Hadithi Crafts: Turning Stories of Hope into Lasting Change
Hadithi Crafts Support CBO is a community-based artisan enterprise that weaves together wildlife conservation, sustainability, and traditional craft while creating jobs in rural Kenya. Launched in 2014 with 500 women, Hadithi now works with around 1900 artisans, who support over 10,000 family members, living in the communities surrounding Tsavo, a critical ecosystem for elephants and other wildlife. By offering sustainable livelihoods, Hadithi helps protect wildlife and preserve the delicate balance of nature in the Tsavo national parks in southeastern Kenya.
Trusting the Power of Community
As part of a series of “fireside chats” sponsored by R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund, Kythzia Barrera and Rashmi Bharti spoke about the artisan-owned collective enterprises that they founded and continue to build, Colectivo 1050° and Earthcraft Self-Reliant Cooperative. Both founders define success in terms that put local stakeholders first. Rashmi Bharti spoke from Tripuradevi, in the mountain region of northern India. Barrera joined the conversation from Oaxaca, in the highlands of southern Mexico.
Rubin Foundation Awards Grant to R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund
The Marvin and Sylvia Rubin Family Foundation announced that it has awarded a grant to R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund to fund a textile project led by Maddalena Forcella and Ana Paula Fuentes, social designers based in Oaxaca in southern México.
The designers will be working with 26 indigenous weavers in San Bartolo Yautepec, a Zapotec village in the highlands of Oaxaca. Using back-strap looms that predate the arrival of Spanish colonialists, the Zapotec weavers produce fabric with intricate brocade motifs. The fabric is then used to create huipiles, traditional Mexican garments. “For us, these are some of the most beautiful huipiles in México,” Fuentes said. “But unfortunately the weaving tradition has been disappearing little by little, mainly because of the lack of markets. Many women have stopped weaving.”