how to use the “chain” process, and they all found it helped their groups make their bird ornaments in less time than their usual individual method.

****

Seven years ago, our artisan partner Doilith placed real butterflies on tracing paper to outline the wings and colorful patches. She used these lines to shape the wire perimeter of the body and embroider the interior. This method worked well, but it still took a fair amount of time to draw these patterns for a few dozen butterflies in one order. Last month, we used Doilith’s drawings to make a rubber stamp for each set of wings for each butterfly she makes. In one hour, she and a helper used these stamps and an ink pad to create templates for over 200 butterflies – a task that would have taken an entire day by hand. At both workshops, Doilith easily showed young artisans how to cut out the shape of each wing on the butterfly they were making and use it to make a high-quality craft.

Doilith’s innovation in progress is weaving a long solid strip of chambira fiber. She will neatly fit a series of wing templates on this strip and cut them out. This process will then provide a tightly woven background for each wing and just leave the task of embroidering the colored patches and accents. This process could be a game changer for artisans who would like to make butterflies to sell. While it may not be worth their time to make one butterfly per day, it would definitely be worth it to make five or six.

It’s exciting to see our artisan partners applying their imagination and talents to increase the productivity of their process as well as the quality of their crafts. Seeing an artisan making one craft at a time in their home alone has some poetic appeal, but very few artisans have so far been able to use their skills to do more than buy some basic things for their children attending the primary school in the village. We want to make it possible for dedicated artisans to send their children to a technical school or college if they want.

Wesceslao showing orange breasted falcon ornament

Blue crowned mot mot bird ornaments

Amazonas artisan Joddy with a Papilio butterfly

Puffin ornaments made with chambira palm fiber

Rubber stamp templates for making butterfly wings

Doilith showing Bora artisan to weave a butterfly

Maria from Brillo Nuevo with two woven butterflies

Marisela from San Francisco with purple gallinule

Purple gallinule chambira palm fiber ornament

Orange breasted falcon photo and chambira ornament

Misael and kestrel chambira palm fiber ornament

Marianela making bird ornament at workshop

Chambira fiber strip with butterfly wing templates

Edson making chambira bird ornament at workshop

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Jul 19, 2022
What a skill-sharing workshop means to an artisan

By Tulio Davila & Campbell Plowden | Communications Coordinator & Project Leader

WHAT A SKILL-SHARING WORKSHOP MEANS TO AN ARTISAN

One of the core activities that Amazon Ecology does in Peru is host skill-sharing workshops so artisans learn to make new kinds of crafts they can sell directly to tourists who visit their villages and expand their opportunities to sell more crafts to us and other wholesale buyers. After putting these workshops on hold for almost two years during the peak of the COVID pandemic, we have been organizing these sessions again in the Ampiyacu and Marañon River regions. Last month we conducted workshops in the villages of Brillo Nuevo, Puca Urquillo, and San Francisco where participants could learn to make a monarch butterfly, morpho butterfly or two birds which collectively included the great blue heron, blue crowned mot mot, peregrine falcon and the chickadee. The lead facilitators were our veteran trainers Edson, Pablo and Doilith with other experienced artisans from the communities taking one-day turns as apprentice facilitators.

Below are comments from two participants and one apprentice expressing what their workshop meant to them.

Magaly

“It is always interesting to try to make new crafts. I am used to making birds, bags and sometimes placemats, but I rarely try to make new models. In this workshop I was encouraged to make butterflies, and I think I did alright. The teacher Doilith explained things well. She was patient and attentive. I appreciated she was an artisan woman like me with concerns like mine. She does the best she can for her children to fight for her family to meet their daily needs. I was able to speak with her, learn from her and get to know her a bit. I liked that. I liked finding that we had so much in common. The three days of the workshop flew by, and in the end making my butterflies was a great experience. Thank you for that chance.”

Jhony

In my workshop I had the opportunity to be an assistant teacher for a day. It was interesting because I don't have many chances to teach what little I know about making crafts. I also felt a little pressured because I was surrounded by artisans who have a lot of skill, so I put forward my best effort. I approached each person in the group, tried to explain what to do, tried to be understood, and helped when they asked me for help. All in all, it felt good. It was a good experience to learn about myself and my ability which gave me more confidence.

Pilar

“I think my skills making birds are improving. The quality is improving, and I know it can be better still. That's what I try. I want to be able to make very pretty crafts that anyone who sees them will admire. Nobody forces me to come to these workshops. I come because I want to learn and see how my fellow artisans work. I want teachers to tell me how I can do better. By the end I want to have made a craft that I like very much. Then, when I offer these crafts to sell, there will be a better chance that someone will buy them. This is my work. I feel proud of what I made.”

Thank you very much for your support for our work to empower traditional artisans from the Peruvian Amazon, build resilient forests and strengthen their communities. We would very much appreciate any additional gift you can make to our project this Wednesday, July 20.

Wednesday, July 20 is a special Bonus Day with GlobalGiving when your gift could be amplified by other generous donors. Starting at 9 am (EDT), donations made to our page on the GlobalGiving platform from $100 to $499 will receive a 30% match; donations from $500 to $749 will receive a 40% match, and donations from $750 to $1000 will receive a 50% match. Matching funds will be available until midnight or until they are used up.

Thank you very much for your support.

Doilith teaching artisan to make a woven butterfly

Bora artisan Zafira with woven monarch butterfly

Bora artisan with woven blue morpho butterfly

Apprentice facilitator Jhoni at San Francisco

Artisan at San Francisco with great blue heron

Huitoto artisan Nicolas with puffin ornament

Huitoto artisan with peregrine falcon ornament

Monarch butterfly woven with chambira palm fiber

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