2006.05.18: May 18, 2006: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: Imperial Republican: Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter is reaching out to friends for help for a business in her present home, Candelaria, Bolivia
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2006.05.18: May 18, 2006: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: Imperial Republican: Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter is reaching out to friends for help for a business in her present home, Candelaria, Bolivia
Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter is reaching out to friends for help for a business in her present home, Candelaria, Bolivia
For the past year and one-half, Woofter has been a Peace Corps volunteer, helping natives learn to financially support themselves through selling their unique Tarabuco weavings. Now, they hope to open the Candelaria Museum and Textile Store.
Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter is reaching out to friends for help for a business in her present home, Candelaria, Bolivia
Imperial native seeks support for Bolivian weaving cooperative
By Carolyn Lee
The Imperial Republican
Former Imperial resident Alisa Woofter is reaching out to friends in her home town for help for a business in her present home, Candelaria, Bolivia.
For the past year and one-half, Woofter has been a Peace Corps volunteer, helping natives learn to financially support themselves through selling their unique Tarabuco weavings. Now, they hope to open the Candelaria Museum and Textile Store.
The weaving cooperative in the Tarabuco Region consists of 34 women and eight men. They would like to construct a museum and textile store to accommodate and increase the number of tourists visiting Candelaria each year.
Providing tourists with a centralized place to learn about the culture and purchase textiles will increase the weavers' income and fairly distribute it among the families in the community, according to the Peace Corps.
With that goal in mind, Woofter has set a goal of raising $4,076 through the Partnership Program. This is a link between U.S. contributors, or partners, and requests such as Woofter's, through the Peace Corps.
Woofter has been working with the Inca Indians in the region since September of 2004. She has been charged with teaching them micro-enterprise development. That means she encourages them to continue weaving, organizes them in the cooperative, develops a market for their craft and helps them make a living.
The average family income in Candelaria is estimated to be less than 6,000 Bolivianos a year, or $750. With over 60 percent of this income coming from weaving, any increase in sales or the price of a weaving will affect the families' incomes.
In the past year, the women have joined together to explore ways to sell their weavings in broader markets than in the past, and for higher prices.
They attended an artisan fair in October, 2005, with success, and are planning to enter other fairs.
Their main interest, though, is to build a self-sufficient museum and textile store in their community.
The cooperative members have agreed to provide all of the labor and adobe bricks needed to construct the museum. They are also going to donate items for the actual museum and have already donated the land to begin the building process.
The community also has the support of the mayor's office and the owner of the local hacienda and tourist agency that brings in the majority of the tourists.
The weaving cooperative of Candelaria requests partner assistance, or donations, to construct the museum and textile store. The construction would require raising a one-room building of adobe. Local items, pictures and explanations will be added to complete the museum and textile store.
Cooperative member weavers will greet tourists, explain the museum and make sales. The museum will be open only when tourists are present in Candelaria. There will be a charge to enter the museum.
The charge, plus sales of merchandise, will go toward administrative expenses in the museum and store, for reinvestment and will also be split among the cooperative members.
Woofter, with the help of parents Alan and Janeece of Imperial, has helped weavers sell their artwork in the United States. The Woofters visited Bolivia last summer, and brought back many textiles to sell in the area. They still have some at their home.
To donate to the Candelaria Museum and Textile Store project, a check may be made to Peace Corps Partnership Program, with the project number #511-065 noted on the check.
Checks may be mailed to: Peace Corps Partnership Program, Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters, 1111 20th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20526, Attn: Partnership Program.
Gifts may also be made by credit card on the Peace Corps' secure website at http://www.peace corps.gov/contribute.
When this story was posted in May 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Imperial Republican
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