GLOW WITH THE FLOW
Join us to give Wayúu women a new beginning!
Glow with the flow will empower generations of women and girls in the future.
WHAT IS THIS PROJECT ABOUT?
This project aims to create a workshop for women in the Wayúu community, where they will learn to sew and make their own menstrual underwear. This will allow these women to become microentrepreneurs, to appropriate their own work and begin to free themselves from the extreme poverty they are currently facing and that has been aggravated in the last year of the pandemic.
For Wayúu women, conventional menstrual products are a luxury that cannot be allowed. Not only are they out of their budget, but they are often impossible to obtain due to the distance of the communities. Therefore, instead of towels and tampons, local women depend on little effective pieces of fabric and are forced to stay home throughout the cycle to prevent them from seeing them with stained clothes. In addition to distancing themselves from their friends and families, this isolation also means that these women have to stop working, make money and take advantage of their skills and talents.For us in Sacred Thread, it was clear that if we want Wayúu communities to reach gender equality and help local women feel freed and free, we have to find a sustainable solution to this monthly problem. Access to underwear for menstruation will allow these women to lead a normal life throughout the year, promote gender and menstrual equality, and help these women reach their full potential.
This initiative will not only increase your income, but will also give access to the necessary sustainable and safe menstrual products. In addition to the profitability of reusable menstrual underwear, this initiative will also help reduce the environmental impact of its period and prevent health problems associated with the use of disposable towels.However, this is not an exclusive problem of this community. In fact, we cannot talk about gender equality in the world without talking about menstruation. For many women and girls around the world, traditional products for the period are too expensive and difficult to find. We hope to use this project as a pilot together with the Abury Foundation, which could be replicated worldwide.
What is the objective of the project and who is directed?
The objective of this project is to create a workshop in which 16 women from the Wayúu community are taught to sew reusable menstrual underwear. These garments will be distributed in five Wayúu communities, which will allow 174 women to access the necessary products for menstruation. They will also sell the panties, generating another source of income, which will allow them to improve their quality of life, reduce the gender gap and the environmental impact of disposable compresses.
The Wayúu people, people of the sun, sand and wind, are a traditional indigenous community based on the Guajira Peninsula, a desert region of the Northeast of Colombia. Throughout history, this tribe has fought against the Spanish conquerors, modern governments and Mother Nature to keep their traditions alive.
This region has also fought against the lack of economic resources and basic public services, which has produced high levels of social inequality and extreme poverty. The Wayúu live in matriarchal communities that depend largely on the trade of traditional crafts. However, this is not yet economically sustainable, since the unfair local commercial dynamics and the undervaluation of their work leaves them with hardly any benefits for economic growth. Here, the fabric is not only a cultural practice transmitted through generations of ancestors, but it is also the way in which their stories are expressed and tell.
84% of the population lives in poverty; 6 out of 10 adults are illiterate; And some children are forced to walk up to 3 hours just to go to school. The community has the highest infant mortality rate in all the regions of Colombia, with 34 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, the absence of public support and financing by the State makes it incredibly difficult to improve the situation and eliminate these social inequalities. In addition to the lack of education plans, the community is really limited by the shortage of job opportunities. Global warming has also increased the frequency and severity of the droughts facing tribes, which threatens their crops and cattle.
In the second phase of the initiative, this project will be reproduced throughout the world, especially in the indigenous communities of Africa. We hope to share our experiences and what we have learned working with the Wayúu people in a manual that can be shared with other communities.
Why support this project?
- Empower a group of women, helping them to become microentrepreneurs and free themselves from extreme poverty.
- Help Wayúu women recover the dignity of their period.
- Give women of this tribe access to reusable underwear for the period.
- Reduce the ecological impact of disposable menstrual products; A person spends approximately 11,000 disposable menstrual products throughout his life, and each towel takes more than 500 years to decompose.
- Help these women save money: menstrual underwear is much more profitable than disposable compresses.
- Reduce health problems caused by disposable compresses and toxic chemicals that are usually used in their production.
- Give these women the opportunity to achieve all their potential, every day of the month.
- Help this project be reproduced worldwide, carrying reusable economic opportunities and menstrual products to communities from all over the planet.
- Support a productive and sustainable project that participates in the struggle for gender equality worldwide.
- Face the financial crisis due to pandemic.
We have created this event to enjoy it while producing an impact.
How will we use the money if the project is financed successfully?
The money raised will allow us to acquire sewing machines, equip workshops and teach women to sew and make underwear. A percentage of money will also be used to support the construction of the workshop.
Money will be used in the following ways:
56%
Construction Center
28%
Machines, materials and tools
16%
Training
Who is behind the project?
We are working in collaboration with the Abury Foundation, Caring for Colombia, Kora Mikino and We are Martina. If you also want to participate, you can donate if you would like to take a well, you can donate here or buy any item of our new collection.
Based both in Berlin and Bogotá, since 2013 Hilo Sacred, has implemented an inclusive development model that recognizes the deep cultural legacy and the value of artisanal communities in Latin America, and that seeks to empower women with the tools that they have allow to improve their quality of life. Through education, economic empowerment and sustainable development, its objective is that the communities with which they work become self -stable, provide women with the necessary tools to become microentrepreneurs, appropriate their own work and get out of Extreme poverty.
The Abury Foundation is a German Foundation whose objective is to create opportunities for development and intercultural exchange, which contributes to improving the understanding between different cultures and communities.
To do this, we begin and facilitate numerous projects that fit the three causes that guide our work: the Children's education, women's empowerment and community development. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to take their future in their hands. For us, success means making this possible and helping people achieve their interior potential. We believe that education is the key that opens the door of success."Our goal is to create environments in which potentials can be deployed!"
Caring for Colombia is a non -profit organization 501 (c) (3) that tends bridges and mobilizes resources between US donors and organizations to enhance high impact social projects in Colombia. Since 2003 we encourage solid relationships with local leaders and institutions that inspire the transformation of the most vulnerable communities.
Our goal is to be a home for Colombian residents and expatriates, as well as for anyone who moves to help vulnerable communities in Colombia. We want to be a resource for donors to find the tools, projects and inspiration to give and be part of Colombia's transformation.
Kora Mikino is a company that aims to revolutionize the menstrual care of women, eliminate cultural taboos around menstruation and "release the natural flow of all stigmas." They strive to achieve an emancipated, fair and sustainable flow for all, and to give people around the world access to menstrual products without contaminating the environment or creating dependencies.
We are Martina is a company that is bringing reusable menstrual underwear to the Latin American market. Back in Bogotá, they want to change the way the Colombian woman sees her period. Through their social networks, they spread messages of menstrual education, the power of the female body and self -esteem.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
To finance this project, which we hope to extend to indigenous and tribal communities around the world, we have launched a fundraising campaign. If you also want to contribute to these women to be one step closer to our ultimate goal of gender equality and to empower Wayúu women to transform their periods into a source of dignity and pride, consider the possibility of buying some of our Beautiful Wayúu products. Remember that 100% of the revenues of the new collection purchases will be allocated to the Glow with the Flow campaign.