AHA Artists Make an Impact
- Lacey Yahnke
- Aug 3, 2019
- 4 min read
It has now been one month of living and working in Bolivia. You could say I am fairly adapted to this environment- I can get to work by myself, I can run (during daylight) without much fear, I can stomach more food that was once on the questionable side, and I can speak Spanish well enough to no longer use Google Translate. Only three more weeks left, but there is a lot to accomplish before then!
If you all remember, my job here at AHA Bolivia has been to interview the 15 women artisans about their experience, their passion of artistry, and their love for working at AHA. I recently just finished this project (with the help of Camilla my translator!) by completing all interviews in Spanish, translating them, and creating short profiles with photographs, bios and quotes of each artisan. These will be used on the back of tags that will be placed on each product that each artisan makes. We are also planning to create an artisan “Wall of Fame” by placing these photos in the hallway of the office. You can see my work below!
To understand the magnitude of this piece, you have to know how professional and resilient these women are. Most of them don’t smile very often (according to my boss!) because they work so hard and are very serious about their work. They also deal with many hardships in life, so their demeanor comes off as focused and determined.
However, once I began talking to them, asking them personal and introspective questions, and challenging them to think a little harder about why they are here at AHA — their faces lit up. They were excited, engaged, HAPPY! I’d like to think that a lot of them walked away with a feeling of appreciation for this beautiful company for providing them with the opportunity to grow and excel in this work force.
A couple interviews stood out to me specifically. One was with a woman named Rumia. She is a survivor of bone cancer, and had to undergo an amputation of her left leg in order to survive.
Before this, she worked in many different professions — she worked in cooking, construction, and even played basketball professionally in Cochabamba.
Because of her surgery, she has to rely solely on the work of her hands for income — which is why she knits for AHA. In tears, she vocalized how thankful she was for this company, allowing her to continue working as a normal woman and supporting her family.
Other moments that struck me were when women spoke highly of the empowering community that is cultivated at AHA. In Bolivia, the concept of “machismo” or aggressive masculine pride, demonstrates very traditional ideas about how women and men should behave, work, and live. Women in general are treated with less respect. Because of this idea, the culture surrounding professional women in the workforce is not respected and is taken way less seriously.
However, the women artisans expressed how valued they feel within the community of AHA Bolivia, which made me so happy to see. Most of these women are single mothers, having to provide for themselves and multiple children. They are able to do this through the income they receive and feeling uplifted every day at work. Thanks to AHA and the founder, Anna Aliaga, these women get to do what they love — and love what they do!
Since I wrote last, living in Cochabamba has been slightly tougher than the first two weeks. On top of being sick, contracting a parasite from a devilish strawberry, and missing my family a TON, I struggled with a slightly negative mindset. As I became more immersed within this culture and more observant of my surroundings, I noticed a feeling of guilt that began to build every day. I found myself thinking, “I have so much opportunity, so much room for growth, room to make mistakes, room to try new things, time to grow up! I feel too fortunate, too privileged!”
Here, many children start working to support their families at very low ages. They are dependent on their parents for survival, and their parents are dependent of their kids for income. Some kids don’t get the privilege of rushing to after school sports practices, learning how to play the piano, receiving after school tutors or college counselors, watching a weekly television show with their families — all things that every one I grew up around enjoyed every day. Instead, their time to “grow up” gets stunted because of poverty. After seeing many children with these upbringings, I found myself comparing these two distinct worlds of freedom and restriction that I now seemed to be apart of.
This mindset, I realized soon after, contradicts my previous blog! SO many people here are still very very happy. They do have less — much less — than the United States. They may have to work much harder to survive due to their lack of resources. They may deal with tons of misfortunes because of their economic instability. Their lives may be more difficult. But they smile, they laugh, they dance, they sing — they’re happy!
No individual is better or worse, even though different situations might be better or worse. We are all living, all coexisting together, all surviving together. Those realities might occur in different ways, but we’re all doin the same damn thing in this world — LIVIN’ BABY!!
On a brighter note, our Global Fellows group has had so much fun together. We have been cooking meals, traveling on weekends, and experiencing unforgettable adventures. A blog of our trip to Uyuni is to follow! Two more weeks left and then Peru. Can’t wait to see how this whole journey wraps up!
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