We were invited to participate in the annual artesan craft fair in Chetumal from the 24-27th of April!  We sold mostly braclets, 2 hammocks, and 1 bag but it was worth it because "algo es algo!" = "something is something!" 

Our new strategy is to operate on a "by-order basis" and increase sales over the internet.  You can help!  Tell a friend about our web page and spread the word!  

Dios les bendiga! 

GRACIAS A DIOS...Thanks be to God, He brought us safe to and from "Expo Playa" in Playa del Carmen.  There were some sales, few, but as I told the women, "something is something"!

"Expo Playa" brought artesans from all over the Yucatan Peninsula together for 

4 days of exhibition in the center park next to the beach, in the heart of the tourist district.  There were wood carvings, shell jewlery, embroidered huipiles and homemade salsas! 

Catarina, Maria and I spent 26 hours attending the Threads of Hope stand and brought in $370 pesos in sales distributed among 6 women artesans of the cooperative.  Although the monetary benefit was somewhat of a dissapointment, there were additional benefits; Catarina and Maria experienced first hand how to set up and direct a sale and they witnessed how difficult the market is, as most people like to look over the merchandise but not many actually buy.  Also contributing to the low sales was the fact that not many tourists entered the tent where the expo was housed, but were instead lured by the vendors who line the main street with established souvenir shops.  It saddens me to think that most would prefer to buy these cheap knock-offs of Mexican crafts, probably made in factories in the US and China, instead of buying an original hand-made craft, a true expression of the culture and an investment into the lives of the local people.

However, we were able to hand-out pamphlets in Spanish and English with information about Threads of Hope and our new website, which we believe will produce fruit in the long-run!

God also blessed us greatly by providing shelter in a local church and we slept peacefully swinging in our hammocks!  And MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS to James and Beverly Rackley who lent us their mini-van to drive to Playa del Carmen!  The Rackleys are missionaries in Bacalar, and my new best friends!  They run the Oasis Center, which holds training conferences for local pastors and children´s workers.  I have enjoyed working with them these past several months and am so thankful for their partnership with Threads of Hope!

Thanks for your prayers...keep 'em comin'...and keep checkin' our website for new photos and stories! 

PEACE in the name of JESUS CHRIST.

Maria hurries out from her thatch hut to greet her American visitor; beaming with a wide, heartfelt smile that displays the elaborate silver fillings decorating her teeth.  She is, first and foremost, a woman and simultaneously a mother.  She is a Maya mother living in the village of San Isidro in the low-lying jungle of Quintana Roo, Mexico.  The village was settled in the early 80s by Guatemala Maya refugees fleeing the bloody civil war in their own country.  There Maria and her family live and work and breathe their days.  Her voice is quiet and calm as she invites the visitor into her home; and the posse of barefoot, giggling children run into the smoky, dark hut ahead of her.  In addition to being a loving mother, Maria is a patient wife, a master cook and cleaner, a seamstress for her family, a human mule that carries heavy loads of firewood, a keeper of honey bees, a harvester of the corn crop, and…she is an artisan.  She is the creator of brightly colored morrales or handbags traditionally used by the Maya.  The craft takes on many forms, according to the talent and likings of each artisan.  Some morrales are woven, some are crocheted, some are stitched, and some are embroidered.  Some women have learned the tradition from their mothers and grandmothers, others have learned from the work of government training programs.  Each woman adapts the trade it to fit her personality, weaving her thoughts and creativity into each design and color choice.  Each day only has 24 hours to give her to finish the cooking, cleaning, mending, bathing, water-fetching, fire-building, that is necessary for the survival of the family.  And in spare moments she works on her craft; maneuvering the needle and the thread methodically yet rhythmically.  Due to time constraints, it can take up to two weeks to finish one morral, from which she could only hope to collect at most 200 pesos ($20US), in the village market which is saturated by such items from her artisan neighbors.  Maria is just one of the Maya artisans of San Isidro; who are heiresses of a beautiful tradition, possessors of an artful talent, entrepreneurs looking for a market, mothers who desire to improve the lives of their children with the better nutrition and education that the selling of their craft could afford.