By Jeannie Balanda | Executive Director
Lili Carmen has been weaving for as long as she can remember. Weaving threads into masterpieces brings her great pleasure: it relaxes her and reminds her how far she has come because of her weaving skills.
Life has been difficult for Lili. Because her family was so poor, she needed to work from a young age to help her family make ends meet which meant Lili was unable to attend school. She married young. Her husband left her on and off throughout their marriage. Lili had to be the breadwinner of her family and care for her three children mostly on her own.
Like most indigenous women, Lili leaned to weave from the time she was a little girl. And this has been her saving grace. Lili is a master weaver. Women seek her far and wide to commission her weavings. Lili has a MayaWorks’ microcredit loan to buy supplies and equipment to weave huipiles for other women. Huipiles are the bright woven shirts that indigenous Maya women wear. With the income she earns from weaving MayaWorks products and the huipiles she sells independently, Lili has purchased her own home, sent her three children to school and put food on the table everyday.
It hasn’t been easy for Lili but she stands strong knowing that she uses her skills to care for her family and make it on her own. And she is grateful that she always has access to a MayaWorks microcredit loan to take her to the next step in reaching economic stability.
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