Bolivian feminist Saturnina Quispe Choque talks to Nadia Hausfather. | May 2009 | New I... - 0 views
-
Henry Liebling on 14 Jul 09In El Alto, Saturnina and Felipa learned to knit and weave. Job after job, both received low pay, late pay or no pay at all. At one point, Saturnina's boss was paying her $4 per clothing article which he would then sell in Germany for $70. Saturnina and Felipa grew tired of seeing themselves and other rural migrants exploited. So in 2000 they founded a women's collective called the Integral Association of Kullakas (IAK). 'Kullakas' means 'sisters' in the Aymara language. They used this word to symbolize their interdependence with the Aymara and with the world. Says Saturnina: 'We decided that we needed to help each other.' Nine years later, the collective - of which Saturnina is President - continues to teach handicraft and farming skills. Saturnina's living room is where women come to be trained. The room displays colourful scarves, hats and dolls made by hand, often entirely out of the fleece of the alpaca - similar to the llama - which is warmer and softer than sheep's wool. Fifty per cent of the price of each product goes to the woman who made it, while the rest goes to communal living costs or to buy new materials. The Kullakas are constantly on the lookout for markets so that they can pay women as quickly as possible.