Building resilience for the Qom artisans

The Native Cultural Committee of Carandillas artisans, is led by Mrs. Mirian, a 37-year-old woman, mother of a family, she is dedicated to the production of handicrafts independently in her community, she lives in the company of the hill district of Benjamín Aceval, in the Ngalec Qom indigenous community of the Chaqueños Rio Verde group at km 48 of the Transchaco route, Mirian with a very open mind wants to contribute to the development of her community and help her neighbors, also artisans, to be visible, so she decided to form a committee with them because she saw the need to group them so that they are recognized as such since with the strength of the group it will be possible to get more opportunities in local public institutions, apart from this the market shortages that are suffering from the pandemic at this time, since Several artisans commented that they have products that are spoiling due to lack of sales, on April 7, 2021, she called a assembly to form its team and with the presence of the community leader Mr. Felix, whose objective was defined as: request the support and accompaniment for the strengthening of the artisans to the institutions or closest entities to carry out the different activities that we are going to initiate as a group, the minutes are drawn up, the committee currently has 72 female members of different ages from 15 years to 67 years of age who work in this area, the work of the youngest artisans stands out, their work is with the best quality.

The committee is in the process of being recognized and formalized at the district level, one of the difficulties that the group suffered was financial problems to manage its documents, necessary requirements to present to request its formalization. Mirian managed from her pocket to speed things up, but in conversation with the members, they planned to carry out activities for the expenses that are going to be presented, they still do not have their recognition but all the documents and requests have already been presented to the Municipality, they yearn to be legally recognized, after obtaining their resolution of confirmation they intend to follow the processes to request the legal invoice of the committee, is essential for the group.

The artisans have great potential and skill in making their crafts. Handicrafts represent the cultural legacy of the ancestors of the Qom people, the Rio Verde community is characterized by making handicrafts through natural plants extracted from the mountains, such as carandilla, karanda'y that are used for making basketry; and the Leucaena seed-based necklaces, earrings, bracelets, purses provided by the trees of the same community.