Monday, December 7, 2009

Providing ‘seed’ money for island women

The richly textured, multihued beaded necklace Karen Rosenberg wears is more than beautiful; it represents a lifeline for the indigenous Mayan and Spanish women living on Isla Mujeres (Island of Women).

For the past nine years, Rosenberg, a clinical social worker, and colleague Ceci McDonnell have journeyed to Isla Mujeres, a small island off the Yucatan coast of Mexico. There they lead the women’s retreat “Portals to the Self: A Women’s Circle by the Sea.”

As part of the mind-body-spirit week, participants visit their amigas at the Artesania de Mujeres, a Mayan Women’s Beading Cooperative on the island. “On our first visit in 2000, we saw eight native women working in a small shop making beaded objects for tourists,” notes Rosenberg. “These women supported themselves and their children by selling their crafts in a tiny shop and in the town square during fiestas and holidays.”

As retreat members scooped up beaded bracelets, necklaces and medicine bags, which range in price from a few dollars to $25, Rosenberg, who speaks Spanish, learned about the island women’s lack of access to higher quality seed beads. “Several of us promised on our return visit to bring them back sacks of seed beads from the States,” she says.

Posted via web from Cancun Mexico News

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