Handicrafts – Help Bolivian Women Support Their Families

Women’s handicrafts are one of the primary exports of Bolivia. Found in the markets of La Paz or even for sale online, these lovely hand-woven pieces are unique works of art.

Unfortunately, very little of the purchase price – often only 5 percent to 10 percent – actually goes to the woman who made the craft. The merchants and website owners are the one who make significant profits off these women’s creativity, skills, and labor.

The Methodist Women’s Federation of Bolivia (FeFeMe) has built teams of Methodist women who make handicrafts as well. The difference with these is that 70 percent of the purchase price goes back to the artisan. If these women can make just $100-$150 a month from these sales, they can feed their family and increase their role in the decision-making process, since they’re bringing in income.

How we help

The Oklahoma Annual Conference has worked closely with FeFeMe to provide the primary outlet for the sales of these handicrafts. The Oklahoma Annual Conference sells more handicrafts then all of the other U.S. Conferences combined. In 2008, we sold over $7,000 in crafts. Our goal is to exceed $10,000 this year.

Because of the individual nature of each craft, and the size of the inventory that would be necessary, online sales are simply impossible. Sizes and colors vary significantly for each of these hand-woven beauties, and so it’s best to see the items before you buy them.

The crafts are sold at Oklahoma United Methodist District and Conference events (we always have a big sale at Annual Conference) and at local churches. For sales at a local church, someone will call David Stephenson, pick up the crafts, market and sell the crafts at their church or their community bazaar, and then return the remaining crafts and the funds raised back to David.

You can help these women

If you are interested in selling these beautiful crafts at your church, or in buying some for yourself, contact David Stephenson at 918-346-5181 or tulsadstephenson (at) yahoo (dot) com. Each item sold means another meal for the family and another step up from the poverty line. Won’t you help?

Click here to read about the women who make these lovely handicrafts.

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