Arepa entrepreneur. wood burning arepa trike and artisan visits

These last two days have been so full of activity and emotion. We taught a few computer classes and then visted three artisan workshops. Primero, a group of women working with Fique (natural fiber) to crochet bags and accessories. All members of the group had to leave their home lands to seek refuge in the city of Ibague due to the civil conflict. Many of the women are widowed and are alone in this city but although they are from completely different parts of the country they have come together in the past two years to try to work for a better future. Their biggest challenges are coming up with designs that meet clients needs and expanding their market. Today we met with another group of displaced artisans who work with Mimbre, a vegetable fiber similar to wicker. In the past year they have been working with Aid to Artisans to learn to weave this fiber into baskets and home decorations. But, they have also been experimenting in weaving baskets made with copper, used phone cables, fibers from the amazon called yare and chipalo, and other recycled materials such as used car tires. Then we went to visit a group 35 minutes outside of Ibague in a rural area who make products with cow horn (i can´t think of a more elegant way to phrase that right now). They order about 200 kilos of horn a month, 50% of which is actually used to make horn jewelry and other items, the rest that would normally be waste they are trying to mix with other materials to sell as natural fertilizer since the horn is pure calcium. We then met with friends of Tomas and they were incredible and practically have the rest of our trip planned for us. this is another story for another day. I have never experienced such generosity, trust, carino, and desire to share as i have since arriving in this country.