INNOVATE FROM COMMUNITY VALUES: ALEBRIJES WORKSHOP JACOBO AND MARÍA ÁNGELES

San Martín Tilcajete is the Zapotec city full of tradition, culture and magic, it is where wooden alebrijes are born, representations of imaginary animals carved and decorated by hand. Presentation of the Palo que Habla Fund, a project that seeks to preserve natural resources, knowledge and the peasant economy as a form of resistance and defense of the territory. We will get to know the sacred copal tree, as well as the rescue and reforestation work carried out by the workshop, there will be a demonstration of the process of making the alebrijes.

WOMEN WEAVING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Teotitlán del Valle is a Zapotec community, with a history of traditions and habits. It is located 30 km from the city of Oaxaca. It is a small town in the Central Valleys known for the production of wool rugs dyed with natural pigments.

The visit will take place at the group's house and store. We will learn about the story of a group of women who, in an organized way, promoted the exercise of rights in their community, in addition to forging a work option to generate economic income and a space to support women in the community. We will have demonstrations of natural dyes and pedal looms.

OAXACA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

The San Pablo Cultural Center (CCSP) is a space for culture and arts, from an intercultural perspective. Located in the former convent of San Pablo, in the center of Oaxaca city, this site is part of the initiatives of the Alfredo Harp Helú Oaxaca Foundation.

There will be a backstrap loom demonstration and producers from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec will host a cheese tasting. We will present our way of collaborating with groups and communities, as well as the new impact investment program for productive community projects in Oaxaca.

1 km walking to the place of visit.

MAGIC HANDS WEAVING REALITIES

The visit will take you to one of the areas on the urban suburbs of the city of Oaxaca, in the Santa Rosa neighborhood, where you will visit the Bethel company's textile workshop and the offices of the Weavers' Alliance. The pedal looms with whips are approximately 2.10m wide and weave all types of fabrics for the production of artisanal products and in alliance with companies such as Someone Somewhere.

This experience will give you a vision of the place where textile magic and social reality converge to make everything possible, bringing fair and constant work to dozens of families in vulnerable conditions.

TALLER HUELLA CARMÍN / NASHUN

On this visit we will learn about the traditional techniques of weaving on a pedal loom and dyeing with natural pigments. They are:

Immerse yourself in Zapotec culture: cleanse and purify energies with mezcal and incense;

Wool carding experience + spinning + dyeing with natural dyes;

Process of washing fibers with natural soaps;

Fiber pigmentation;

fiber fabric;

Explanation of the making and tasting of the community's traditional chocolate;

Tasting traditional Zapotec food;

Visit to the gallery/family store where you will learn about the history and meaning of prints on fabrics and can purchase products. (textile, clay pieces, mezcal and chocolate).

MANO VUELTA

A multidisciplinary team of indigenous and Afro-Mexican women promoting equitable living and human rights through research, training, support and advocacy to empower indigenous and Afro-Mexican children, young people and women of Oaxaca with a gender perspective, intercultural and anti-racist. Since 2017, Mano Vuelta has accompanied girls, young people, indigenous and Afro-Mexican women in strengthening Sexual and Reproductive Health with decentralized training processes in different territories of the state, as a commitment to enabling safe spaces where dialogue and reflection are placed in the center.

Reflections and experiences that include the exercise of the rights of girls, young people and women who have historically lived at a social disadvantage, prioritizing the disclousure of materials in native languages, popular education methodologies, creation of their own and diverse initiatives, where art and integration of recreational elements, have played a central role in the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights, the right to decide and comprehensive sexual education.

During the visit, participants will learn about the community support work that Mano Vuelta carries out for girls, young people and indigenous and Afro-Mexican women in the state of Oaxaca on topics focused on the exercise of sexual and reproductive health, support for abortion or the right to decide, menstrual management and comprehensive sexuality education.

ENSAMBLE ARTESANO

Workshop of artisan Josefina Ruiz Contreras, representative of the group of artisans and allied organization Laxha. Located in the city of Teotitlán del Valle, in the central valleys of Oaxaca, a Zapotec territory that merges with modernity through the artisanal innovation of this creative city.

The field visit is coordinated with the network that exists locally in Oaxaca, which is part of the Ensamble Artesano initiative, a collective impact network that integrates several actors to influence the artisanal sector, strengthen it and democratize access to information to impact the life of the communities and families that hold Mexico's Intangible Cultural Heritage in their hands from different angles, such as: access to the global market; the incorporation of artisanal producers into the formal sector; development of skills for design and innovation.

Currently, the Ensamble Artesano Network is made up of 5,692 artisans organized into 402 groups and accompanied by 80 allied organizations from 23 states of the Mexican Republic. Oaxaca is the third state with the highest participation in the Network, as it integrates 692 artisans from 50 groups and 22 allied organizations, praising the work with 11 of the 19 traditional craft techniques present in Ensamble Artesano.

INCLUSIVE, DIGNIFIED AND PRODUCTIVE RECYCLING IN OAXACA

The Integrated Urban Solid Waste Management Center of San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, Oaxaca, located on a hill in this municipality, is a green and sustainable space, unique in southeastern Mexico, awarded for the inclusion of recyclers and the community in waste management. It has areas with gardens, rainwater collection, training space, sanitary services and a waste classification area.

Every year it is visited by hundreds of students, organizations, institutions and the public interested in the rights of collectors and the environment. The visit, organized by Kanda International Solidarity, will allow you to learn about a model of cooperation between authorities-recyclers-civil society, unique in southeastern Mexico and which recycles the waste of 12,000 people in the municipality every day, respecting human rights and the work of recyclers.

During the visit we will be able to see the different areas of recycling, composting, orchards, water collection, but above all meet and talk to the recyclers who previously worked without any social and labor protection and who, since 2016, have been respected and integrated by the community. We will carry out some composting activities, preparing vegetable gardens, as well as a workshop on waste classification and labor rights.

LIGHTING THE PATH: SCIENCE AND CULTURE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

We will participate in the local Intercultural Community Baccalaureate (BIC), where there is a collaboration to improve learning about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We will be at the Casa Viviana workshop dedicated to artisanal candle making and we will meet Cuescoo, which promotes innovation and commercialization of crafts, strengthening the workshops.

Moment 1: The Intercultural Community Baccalaureate (BIC) is an educational center formed by 17 teachers and serves a student population of 400 students between 14 and 19 years old.

Moment 2: Casa Viviana is an artisanal family workshop dedicated to the production of beeswax candles. Until today, this workshop is made up of 8 members, each with a specific role who, together and in a coordinated way, enable the creation of handcrafted pieces. Three generations mixed together;

LIVING MEMORIES: TRADITION IN CLAY AND CUISINE WITH ENTREPRENEURS FROM OAXACA

We will have an experience to learn about the tradition of clay and Oaxacan cuisine through the hands of enterprising women who rescue ancestral knowledge as a means of subsistence. With the help of Cristina Olmos, a traditional potter, you will mold your own piece of clay and learn the entire process behind this ancient technique in Mexico.

We will share lunch as you marvel at a cooking demonstration of traditional Oaxacan mole and meet “Dii Zaallil”, a grain roasting company that has incorporated incredible innovations into its design. Furthermore, we will create a space so you can freely stroll through the archaeological remains of Zapotec culture in Zaachila.

ORGANIC AND CERTIFIED COFFEE PROCESSING FACTORY

CEPCO, the State Coordinator of Coffee Producers of Oaxaca, through the Agricultural Marketing Company of the State of Oaxaca, operates a dry milling plant, and La Organización, a value-added company, has a roasting line. These facilities are essential for the commercialization of the coffee they produce, allowing them to take ownership of the production and value chain.

The visit to the factory begins with a tour of the dry milling line, where the process, selection, and formation of green coffee batches for export and domestic consumption are explained. The tour then continues to the roasting and packaging plant of La Organización, where the national consumption commercialization process and product standardization are explained. At the end of the tour, we will have a tasting of coffees and Cold Brew mocktails prepared by Café La Organización, featuring coffee from the Pluma region.