Adding to basket
The bright, colorful traditional textiles of indigenous Guatemalan ladies are considered to be among the most beautiful in the world. They are made by talented weavers on backstrap and floor looms, as well as seamstresses who sew on sewing machines or embroider by hand. This is what a 31-year-old Maya K’iche woman named Izabel does in her two businesses.
She sews, does alterations, and also makes and sells pretty, traditional clothing. Izabel is married and the mother of 2 children (ages 7 and 10) who are enrolled in school. She is requesting her first Kiva loan to buy more pieces of traditional clothing like woven skirts or “cortes” and blouses or “huipiles.” She shares, “I feel like an accomplished woman because in the morning I can go to a nearby school and in the afternoons, I can work at my businesses.”
Izabel is one of seven Maya K’iche ladies in the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Nanzal de Tzampoj” in the department/state of Solola. Most of the women have no formal education. Izabel is the exception because she attends a university.
The ladies look forward to their monthly meetings when they make loan payments and then participate in educational trainings that cover an aspect of 4 subjects: business, health, family, and women. They apply their newly acquired business management skills to their poultry and textile businesses.
Izabel and her friends in the Trust Bank send their gratitude to Kiva investors for their much-needed and appreciated loans! They are opening doors to a brighter future!
In this group: Micaela , Catarina Ixquiactap , Manuela , Catarina , Maria , Marta Gregoria , Izabel
