In this series of videos you will learn about indigenous enterprises led by women that directly contribute to the preservation and development of the Peruvian Amazon.
TAJIMAT is a word in the Awajún language whose meaning has to do with progress and balance. This is the name of the association made up of Awajún women from the Río Soritor community, in the San Martín region.
Since 2015, the women from Tajimat have been working hard for sustainable conservation through “bio-jewelry”, reforestation and beekeeping, activities that promote equality and strengthen the role of women within the community.
Yanua Atamain Uwaray, president of the Tajimat Association, tells us that “biocrafts” and “bio-jewelry” are produced in connection with nature, with raw materials that come directly from the earth. In addition, she tells us that women are heirs to the ancient art of weaving seeds, who previously worked individually, but saw that when they were grouped together they could have a greater impact and thus participate in craft fairs and have the support to make sales over the internet. To grow in an organized way is the objective that motivates them to get together in Tajimat.
«Biojewelry has a whole history behind it, the designs that inspire us come from our ancestors and from nature itself (…) All of these activities transmit knowledge, which means that the ancient perspective and philosophy are preserved and can remain over time, from generation to generation”
WAUKI WASY(«House of the brother» in Kichwa language), is an enterprise that was born in 2017 due to the need to promote healthy eating within children of the Bajo Huallaga community, giving added value to the existing fruits within the territory, in addition to rescuing the mother language of his locality.
Marisol García Apagueño, a Kichwa indigenous leader from Bajo Huallaga, tells us that in Wauki Wasy they buy dry cocoa beans to process them, and that they currently have a wide range of products, with cocoa and its derivatives as the protagonist. Their products include cocoa flour, cocoa honey, banana flour with cocoa, corn with cocoa, juices, jellies and “chocotejas” filled with local fruits.
“Independently from the idea of defending life, we are aware that only by promoting food security can we show that the Amazon is worth protecting, with a focus on not preying on local fauna and not destroying.”
THE WAMBRILLAS(“The Girls” in Kichwa language), is a family business with a love for art, which currently produces bracelets, necklaces, curtains, decorations and other jewelry products. In addition, thanks to the training promoted by the associations of artisans in the Wayku region, recently they began to venture into ceramics, bio-jewelry and carvings.
Marisol Llanos Gonzales, an indigenous artisan from «Las Wambrillas», tells us that it is very important to empower Indigenous women, since machismo is deeply rooted in their cultures. Today, thanks to the support of the civil society, the government, and the Ministry of Culture, indigenous women are being empowered through workshops and other forms of support, which is very important and necessary so that they can have their own economic income without necessarily depending on their husbands.
«I call on all my native indigenous sisters to continue undertaking these kinds of enterprises to bring out that gift that they have inside. It is not easy to start a business, but little by little and with a lot of work and effort, it is possible to obtain everything you want.»