GLOW WITH THE FLOW
Join us in giving Wayúu women a new beginning!
Glow With The Flow will empower generations of women and girls into the future.
WHAT IS THIS PROJECT ABOUT?
This project aims to create a workshop for women of the Wayúu community, where they will learn to sew and make their own menstrual underwear. This will allow these women to become microentrepreneurs, take ownership of their own work, and begin to break free from the extreme poverty they currently face, which has worsened during the last year of the pandemic.
For Wayuu women, conventional menstrual products are a luxury they cannot afford. Not only are they beyond their budget, but they are often impossible to obtain due to the remoteness of their communities. Therefore, instead of pads and tampons, local women rely on ineffective pieces of cloth and are forced to stay home for their entire cycle to avoid being seen with soiled clothing. In addition to distancing themselves from their friends and families, this isolation also means these women have to stop working, earning money, and utilizing their skills and talents.For us at Hilo Sagrado, it became clear that if we want the Wayuu communities to achieve gender equality and help local women feel liberated and free, we must find a sustainable solution to this monthly problem. Access to menstrual underwear will allow these women to lead normal lives year-round, promote gender and menstrual equality, and help these women reach their full potential.
This initiative will not only increase their income but also give them access to much-needed sustainable and safe menstrual products. In addition to the cost-effectiveness of reusable menstrual underwear, this initiative will also help reduce the environmental impact of their period and prevent health problems associated with the use of disposable pads.However, this is not a problem exclusive to this community. In fact, we cannot talk about gender equality worldwide without discussing menstruation. For many women and girls around the world, traditional period products are too expensive and difficult to find. We hope to use this project as a pilot project, together with the Abury Foundation, that could be replicated worldwide.
WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT AND WHO IS IT TARGETED AT?
The goal of this project is to create a workshop to teach 16 women from the Wayúu community how to sew reusable cloth menstrual underwear. These garments will be distributed across five Wayúu communities, allowing 174 women to access much-needed menstrual products. They will also sell the underwear, generating another source of income, which will improve their quality of life, reduce the gender gap, and reduce the environmental impact of disposable pads.
The Wayúu people, people of the sun, sand, and wind, are a traditional indigenous community settled in the Guajira Peninsula, a desert region in northeastern Colombia. Throughout history, this tribe has fought against Spanish conquistadors, modern governments, and Mother Nature to keep their traditions alive.
This region has also struggled with a lack of economic resources and basic public services, resulting in high levels of social inequality and extreme poverty. The Wayuu live in matriarchal communities that rely heavily on the trade of traditional crafts. However, this is not yet economically sustainable, as unfair local trade dynamics and the undervaluation of their work leave them with little to no profit for economic growth. Here, weaving is not only a cultural practice passed down through generations of ancestors, but it is also the way they express themselves and tell their stories.
Eighty-four percent of the population lives in poverty; six out of ten adults are illiterate; and some children are forced to walk up to three hours just to get to school. The community has the highest infant mortality rate of all regions in Colombia, with 34 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, the lack of public support and funding from the state makes it incredibly difficult to improve the situation and eliminate these social inequalities. In addition to the lack of education plans, the community is severely limited by a scarcity of job opportunities. Global warming has also increased the frequency and severity of the droughts the tribes face, threatening their crops and livestock.
In the second phase of the initiative, this project will be replicated worldwide, especially in indigenous communities in Africa. We hope to share our experiences and what we've learned working with the Wayúu people in a manual that can be shared with other communities.
WHY SUPPORT THIS PROJECT?
- Empower a group of women, helping them become micro-entrepreneurs and free themselves from extreme poverty.
- Helping Wayuu women regain the dignity of their periods.
- Giving women of this tribe access to reusable period underwear.
- Reduce the ecological impact of disposable menstrual products; a person uses approximately 11,000 disposable menstrual products throughout their lifetime, and each pad takes more than 500 years to decompose.
- Helping these women save money: menstrual underwear is much more cost-effective than disposable pads.
- Reduce health problems caused by disposable pads and the toxic chemicals often used in their production.
- Giving these women the opportunity to reach their full potential, every day of the month.
- Help this project spread worldwide, bringing economic opportunities and reusable menstrual products to communities around the globe.
- Support a productive and sustainable project that participates in the fight for gender equality worldwide.
- Addressing the financial crisis due to the pandemic.
We created this event so you can enjoy it while making an impact.
HOW WILL WE USE THE MONEY IF THE PROJECT IS SUCCESSFULLY FUNDED?
The money raised will allow us to purchase sewing machines, equip the workshops, and teach the women how to sew and make underwear. A percentage of the money will also be used to support the construction of the workshop.
The money will be used in the following ways:
56%
Construction center
28%
Machines, materials and tools
16%
Training
WHO IS BEHIND THE PROJECT?
We're working in collaboration with the Abury Foundation, Caring for Colombia, Kora Mikino, and Somos Martina . If you'd like to participate, you can donate here or purchase any item from our new collection .
Based in both Berlin and Bogotá, since 2013, Hilo Sagrado has implemented an inclusive development model that recognizes the profound cultural legacy and value of artisan communities in Latin America and seeks to empower women with the tools to improve their quality of life. Through education, economic empowerment, and sustainable development, their goal is to help the communities they work with become self-sustaining, providing women with the tools they need to become microentrepreneurs, take ownership of their own labor, and escape extreme poverty.
The Abury Foundation is a German foundation whose goal is to create opportunities for intercultural development and exchange, contributing to improved understanding between different cultures and communities.
To this end, we initiate and facilitate numerous projects aligned with the three causes that guide our work: children's education, women's empowerment, and community development. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to take their future into their own hands. For us, success means making this possible and helping people reach their inner potential. We believe that education is the key that unlocks the door to success."Our goal is to create environments where potential can be unleashed!"
Caring for Colombia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that builds bridges and mobilizes resources between U.S. donors and organizations to advance high-impact social projects in Colombia. Since 2003, we have fostered strong relationships with local leaders and institutions that inspire the transformation of the most vulnerable communities.
Our goal is to be a home for Colombian residents and expats, as well as anyone who is committed to helping vulnerable communities in Colombia. We want to be a resource for donors to find the tools, projects, and inspiration to give and be part of Colombia's transformation.
Kora Mikino is a company that aims to revolutionize women's menstrual care, eliminate cultural taboos surrounding menstruation, and "free natural flow from all stigma." They strive to achieve an emancipated, fair, and sustainable flow for all, and to give people around the world access to menstrual products without polluting the environment or creating dependencies.
Somos Martina is a company bringing reusable menstrual underwear to the Latin American market. Based in Bogotá, they aim to change the way Colombian women view their periods. Through their social media channels, they spread messages of menstrual education, the power of the female body, and self-love.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
To fund this project, which we hope to expand to Indigenous and tribal communities around the world, we have launched a fundraising campaign. If you, too, would like to contribute to bringing these women one step closer to our ultimate goal of gender equality and empowering Wayuu women to transform their periods into a source of dignity and pride, please consider purchasing some of our beautiful Wayuu products. Remember that 100% of the proceeds from purchases of the new collection will go to the Glow With The Flow campaign .