Irena’s Love for Guatemala: A Reforestation Story
Read about Y’abals collaboration with Irena DeLave and her organization, Love For Guatemala.
Continue reading »Category Archives: "Guatemala"
Strengthening the local fabric
Despite the circumstances, it is necessary to continue growing, even if there is fear, between weaving and banners of protest
Continue reading »Celebrating World Fair Trade Day!
This past May 14 we commemorated World Fair Trade Day. This was a good moment to reflect on how Yabal is part of this World movement, promoting justice in trading partnerships between producers and consumers with a focus on environmental sustainability. We had the chance to celebrate with women from Chuicutáma, part of the Yabal
Continue reading »Update on Yabal Communities During Pandemic
Guatemala now has over 7,500 cases of coronavirus. There are multiple reports of inadequate hospital staff, food, medicine, and beds in centers attending patients with Covid-19. Promised government economic help and food aid has managed to reach very few of the most desperate in the country. And the virus continues to increase daily, troubling given
Continue reading »mmm mmm good!
As part of this year’s oyster mushroom cultivation program with Yabal’s women weavers in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, Yabal offered a cooking workshop to give the women new ideas of how to incorporate this nutritious and delicious food into their daily diet. Oyster mushrooms are high in protein, iron, zinc, potassium, folic acid, B vitamins, vitamin
Continue reading »All Saints Day & Day of the Dead
El dia de los santos (Nov. 1) and dia de los muertos (Nov. 2), All Saints Day and Day of the Dead, are one of our favorite holidays in Guatemala. In contrast to Halloween, celebrated during the same time in the US, Day of the Dead is one of the most important family holidays of
Continue reading »Our Mayan Textiles
By Isabel Coxaj Boj We invited our colleague, Isabel Coxaj Boj, to contribute to the blog today to share more about the deep spiritual symbolism in traditional Mayan textiles and clothes. Isabel is a backstrap-loom weaving teacher, textile-lover, and Yabal’s Store Coordinator in the Yabal shop in Xela, Guatemala. The Maya are recognized for their
Continue reading »Who is Yabal Guatemala?
While many know Yabal as an ethical fashion brand, what they do not know is that we partner with the Guatemalan non-profit, Yabal Guatemala to realize social programs in rural artisan communities. 80% of the Board of Directors is made up of women leaders from our artisan communities. Yabal Guatemala promotes the empowerment of indigenous
Continue reading »A day off
As women we never have a break, we are always working. Whereas the men go to work and then come home to relax, women are working from sunrise to sunset. Washing, cooking, collecting firewood, taking care of the children, taking care of the garden, the chickens, preparing the food for tomorrow. And in between those
Continue reading »Micro-credits for/by the community
Yabal started a small loan program with the community of Chuicutama 7 years ago. After receiving a private donation, we asked the community what project they would like to use the money for. The community decided to use these funds to create a micro-credit system for their families to rent land for corn cultivation. As these families
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