Kinal Antsetik - The Community of Yochib

Garden at K'inal

I began my internship at Kinal Antsetik (www.kinalantsetik.com) in San Cristobal de las Casas last week. I will be working at K'inal 5 days a week, while my roommate, Nilsa, will be there 2 days a week. During our initial meeting, we learned about the history of K'inal and its work with the indigenous women of Chiapas.  K'inal is nestled outside the city center surrounded by wooded hills. K'inal maintains a weaving and embroidery workshop, handmade-textile store, a beautiful little garden and chickens. I will be working on a variety of projects which will include community visits, photography, translating promotional materials, designing and painting a mural with a community, leading support workshops with young women who live at K'inal and other tasks as assigned.

Weaving Loom at K'inal

K'inal Antsetik, meaning Land of Women in theTzeltal language, focuses its work in several different areas, such as product development(weaving and embroidering), health, leadership, education and human rights.

Since its beginning in 1992, K'inal Antsetik has worked with the philosophy of transforming the role of indigenous women and encouraging their participation in all aspects of community life. Through the pursuit of equity, these women are able to occupy a leading role in the development of their communities.

Jolom Mayaetik is a branch of K'inal that operates as a textile cooperative for the women of various indigenous communities in Chiapas.  Aside from receiving a fair price for their products, the women of Jolom are maintaining an ancient cultural tradition.  The women understand the weaving process not simply as economic empowerment but as form of cultural preservation and connection to their ancestors.

One of the main projects that Yolanda, co-founder of K'inal, is assigning is the creation and development of a diagnostic assessment tool that would be used to gain insight into the needs and issues within the various indigenous women's communities.  The first stage of this project is simply visiting with the various communities and getting to know some of the women with whom K'inal works.

Yesterday was our first community visit. We met at K'inal at 8 am in order to meet our driver and two of the women who live at K'inal, Celia and Rosalinda . Celia and Rosalinda accompanied Nilsa and I to Yochib because they are fluent in Spanish, Tzeltal and Tzotzil and many of the women we were to encounter only speak Tzeltal. After the usual driver did not arrive, we decided to take a taxi for the 1.5 hour journey up the mountains. 

I slept for most of the drive because of the dramomine but I will say that when I woke up briefly near the end of our drive, the mountain view was breathtaking. We were dropped off across from a small home/convenience store as Celia and Rosalinda directed and we walked up a small muddy path towards our destination.  

La Cocina

When we arrived at the small compound there were several women cooking, cleaning and/or breastfeeding children. We were immediately welcomed into the kitchen centered around the wood stove where Rosa was preparing breakfast. We sat around a small table with small wooden chairs and were served a steaming bowl of dried beef and potato soup.  It was delicious.   The other women appeared to have already eaten and were completing their morning duties.   

Shortly after we took our last sip of soup, the meeting began. All the women gathered around the small table with their recently made products: hand-woven and embroidered scarves, bibs and blouses. Along with being wonderful translators and guides, Celia and Rosalinda, turned out also to be savvy businesswomen as they carefully priced and inspected the quality of the products.  Despite the obvious importance of this meeting, the women laughed, joked and smiled throughout.

Jobian morning coffee and nap

Another beautiful element of this unexpected business meeting was the way multiple generations were at the table. Several women had babies strapped to their backs or toddlers tugging at their skirts-- the eldest of the women was spinning thread in the corner during the entire gathering. 

Since we were given little information before making this trip and neither Nilsa or I speak Tzeltal, we asked a lot of questions on the trip back. Celia and Rosalinda explained that they make this trip once every 3 months in order to gather the products that the women create and sell them at the K'inal store for a better price.  These visits also give the women a chance to stay connected with K'inal, along with workshops that some of the community leaders(like Rosa) attend and bring back to the women at Yochib. 

Yesterday, was a beautiful, impressive and empowering glimpse into the lives of some of the amazing women of Yochib. I look forward to more community visits and my continued work with K'inal.