Weaving and Sewing for Our New Preschool

Grupo Cajola (the community group that has been accompanying us in creating and growing our business) is starting a preschool that will be for our preschool children and the children in the other women’s business (the egg farm) this first year (then it will be opened up to the community.) The school will be very good for our children and will be very good for our work, too!

The school is based on the ideas of the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. These schools, dating back to the 1940’s and considered by UNESCO as the leading pre-schools in the world, have developed a child-centered approach to learning based on leading child development theories and emphasizing the development of critical thinking and collective work. Our school will be based on learning our maternal language, Mam, and learning Spanish as a second language. The name of our school is "Wisdom of Our Elders School" meaning that the school is being founded on the principles of the Maya Mam cosmovision and spirituality.

We have been weaving and sewing for the school. So far we have made cushions for the children to nap on, large pillows for the reading area, bags for the children to carry their things in, and table cloths for the eating are. The photo shows one of the table cloths. The tables have been made by Talent Tree Carpentry of Cajola, another project of Grupo Cajola. This is our first “rounded” project. We learned to sew a fell seam, and we see that we need to practice our curved seams a bit, too!