Artisan Stories

More than 200 craftspeople work full-time with Prescraft - the Presbyterian Handicraft Centre in Cameroon - which was started in the 1960s to provide much-needed employment to local people. Their indigenous instruments include gongs, rattles, whistles, flutes and drums created from natural materials such as dried calabash gourds and seeds. Purchase of instruments from Cameroon links North Americans with the talented artisans and centuries-old musical traditions of West Africa and completes the circle of fair trade.

UPAVIM is a self-governing community of poor women and children located in La Esperanza near Guatemala City. The community began as a squatters settlement. By working together and producing beautiful craft items for sale around the world, as well as through grants and donations, the group has established a medical and dental clinic, a medical lab, a children's center, and a Montessori school. Purchase of these beautiful handmade craft items helps provide much needed income and crucial financial support for UPAVIM's various programs.

CUT METAL WORK FROM HAITI

Jhonson Augustin, a cut metal artisan in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti, was still in school when he started learning the art of metal work. The eldest of 11 children, whose father had left Haiti, Augustin felt a great deal of responsibility.
Augustin has become a well-known cut metal artisan in his own right, now training other young apprentices. The young people start with the “rough” work of cutting open the metal drums used as raw material, and sanding and varnishing the finished products. Gradually they move on to tasks requiring more skill.
“Even apprentices can make enough to go to school, or to care for their children if they are parents,” he said. Currently Augustin’s workshop supports some 50 families. Of himself Augustin said, “This is what God gave me to live; I support my family, I am building a house and I am providing work for others.”

Raja Bannoura Workshop, based in Beit Sahour, a village on the east side of Bethlehem, produces hand-carved olive wood products. Bannoura coordinates orders for many olive wood carvers and workshops in Beit Sahour. He collects pruned olive branches and wood, stacks them in his yard, and dries them for six to nine months before cutting the wood for use. Laminating many small rectangular pieces together makes the larger flat pieces for nativities. Using small pieces of wood ensures that olive trees are not cut down for carving purposes.

• Raja Bannoura Workshop was established in 1974.
• The workshop provides employment for 20 artisans working in two locations.
• The olive wood is supplied primarily from olive tree pruning.

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