Heather Parr was in Guatemala as Hurricane Stan struck in October 2005. Here she shares her account of how the local community she has got to know in Sololá has undertaken the task of rebuilding their lives and their future.

MoSTANcilla currently consists of 13 groups of 5-7 women who were all made homeless by Stan. Every Monday and Friday afternoon they come to drop off and get paid for the work they have done and pick up their beds for the next week. As the groups are generally friendship groups or family it is also quite a social occasion. Of course the youngest children come too. Some of the late teens attend school in the afternoon, so they come in the morning instead so as not to miss out on their education.

Many women have a limited variety of styles so we have arranged classes where women are paid to share their expertise with others in the group. In the last class 32 women participated. We have been establishing rules for quality control and for fair payment of the women. We are currently paying a rate per item, with the idea being to share the profit fairly amongst the women on a quarterly basis. The first profit share is in March.

The main concern for us right now is to ensure a sustainable market. We have had some success in placing the products in hotels in the city and Antigua, and individuals and organizations such as Miracles in Action have supported out work by giving us a trial order. I am also trying to establish the tax rules for importing into the UK- any experience that you might have to share in this respect would be very welcome! We are also in the process of designing a website to exhibit the ladies’ designs online. The future plan is to establish an official cooperative association and to ensure our accounts are kept carefully, so that after two years we can apply for Fair Trade accreditation. 

We are also looking for an interested volunteer who maybe interested in working with the cooperative for a minimum of 6 months (although a year would be preferable) starting in July 2006. This would suit a Hispanic studies student with an interest in fashion and design who aspires to work in sales and marketing in the future. 

It will be many years before this population recovers from the destruction that was caused by STAN. However in the meantime we hope that MoSTANcilla can play a small part in the replacement of material goods, and by providing employment and a support network for this particular group of women in the psychological recovery process.

For information you can visit Heather’s blog

Or for further information about reconstruction work in Atitlan since Stan