High Hopes in Guatemala

(I wrote this for Mercado Global's website blog, but it may never make it up there. So I'll post it here . . .)

Bleary-eyed and yawning at 7:30 a.m., I shuffled from my home stay down the steep cobblestone hill to the boat docks. Craving caffeine to wake up, I quickly ducked into a tourist shop and purchased a cup of cafe con leche for 9.50 Quetzales (about $1.20). “A dollar spent well,” I thought, as the coffee not only washed away my morning headache but kept me warm during the brisk ferri ride across Lake Atitlán to Panajachel.

Feeling rejuvenated and awake by the time I arrived at the Mercado Global office, I was eager to conduct my first interview about the daily life as a female artisan. Barbara Quieju, Business Skills and Asset Development Project Coordinator, helped conduct the interview by translating my questions in broken high-school level Spanish to the native language Kakchiquil. Christina, 18 years old, and Paulina, 23, would like to partner with Mercado Global in the near future in hopes of both increasing their wages and decreasing their struggles. The two young women are from Cipresales, a small pueblo in Sololá. They live at home with their families and have been working as jewelry artisans for the last four years.

Working independently off an astoundingly low budget, while trying to subsist in a time when food shortage has never been higher, is certainly not easy. But just how low is their budget, and how hard is their daily routine? Christina and Paulina report that they work from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., with an hour break for lunch. On an average day, Paulina will sell twelve bracelets and earn just 10 Quetzales. For as much as a tourist cup of coffee, these strong women are attempting to buy enough food to sustain themselves for the whole day, as well as purchase materials needed to make the jewelry. This insufficient income forces many women to borrow money from their neighbors or friends; money which they struggle to ever pay back.

After hearing about Mercado Global’s opportunities from Barbara, seven women artisans from Cipresales are eager to begin a partnership. When asked what they hope to get out of the cooperative with Mercado Global, Christina and Paulina both stated that they would like to double their daily income, which would enable them to buy more food, as well as help to eliminate the need to borrow money for supplies. While they hope to earn 20 Q a day, in reality joining with Mercado Global would bring them 8-12 Q per hour. To bring earnings up from just over $1 a day to more than $1 an hour is huge.

Yet when "Fair Trade" equals earning $1 an hour to make gorgeous, handcrafted textiles, what does "fair" really mean? In the States, we complain about the economy downfall and how it is impossible to find a "good" job. But perhaps, what we really need is a little perspective from an entirely different point of view . . .