Threads of Peru Blog

Cheese

            For any cheese-lover, you are in luck at the San Pedro Market. This aisle is stocked with a fine selection of Andean cheeses; salty, chewy, and moist. It doesn’t hurt that a half-wheel will only run you around $2.25. Pair with a few boiled potatoes for a surprisingly satisfying lunch or dinner.

Tailors

Here at Threads of Peru, we always have an eye out for anything textile-related. In the San Pedro Market, there are two entire aisles dedicated to the making, selling, and fixing of clothing. Tear your hiking pants on a trek? No problem. There are several men and women willing to make the quick fix.

The only way to truly understand the allure of San Pedro Market is to make the trip yourself. Keep Threads of Peru’s five things in mind, and see all that there is to see!

-Article written by Annie Marcinek

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Combining the methods of traditional anthropological research with a modern perspective to work with and sustain developing communities in a global economy, has been an interesting challenge for Threads of Peru intern Alexa Jones. 

Alexa purchased a beautiful wedding table runner directly from a weaver from Rumira Sondormayo.

She says, “It is amazing to see how Peruvians mesh cultural tradition with modern technology. They are suspended between the old and the new, clinging to ancient practices while adapting to a rapidly globalizing world. Organizations like Threads of Peru help to maintain ancient craft traditions that would otherwise be lost, along with the stories of native communities. It’s been an incredible experience helping keep those stories and traditions alive.” 

This vibrant red and turquoise are only a couple of the naturally produced colors.

Alexa’s internship focused on natural dye plants native to the Andes. For three months she researched the diversity of dye plants that grow in the area; which included reading previous works, interviewing master weavers for their knowledge, gathering and cataloging the dye plants, and creating color sample books.

After nearly 3 months of work, Alexa along with master weavers Daniel Sonqo and Andres Sallo produced this great selection of colors.

She also organized two natural dye workshops in order to produce all of the primary shades of TOP's color palette dyed on wool and alpaca, one in the community of Huaran with master weaver Andres Sallo, and one with master weaver Daniel Sonqo at his home in Parobamba.

She has completed a set of labeled color samples, along with the basic dye recipes and information about each plant and also conducting short interviews with the weavers in order to update the “Communities” section on the Threads of Peru website. 

Alexa preparing each batch of dye during the workshop in Huaran.

Alexa Jones was a cultural research intern for the past three months with Threads of Peru.  As a recently graduated Spanish and Anthropology double major from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she felt she was able to put her skills to good use working with Threads of Peru and said, “this has been an incredibly insightful and invaluable experience! I am so grateful to have been part of the Threads of Peru team, along with all the other awesome staff and volunteers here in Cusco who I’m happy to call my friends.”

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Greetings from Cusco! My name is Harrison Ackerman and I’ve been here with Threads of Peru as an Evaluation Research Intern since early July. Although Northport, a small Long Island town in New York, is where I call home, I’ve been in Boston for most of the past few years in school at Northeastern University. I’m currently the youngest in the office at 20 years old and will graduate with a degree in Political Science and International Affairs this upcoming May. 

Warping is one of the many steps of creating the beautiful products by each artisans. Photo courtesy of Alexa Jones.

I was immediately drawn to Threads because of the focus on economic development and expanding opportunity in marginalized communities. However, what really solidified my decision to pursue a six month research project was the organization’s unique strategy. Rather than relying on the benevolence of donors to empower indigenous artisans, Threads has utilized the international market to create a model of social enterprise that warrants replication in other industries and across the world. The potential for creating positive change in such a sustainable business-driven project was reason enough for me to join the Threads team, and luckily enough there was a specific project concept that we excitedly agreed upon. 

Annie with Ruperta in the community of Uppis. Photo courtesy of Annie Marcinek

Annie, my research partner, and I are in the process of creating and implementing the organization’s first evaluation project. As September approaches, we are finishing the project’s planning phase and will be beginning extensive community visits and weaver interviews in the upcoming second phase. The research will ultimately allow us to better understand the weavers with whom we work through the collection of baseline data. Additionally, responses to our ¨defined¨ and ¨hypothetical¨ socio-economic question sets will inform future project development and help us to more effectively support weaving cooperatives by addressing their individual and collective needs. 

The thriving of Huaran weavers shows why Threads sincerely appreciates the support from our customers, followers and volunteers. Photo courtesy of Alexa Jones

 Evaluating the work of NGOs like Threads of Peru is absolutely essential to ensure their continued success. For Threads to distinguish itself within the sector, it needs to prove that its initiatives are yielding worthwhile results. The days are over of investing in a cause because the needs are great and the ambitions are grand; donors want to be part of something with proven impact. While this research project is just the first step of many on the long-term evaluation horizon, building a strong foundation is key to creating a comprehensive strategy. In the words of American author Hunter S. Thompson, ¨Anything worth doing is worth doing right.¨

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