South America
Employment to Peru's poorest
The Rurapuk Products
In Quechua, the language of the ancient Incas, Rurapuk means "people who help each other". With this sacred legacy of the ancients, and the desire of the local people for self-sufficiency, Rurapuk Products was born with the assistance of AMURTEL. Rurapuk Products produces finely crafted articles hand-made by Peruvian women. Rurapuk Products operates two crafts centers in Lima—“Rurapuk Stars” and “Rurapuk Mothers”. The women of Rurapuk Stars and Rurapuk Mothers receive a fare wage and profits are reinvested in Rurapuk Products.
Rurapuk stars showing off their wares
Rurapuk Stars
There are at least 12,000 hearing-disabled women in greater Lima, many
of whom have been trained as seamstresses. They often cannot find work
as employers find it too difficult to communicate with them in the fast
pace and competitive environment of Lima's clothing factories. On top of
this, hearing disabled women often live in extreme poverty and isolation
due to their inability to communicate. Rurapuk Stars is composed of
hearing disabled women. They are talented, sincere, hard working, and
have a refined sense of art and esthetics.
Currently Rurapuk Stars is making cloth dolls wearing the traditional
clothes of the people who live high in the Andes mountains of Peru.
These dolls are called ‘cholitos’ because ‘cholo’ is the name that
Peruvians use for themselves.
Rurapuk Mothers
Rurapuk Mothers is a group of 18 women who live in a poor neighbor of
Lima called “Paraiso Alto”. Paraiso Alto is in the district of Villa
Maria Triumfo. In Paraiso Alto there is no running water, sewage system,
or telephone lines. About 25% of the people do not have electricity.
Most families live in one-room shacks with dirt floors. There are no
parks, green areas, or local doctors. The women of Rurapuk Mothers have
been working together for 3 years and make knitted items. Their main
product currently is finger puppets. The finger puppets are sold to
schools and individuals.