By Tulio Davila and Campbell Plowden | Media coordinator and Executive Director
Edson is a young artisan from the campesino community of San Francisco on the banks of the Marañon River. This 30-year-old father learned through observation and practice how to make beautiful crafts. His specialty is making little birds.
This talent is what led Edson to agree to be a teacher in several skill-sharing workshops being organized by CACE in our partner communities in the northern Peruvian Amazon. These workshops are always led by experienced artisans showing their fellow artisans how to make new kinds of handicrafts.
The first time Edson taught in a CACE artisan training workshop was this past August in Nauta – a town two hours from the city of Iquitos. Participants included artisans from his home village of San Francisco and others from the nearby Cocama village called Amazonas. Edson showed both his ability as an artisan and more importantly his patience and dedication to help each participant learn how to make and finish the craft they were working on.
Later that month, Edson joined the adventure of teaching in the Ampiyacu basin which has numerous indigenous communities with Bora, Huitoto and Yagua native residents. The first stop was the Bora community of Nuevo Peru which needed a five-hour trip in a peque-peque (dugout canoe with a small motor) open to the harsh summer sun in the Peruvian jungle.
The workshop in Nuevo Peru had 25 participants who attended eight-hour sessions for three successive days. The next one held in the community of Huitotos del Estiron had 23 participants from the host village and other communities in the area.
The models that were taught in the workshops were some magnificent birds from the Peruvian Amazon including a few types of eagles, hawks, macaws, toucans, owls, and parrots. Another teacher Doilith who is from the town of Jenaro Herrera on the Ucayali River shared her special talent for making different types of butterflies. Each participant got to choose two models to learn during the three-day workshop. The common result was that each participant was very proud to see their finished crafts.
On the way back to Iquitos, Edson shared his thoughts about being a teacher in the Ampiyacu: “This was the first time that I have taught in communities away from my home, and it was a very positive experience. I was a little afraid that it would be difficult to teach them, but I quickly saw that people are very kind and completely willing to learn. They are fellow artisans who understand the value of the chambira palm and the work it requires. They understand the importance of a craft and how it helps in the economy of the family. I liked teaching, I loved meeting so many people, but above all it makes me feel very good when I think of all the people who learned to make new crafts ”.
Edson and other veteran artisans are a vital part of CACE’s goal of helping artisans from the Peruvian Amazon to improve their skills and livelihoods. This task is a key to our mission of supporting the well-being of Amazonian communities and the conservation of their forests.
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