October 3, 2005

Stories from Peru - The Women's Weaving Project

By Danielle Weiss,
Sustainable Tourism Coordinator
G.A.P Adventures

The women and wives of the G.A.P. Adventures porters from the Ccaccaccollo Community saw how G.A.P Adventures was working with the men to provide jobs on the Inca Trail and organized themselves to develop a women’s weaving project.

Three women from the Ccaccaccollo Community took part in a 3 month training course held by a local NGO in which they learned the ancient weaving techniques and designs of the Incas and how to dye the wool using flowers, leaves and roots.

The women were then able to teach three groups of twenty women what they had learned and today 60 women have joined together to start the Ccaccaccollo Women’s Textile Project.

Beginning in April 2005, all G.A.P groups began to visit the community as part of the Sacred Valley Tour where they have the opportunity to meet the women and learn about all the stages of the weaving process; from spinning the sheeps wool, to dying the wool using natural dyes, and participating in a short weaving demonstration. Travellers are then given the opportunity to purchase high quality textiles directly from the women who made them.

By working directly with the women of Ccaccaccollo we are providing an opportunity for them to be proud of their cultural heritage, allowing them to benefit from tourism in a way that avoids negative social and cultural impacts and provides economic benefits.

These women currently weave outside in the community’s soccer field but would like to build a locale where the women can weave, showcase their work and have a meeting room for the Porters. The community has donated a piece of land to build the locale, will provide the labour needed to make the adobe bricks etc. However they lack the funds to purchase sand, cement and highland grass to build the base of the structure and the roof. With donations made to Planeterra we will be purchasing all of the materials needed for construction which is set to begin in Sept 2005.

G.A.P Adventures is the sponsor of the grand prize for our first story contest: an exciting adventure cruise on the Amazon on the historic and unique Explorer expedition cruise ship. Visit our contest page to find out more about our first travel story contest.

Related Articles:
Stories from Peru: The Inka Porter Project
An interview preview with Bruce Poon Tip, G.A.P.' s founder
An interview preview with Danielle Weiss, Latin America fan and sustainable tourism expert