Maya Women Hope to Weave a Better Future for Village

A group of women who love to weave decided to form their own cooperative so they could make money at it. So why is their demonstration expected to draw a teeming crowd at the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach gathering Sunday?

Because these remarkable weavers’ special talents have been handed down through centuries of Maya culture in Guatemala. And the profits they hope to gain are not for themselves but for their destitute rural village.

Most of those who came here to promote the weaving are staying with Joyce Fournier, a registered nurse who lives in Laguna Beach. When I met with them and asked how the cooperative came about, Fournier told me: It all started with Leslie Baer of Anaheim. . . .

Baer was once an Orange County coordinator for a group working with Mother Teresa. But six years ago she formed her own group, Xela Aid, which has since become one of the largest nonprofit contributors of goods and assistance to Guatemala. Baer had studied Spanish in Guatemala and became so overwhelmed by its vast poverty that she vowed to help.

Three decades of civil war has kept many of the villages in poverty; the men left to fight, and the women struggled to make it on their own. Baer decided to concentrate her work on the poor area around the city of Quetzaltenango, known as Xela to the Mayas.

Baer and all her volunteers work without pay. By raising private funds, they’ve built a school there, set up temporary medical clinics, and in one village even established its first clean water system. If you think her work sounds familiar, you might recall Times stories written two years ago by my colleague Tracy Weber, who--along with Times photographer Gail Fisher--spent time in Guatemala with Baer and her workers.

“We’ve found an amazing number of people looking for something more than just a summer vacation to come help us,” Baer said of her volunteers.

People like Fournier. She spent two weeks last summer working at a medical clinic Baer had organized in San Martin Chiquito. It’s a rural, mountain village with no running water, no electricity, and no doctors or nurses.

Baer asked Fournier if she’d do double-duty and help the Maya women form a weaving cooperative. The Laguna Beach nurse immediately dedicated herself to the cause.

“It was so incredible to feel the strength of the people after they had been put through so much,” Fournier said.

The leader of the group Fournier met was Amalia Vasquez, a midwife and one of the leaders among the village women. Vasquez and a group of about 40 women had been weaving together most of their lives.

Fournier learned that the women’s weaving was not only a meager source of income for them but was central to the traditions that the Mayas wanted to preserve. Generation after generation of Maya children learned to weave from their mothers.

But what little money Vasquez and the others made from weaving was dwindling: More and more Guatemalans found it cheaper to buy secondhand western wear. Also, what tourist business Guatemala attracted rarely made it to the hinterlands.

Fournier helped the women establish a structure for organizing the work of the cooperative and Vasquez was named president. Fournier then helped form a support group in the United States.

Through that group, Vasquez and three of the other weavers were brought to Orange County last month to help promote the cooperative. They’ve demonstrated their work with hand weaves--known among weavers as backstrap weaves--at several events. Their grand-finale demonstration is from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach, 286 St. Ann’s Drive.

Through a translator, the Maya women told me how important people like Baer and Fournier have been to their village. For example, Vasquez said, she never knew the importance of wearing latex gloves when helping a mother with a birth. Besides, she didn’t have any. Baer taught her why it mattered and provided all the midwives with the gloves.

“Before,” Vasquez said, “we did everything with a pair of scissors and God’s help. Now we use gloves too.” And forceps, thanks again to Xela Aid.

The women also talked about the medical improvements brought by Xela Aid, especially for the children. Fournier and others will return to Guatemala just after Christmas for a groundbreaking on a permanent clinic.

But most of the women’s excitement was about the new work created by forming the cooperative. Baer told me that she recently returned to San Martin for the dedication ceremony for the building Xela Aid established as a base for the cooperative.

“It was so moving to see the mayor stand up and thank these women for helping to restore the village’s economy,” Baer said. “Women have never been given a chance to play such a major role there before.”

Fournier showed me their impressive work, cotton dresses and shirts and wraps, each beautiful stitch by hand. The items were selling for up to $150 at a recent event in Long Beach, with plenty of customers. But the big show is Sunday for the Woman’s Club. And yes, more pieces will be for sale.

Obviously, the women cannot sell enough items to make the cost of their trip worthwhile. “What we’re trying to do,” said Fournier, “is showcase their work, to raise funds to support the cooperative.” Her group will also help them market the work in the United States.

I asked the Maya women for their impressions of Southern California. Vasquez spoke for all of them. She didn’t talk about the modern things they’d seen but about the people they had met:

“We haven’t had time to miss our people or our own food. We are filled with pride at all the help we have received, at how nice everyone has been to us. It has left a very good impression in our hearts.”

By the way, the Maya women chose their own name for the new cooperative. It’s called New Dawn. They said it represents new hope for their village.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823, by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.