Episode 72 - Maria Pacheco, Wakami Global
After a 30-year internal conflict in Guatemala, more people were dying from hunger and poverty than from the war. When Maria spent time in these communities asking how she could help, the women of the communities said, "Maria, we need a source of income."
This is a special conversation between Christine and her mentor, Maria Pacheco. Maria's story is fascinating; she is a Biologist, Entrepreneur, Mother, and firm believer in the idea that collective dreams are unstoppable.
Maria and Christine discuss the journey to Wakami, Maria's business. Wakami is a social system that connects rural artisans to global markets, helping them generate income and transform cycles of poverty into cycles of prosperity.
Wakami comprises two organizations working hand in hand: an NGO that gives professional training to rural groups of women and a social business that designs and exports handmade products made by these women for the global market. Wakami is also a handmade fashion accessories brand used to market products in 20 countries around the world.
Maria was born in Guatemala, and is a Biologist and Entrepreneur. She is a firm believer in the idea that collective dreams are unstoppable. She is also one of the people I look up to most and cherish as a mentor and friend.
Maria is a Fulbright Scholar with her Master's Degree in Biology, and she has received much well deserved recognition of the work she has done to end the cycle of poverty in Guatemala.
In this episode, they discuss the potency of witnessing culture through ancestral art, knowing why you travel, and the importance and power of individual and collective dreams. Christine and Maria dive deep into why assessing and supporting a community in ways that it really needs is so impactful, as well as how investing in women creates a greater impact.
In this episode, Christine and Maria discuss:
Maria’s story and how travel found her
The journey to Wakami Global
The importance and power of individual and collective dreams
How to assess and support a community in ways that it really needs
The potency of witnessing culture through ancestral art
Why investing in women creates a greater impact
The challenges faced in the communities in Guatemala during the pandemic and how they are being overcome
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
To learn more about Maria Pacheco and Wakami Global, head to www.mariapacheco.com
Follow Maria on your favorite social platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
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About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of women who are industry professionals and seasoned travelers and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart-centered change makers.
The guests work in all sectors of the tourism industry. You'll hear from adventure-based community organizations, social impact businesses, travel photographers and videographers, tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, and transformational travel experts. They all honor the idea that travel is more than a vacation and focus on sustainable travel, eco-travel, community-based tourism, and intentional travel.
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If you want to learn about new destinations, types of travel, or how to be more intentional or live life on purpose, join Christine Winebrenner Irick for soulful conversations with her community of fellow travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe. These conversations highlight what tourism really means for the world.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor.) Maria Pacheco (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing and production by Rayna Booth.
Transcript
KEYWORDS
Guatemala, community, women, people, villages, travel, world, voices, projects, dream, support, inspire
Christine Winebrenner Irick 00:08
Thank you for joining me for soulful conversations with my community of fellow travelers, exploring the heart, the mind and the globe. These conversations highlight what travel really means for the world. Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. Each week, I'll be speaking to women who are tourism professionals, world travelers and leaders in their communities will explore how travel has changed them and how that has rippled out and inspired them to change the world. These conversations are as much about travel as they are about passion, and living life with purpose, chasing dreams, building businesses, and having the desire to make the world a better place. This is a community of people who no travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart centered change makers I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick. And this is the Soul of Travel.
For this special destination highlight I'm bringing back my conversation with Maria Pacheco. I partnered with Maria and welcomed me to create our Guatemala sojourn, and our social impact partners we choose are so important in creating our journeys at Lotus sojourns. If you haven't already listened to our conversations in the past, you can hear more from Maria in season one as well. Maria was born in Guatemala, and is a biologist and entrepreneur. She is a firm believer in the idea that collective dreams are unstoppable. She is also one of the people I look up to most and cherish as a mentor and friend. Maria is a Fulbright scholar with her master's degree in biology, and she has received much well deserved recognition of the work she has done to end the cycle of poverty in Guatemala. In this episode, we talk about the importance and power of individual and collective dreams. We discuss assessing and supporting a community in ways that it really needs, as well as how investing in women creates a greater impact. She also shares challenges faced in the communities in Guatemala during the pandemic, and how they are being overcome. It is always an honor to sit in conversation with Maria.
I invite you to join me now for my soulful conversation with Maria Pacheco. Good morning and welcome to the Soul of Travel voices of women. I'm so excited today to have Maria Pacheco joining us again from Guatemala. Last season when we spoke, we talked a lot about traveling to Guatemala. I had traveled there last year, I would actually have been just returning from there this year if life were the way we had thought it might have been. And so I'm so excited to have you with me here today, especially during this moment when I've really been missing Guatemala and that experience. So good morning.
03:45
Good morning, Christine. It's so great to be here again and talk about things that move us and think so yeah, thank you.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 03:53
Yeah, and we had, I think probably a long list of things that we still wanted to talk about. And probably at the end today another long list, but we'll just move through some of the things. For those of you who didn't listen to our last conversation. Maria is the founder of Okami global in Guatemala. And the reason I wanted her to come back on during the season, particularly for voices of women, is because of the impactful work that you do in Guatemala and the recognition you've received for that and how much it inspires me so I want to spread that to everyone else who might be listening. And I just want to start kind of at our roots with talking a little bit about what kami and the artists in the group and how that got started. And I just want to begin with the idea that you always say that individual dreams are powerful, and collective dreams are unstoppable and that is something that resonates with me so strongly. I know sometimes we feel like we have this huge aspiration or vision or wish to create impact, and it feels difficult to do alone. And I have found that there's not really a reason to do that. Like, sometimes we have to get started alone. But there's so many people who are always surrounding us, who I feel like come along, to help us carry on in our mission, and we bring the people along with us who need us. And that builds that support. So it really becomes a community and collaborations that just keep evolving. So if you want to just talk a little bit about that collective dream, we'll call me and where that began.
05:44
Yeah, no, I Yeah, there's something I learned more and more as the power of collective dreams. Yeah, I think for us, in Guatemala, the word dream is very important, because sometimes the reality is very hard. So the dream is the one thing you hold on to, that gives you the energy. And for us in Guatemala, we really started thinking about that. Because there, like I was saying, like in communities where we were working, I was just telling Christine, we started working in communities about 30 years ago, the war was still going on, after the war, and more and more people were dying from poverty. But I think that the importance of dreams is to allow you to say, Okay, this is where we are now, but we want to be somewhere else. And the whole journey of trying to create changes, it's like a GPS, you're here you want to get here, you know, what do you need to do, but like, like you said, Christina, I think I started like having this dream of my own.
And it just started because I was like, oh my god, it's so horrible to be part of a country that allows children to die, women to die or this war to be going on. And and first of all, like, you know, you want to just run away from the world like moments like sometimes in this world or like that again, but just saying, okay, you know, what will move me what will make a difference, and and so starting to work alone on that dream or with somebody else. And then as you walk this journey, you realize more people join, and some will join for a little bit and leave but others will stay with you for a long time. And, and, and instead of being Maria's dream or portraying his dream, like the first guy in the villages, that becomes a collective dream, where everybody gets something different and gets something different. But together, we're creating that change. And, and I think that's what gives me so much hope that it's not just on you anymore, but you are supporting others and working with others to make change happen.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 07:34
And so will call me artists and a cooperative that creates opportunities for women in rural communities in Guatemala, and with the mission of transforming the cycles of poverty that we see to prosperity. How does that work? I know that investing in women is really important to create change. Can you speak to that? And why that is so important.
08:04
Yeah, and like, you know, what we were saying, we were going to the villages, you know, sometimes that's outsiders, we don't exactly know what's needed, you know, you can I was touched by seeing the reality, but it was really the women that said, if you help us sell what we produce the rest we can do. I mean, I was a biologist, I got a degree in agriculture. And it's like, what do you guys do? Right, so that's where we started, you know, seeing what the value is what the skills of the women were seeing their products, but also realizing, after trying to sell those products that we needed to really create a system where we would be looking at that market where customers with women in the world would want and to design products for them. But that could be made by the villages by the women because those are their skills. And that's how we're coming from as a brand. And what we do is like we worked with Konami as a business and with the women that we work with, they each become individual businesses. So it's like a value chain of businesses, their business sells to us and we sell, you know, to threats or to other people and, and that's how it works. And just really realizing that for the women having that first source of income becomes key for their empowerment and for change to happen.
But in Guatemala, because women, you know, usually that average school attendance is three, four years. So it's very hard for a woman to start a business and just for me to say, you know, guys, we need this send it to us. So we have a methodology to incubate those businesses. So we have technicians that speak the local language that go to the village once a week, for two years at least, to make sure that as the orders start coming in as they start growing these business people with the legal requirements of quality control requirements, and so that's how the system works. You know, you can't just order something. These villages are remote, there's no logistics, you have to set it up together with them. And it's also their dream to be able to be part of a global economy. So their dream of doing that and my dream and what camis dream of saying how We, you know, create prosperity, those two come together to create what kami is a brand of personal handmade accessories.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 10:07
Yeah, I really love that it is not just a system of ordering and placing orders, my my interaction, and I'm so lucky to have met some of the women leading artists and groups and to see how empowered they are to be leaders in their communities to start their businesses to take the skills they learned through the Raqami training program and really apply it even to other businesses and, and becoming mentors to other women that they know and work with. It really, it ripples out really quickly. And so I think that's where you really see the importance of investing in women is because of the way we connect, and the way we nurture, then we have this success, we want to succeed for the other people that we love and that are around us and who need to have those same needs met. And so we don't really keep the success to ourselves, I guess we want the success for everyone. And so I loved witnessing that unfolding when I was in Guatemala.
11:14
And we learned first about that with Vital Voices. Like I'm part of the Vital Voices, this glue, global movement of women that really started in the US and you know, we're in Guatemala Marchesa country. So the worst part of that is not just that men are not good to women, it is that women are not good to women, right? But once you see the power of when I went to the US for the first time to Vital Voices and saw women celebrating collaborating with me, it was like, it was a discovery, you know, and it really wants women to be empowered and tap into that role of supporting each other. I mean, really, we go a long way. So like you say that the women in development in the villages say, okay, you know, some of them have been with us 14 years, they say, okay, my kids are out of college even now.
But there's other women with young kids, we want to keep this going, we want to now make a difference for them. It's no longer about my kids, it's about other women's kids. And you see that women lead differently. And that's what we've learned with Bible voices, you know, and there's, there's exceptions, but usually women, when they have power, when they have a good opportunity, they want to spread it like it can be kept with him as well. Yeah. And just to see this woman in power, like you saw, right now, for example, with school attendance, there's no internet in the villages, kids are not going to school. So some of the women have taken it to them teaching classes, and then going to the kids. And so there's, you know, when somebody is empowered, they can just, you know, create the change that they want to create for their community.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 12:40
Yeah, this action becomes much more possible. For people listening Vital Voices is a global movement that invests in women leaders who are solving challenges around the world. And I know they just launched a book that I'm really excited about. I'm waiting to get 100 women using their power to empower it. And again, I think that's so important, because I feel like it's almost trendy to say women are empowering women at this certain time. But it's so important because we really see ourselves and each other and then are able to take these steps that we maybe have held ourselves back from and it does empower one another especially when we're connecting authentically.
And I loved traveling in Guatemala. And that's why I created Lotus sojourns to create those global connections and interactions so that we can really inspire one another. And I know when I travel, I learn as much from the women I'm meeting when I travel, as hopefully they are from me and that we're a mutual exchange of inspiration and support. And I think it's really important when we live kind of in our own bubble, we we kind of get lost, and I'm sure this time you've seen that too, where we're all really isolated and we kind of forget even if we were on that path of success or really moving forward everything has kind of halted but to be able to just shit sit and share space with people who are going through the same experiences even in a completely different way. It's just really eye opening and allows just this great freedom I guess I don't. I don't really know how to explain it but it's a really magical thing.
14:44
Oh, and I think like you say I think sometimes as women we tend to think of what we do as small as not important that I remember before I went to Vital Voices in 2006 I was like okay, I'm working in the villages all my friends thought I was crazy for not you know, I came back from from Brunel, from my masters didn't go to work for a big company, I said, I want to go to the villages. And like people just thinking, we're crazy. And I'm thinking to myself, like, you know, like, I'm just working with these villages. I'm doing what I love, we're working together, we're checking, you know, planting trees, that first initiative. And when I went to buy the voices, they say, wow, yeah, that's a big deal, what you're doing and, you know, and, and you're a leader, and I'm like, what you know, and you're a social entrepreneur. And I'm like, what, you know, like, for me, it was just in my head, I'm doing what I like, and, and that's how important it is. So I think a lot of women were all like that. So vital, vote for me, not just allow me to connect, like you said, with other women's chairs deeply. But it also allowed me to see myself in a little bit different lights and see that what I was doing was important. And if many of us did that, it was going to be really important. So yeah,
Christine Winebrenner Irick 15:53
I love that. I mean, also, one of the things that really drew me to you initially is that I see your heart in the work that you do. And I know that that is why you were doing it. And I love that it was a surprise to you that you were a leader and creating great change and that someone had to reach out and honor you for you to see that because I think I mean, I feel like some people may be set out to create change for the, for their resume, right for for it being something they can say that they did, and and then there's some people who like you, you just are doing the thing that makes your heart happy, and meeting the needs of your community and just doing the next right thing one step at a time.
And so I felt really honored that I get to witness that in you and just kind of inspires me to kind of keep working in that way. Because I know it's what I want to do as well. And I just think that's really beautiful to connect with someone that it's just from their heart. And I see that in the whole community of what kami that I've experienced is everybody is operating from their heart for the good of everyone. And it's such an amazing thing. And I know that starts with you and ripples out but it's great to be a part of that.
17:21
No, I'm like we were talking earlier Christina and I think for everybody listening I think sometimes we feel like changing the world this disconnected from our what we'd like to do or and for me it's you know, it's different when people say oh my Yeah, but it's you're going to the villages I said What are you talking about? I love the villages. I mean, I love being in contact with nature, I love having to dress informally and do nothing to nobody you need to impress. So it really is and I love trees. I love plants. You know, I'm a tree hugger. So it really is beautiful. When you realize that you've every one of us has a talent that we bring into the world. And that's what we call the passion and that passion we use it to, to, you know, to live a good life, but also to transform other people's lives. I think that's beautiful. And what can we say global change begins at home. And that first step at home is Guatemala, you know, then with a quarantine home is that house and now home is us, you know and what you were talking about how we transport as we transform us, and we mix it with our passion and the gift for the world and we unite that with other people's passions and gifts. That becomes a beautiful energy that can transcend the harshness of the moment.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 18:37
Hi, it's Christine interrupting this episode for just a quick minute to invite you to join me for my get wild in Glacier women's wilderness retreat. I'm so excited to share because last year when I partnered with my friend Becky rob from Trailblazer wellness, we brought women to the top of a fourteener in Colorado and knew we had to do it again. This year we're headed to Glacier Park in Montana. I grew up in northwest Montana and cannot wait to share this treasured corner of the world with you. You'll get to get wild and reconnect with your inner child as you hike, bike, ride horseback and whitewater raft. Not only that, Becky and I spend three months with you preparing for this adventure and creating community. You'll be excited to meet in person and share this adventure with during these three months you'll get one on one coaching with Becky to prepare for the adventure, as well as mindset and yoga sessions led by me and education from other inspiring women about nutrition on the trail and packing for adventure, as well as learning from local educators about nature and wildlife and indigenous communities. This is a unique experience that adds so much depth to your journey. Registration for this women's wilderness retreat closes on May 20. And our virtual coaching begins on June 6. Visit the Lotus sojourns website for more information. I cannot wait to share my home with you.
Now, let's hop back over to our soulful conversation.
I think that's, I think that's a really important thing to connect to. And I know that we were talking about this a little bit before in our conversation before we hopped on. But I know that at one point in your career, you were actually asked to run as a vice presidential candidate on a ticket in Guatemala. And I know reading about that and thinking about that, your first impulse would be like, well, of course, you would do that, that's, that's an honor. That's an aspiration that people would seek and important and, and all of these kinds of things that would be wrapped around an offer like that. And, and you didn't choose to do that. And you chose to follow where your heart was really leading for you. And so I would love for you to share, like, what that awareness was for you, because it really influenced where you went from, from that time. And I think that's important for other women to know, like, we can follow our dreams and not just checkboxes.
21:15
Ya know, for me, like, every time, you know that I talk and, and sometimes when I go to Bible voices, just, you know, talking about dreams or changing my country and everything. And of course, you know, like Secretary Clinton and Kay Bailey Hutchinson were at the heart of Vital Voices. I mean, it was foreign support within a political environment. Everybody's like, what are you gonna run for president? When are you gonna run for president and, you know, it actually got into my head, like, maybe, you know, I could be a leader for the country like that, especially for us that, you know, people that say, you know, I want to create massive change, you know, you want to create massive change, government is a way to do it.
But then as time went by, I realized that the way that I am, I wouldn't be as good, I don't think or now anyway, I could, I could be a good politician first. Because it's, it's not what I'm about. And, and realize that, yeah, I could have a lot of power, but I have to give up a lot of what I really love, and what part of what I love about my work is that nobody has to vote for me to do it. You know, I, there's people there waiting for opportunities. And it's like, so so that I love the freedom in which you can operate and, and the honesty to your values in which you can operate, I think, to be a politician means you have to, you have to, to sometimes give up certain things, there's negotiation, that's all part of politics and, and I saw myself as saying, you know, what, maybe what calm is not going to be so massive. But we can create this space that inspires others, that teachers, that where we learn other ways to be this is a magical space, it doesn't matter how big it is.
But it's a space that is transformational, where alchemy happens, where, you know, people come in with thinking they're poor, they live, thinking they're rich and knowing they're rich. And, and so it really took me a lot of going inside and saying what's really important that outside power, or just being honest to who I am. And that's why I said, you know, thank you. But now I will stay with what kami and I will collaborate where Kimmy has collaborated many times with government projects, where what we have learned in our small space becomes one of those projects that was where the World Bank and it became a $60 million loan to Guatemala to replicate what we were doing. So yeah, I think to everybody out there, you know, it's like, really, you're going to change the world best from using your your talents, and from doing what you'd love to do the most, the small twitches, you're not doing it just for yourself, but you're doing it for yourself, for your community and for the world.
And I think that's what so but it's been, you know, hard, just like, don't want to be a politician or when things go back in the country. I didn't run but one of my best friends from Vital Voices did run for vice president for one of the strongest parties. She learned a lot. It was tough. She's always used to winning. So she was like, Oh, come within the win. But she's learned a lot by saying, you know, maybe this is where I want to make my career. So it just been, you know, who we are and what is what we're about and being true to that and it might manifest in different ways. But it's not okay, politicians check. doesn't work
Christine Winebrenner Irick 24:21
for me anyway. And it can be hard because sometimes what we really feel in our heart doesn't necessarily lay out on paper like we had planned. Like, we often set out with a vision for who we think we are, and we find out along the way. Like we are a part of that. And it's different from the social suggestions of who we should be and how we should show up. Just as you were speaking, it reminded me of the narwhal that I received when I was in Guatemala that talked about your characteristics and who you are based on your mind size. And the dear and I remember reading one of the things was that in order for someone who has that sign to be strong is that they have to live there inside on their outside like they have to match. And I actually just was reading that before this, and I was the same sign that I have. And I was like, Oh, it's so true. Like, every time I fight against that, it falls apart. Exactly. So I think that learning and listening to ourselves, really does send us in the right direction to have the biggest impact. And so it's like you said, the change starts at home, and then it ripples out. And so
25:41
yeah, that's the hardest thing to hear ourselves. Right. And there's many voices so which one is the voice within ourselves? And as women? I think we doubt ourselves a lot. Is this voice real? This is that I think that you know, being able to fine tune into that voice. What makes the difference? I didn't know you were a deer key. Is that the mind? Well for that, then? Yeah. So deer are meant to create a balance between nature and people. Deer are about bringing together the four races of the world, the four cardinal points for energy sofa, you know, Earth Wind, Fire, so we're like uniting. And it says that harmony is the most important thing for us. But the harmony comes from being inspired by beauty as well. Yeah, the Mayans were wise people. Because when I saw myself I was like, why am I the way I am? And my parents are like this. And then I saw my mind sign. And it's like, exactly. Now these mines have no way. I'm like that.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 26:41
I felt the same. And when I went through the ceremony, that woman that was with us that was translating, she was like, Oh, yes. Like this. I see. Like, I just see it in you and my friend that was with me as well. And yeah, it was really validating for me to like to see myself through that lens. So it was really great. I'm gonna go from there, I guess right into talking about agriculture. And right now the projects that you have with sustainable food projects and regenerative agricultural practices. And with actual back that up. So I mentioned I was supposed to be in Guatemala this last week. Yeah, in a sojourn. So I'm a little sad about that, but I will be there as soon as I can. But in the absence of travel, it really got me thinking about all these communities that I love to visit when I am traveling, and what could the Lotus sojourns community do for not only the communities I visit, but my other colleagues. And so I wanted to create awareness about what happens when the tourism dollars disappear. Like it's a big ripple effect. It's not just that we don't get to go on a vacation.
So many things are in place, especially when you travel in a way that supports local communities, which is what is important to me. And so I wanted to one create awareness of that impact to find a way that I could still support those communities. And three, find a way to continue to build community amongst the people who would be traveling or who may travel in the future. And so I launched Lotus communities and reached out to you and said, You know, I want to support what caught me what projects you have going on right now. And I was like, of course, perfect timing, that you guys are really focusing on this agricultural asset for your communities. So I would love to talk a little bit about that work. And I know it brings you back home, like you just said, like, into the dirt and growing things and bringing that part of yourself to the economy artisans, as well,
29:06
ya know, for us, and thank you, you know, like I was getting chills as you were talking because this connection means so much. For us. I think that when the COVID hit, it hit us in two ways. And it was like, you know, we're trying to get masks for everybody in the mask. Even the disposal world was at the beginning. We're $10 And I'm like, Where are the women in the village going to find this? So our first initial reaction was okay, you know, how do we get the women protected? And that's where their matchmaking project started. And now we sell mass, but it was very important, but second was, oh my god, markets are going to be in and out of these communities, but where's the food going to come from? And that really worried me because what the models are really a place where 50% of people suffered chronic malnutrition.
So that means the quality of food is not good. And it was like with no jobs with the communities close to COVID where people didn't eat. So we have Been looking a little bit at that with a Guatemalan leader that lives in the US that really does. I love that regenerative agriculture methodology that starts with hens that lay eggs. And then so the community immediately starts having protein, which is something that is not easily available. And then with the chickens with the manure in the field to start growing other crops. So it seems to me I have been an organic farmer for 10 years, but now more focused on export crops. And it's like no, the native if we have the chicken manure in the farm, and it just made clicks, so that we got started thinking about the pilot. And when COVID happened, the some products we had with the Embassy of Sweden and fall, were like, Let's just totally switch to regenerative agriculture. And it makes so much sense because now you know, through academia or through coffee, which is another, these communities have an international market. But now with the written narrative of agriculture, first I have food for themselves.
Eggs and native plants have a good market locally. And now as more women start doing this, we can go regionally. But then you know, if you have 10 women doing this, in a village, we can come to Antigua to the restaurants and have a so you can have a personal market and local market or regional market and a national market. And so, and it's beautiful, because you already know, when we thought of this project, it's like, oh, we're going to try to see who wants to do it. When we went to the villages, women had already attempted a lot of this without the technical support. So they're like now it's like, Oh, my God, you know, we, they said, you know, every time we get a project that some politician went in our boats, but this is so good. And so now you go to the village, as you see the chickens, you see the eggs, you see the native crops growing, you see women now because they have to sell, you know, going to stores and starting to event is harder than just, you know, doing the welcoming jewelry, because now they really, it's a full being a business leader.
And it's beautiful to see that what it's based on the richness of the country, you know, what Amala we were, we have very bad social indicators, but the diversity and the soil and the weather allows for organic agriculture year round, you know, so, so for me, it's back to basics, it's back to the community says back to honor and people and the earth. And, and we're still experimenting, that the feed of the chickens is the most expensive thing. So now we're going to try, you know, more local food for the chickens. And that brings other people into the value chain. So it's really becoming a circular economy where everything you know goes around in that ecosystem, and money coming from the outside from other value chains dynamics as a whole local economy. But in one day, there's not that market, there's food in the villages. And so I love the word food, autonomy. And that means that communities, you know, if one day, there's not a market for x or W reason, they have their own food, and they can feed their families and the community.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 33:10
I love that. And it really got me thinking about food production in the United States. And I often think about this when I travel because most time you're consuming food locally, we don't you don't have the privilege in many other countries to be eating, you know, Bananas, bananas, from Ecuador, and pineapples from, you know, all these places that we get food imported in the United States. And, and the food is really delicious, because it's local, and it hasn't been transported. And it really tells the story of the place you are because it's from the place. And so I was even thinking about it a little bit from a tourism perspective that created these gardens. It just adds one more thing to that they can share with people when they visit and I know I did visit a few organic gardens and I just I couldn't believe like you said the abundance and the richness and I had never seen kale look like trees I mean I just never seen being growing the way it grows.
And so I think that when you look at it from that perspective, it's just another way to connect people to the culture and the land and the place and really get an understanding of the environmental impacts and the social impacts they get that creates that conversation. And so I'm really excited about that just being one more tool for connection for the communities and when we travel to have those meaningful moments. So I'm looking forward to that and eating really delicious food from the community.
34:52
Yeah, you know, Guatemala, like if you want to change climate, all you have to do is change altitude. You know, it's a small country but with all the ecosystems So you know, within 40 minutes of walking, you can go through three different ecosystems, which gives you that diversity of plants. So that's great. I like that Amala has a lot of superfoods, you know, like avocado, and, I mean, there's many chia seeds, amaranth, I mean, those are all, you know, a lot of Latin American countries have those superfoods. But like you say, I think for me that my vision now of, you know, like, what is the true celebration, this, this is what I call the share table, you know, so when you have a table with all the food grown locally, and people from the village and people from other communities, like you guys came, and we're all sharing that that table, but and, you know, in honoring the Earth and other in each other. So for me, the concept of a shared table that is from you know, from farm to, to the table right there, it's like, that's, for me, the symbol right now of prosperity, of richness of wealth, of abundance of gratefulness, you know, as a community sharing one table, so, and with this regenerative agriculture, we're being able to do it, you know, just waiting for, like you said, you know, when the fact that people can travel really affects these communities that were set up for tourism. So finding these other ways becomes key and the end, knowing that when things are good, your seat at the table is fighting for, for you, and everybody that wants to come to class with you.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 36:27
And I think it's so powerful too, because we did see with the loss in the halls of travel, how, how places are impacted that this is a project that not only, you know, serves as something interesting and interactive for a travel experience. But it goes beyond that, and does serve the community. So it serves both needs, it creates opportunity in both directions. It's not like having a vendor store or something where if you have no travelers, then you're not left with anything, when you are growing food that you're then sharing with the community and inviting travelers in, it has that benefit as well. And so I really love that idea. And then the idea of abundance, mirrored through celebrating the land. I think that's really beautiful. It reinforces the value of culture and the planet and the earth and just shows that importance not only to people who might be traveling there, but to the people who've lived there who maybe have lost that connection or lost that appreciation for that abundance.
I know when I've been traveling for one one story in Africa. And they were showing me all the things again, it was in Uganda, and it was another place much like Guatemala where it's just so lush, and everything grows and the bounty of things that they could provide was endless, it just wasn't a financial thing that they could give. And it was really beautiful to hear them talk about what they had in that way. And then in planting, one time, I was volunteering in along the Amazon and we planted palm and all these other things in the garden behind the school that the kids helped to grow so that they can learn about growing but then they had food that they prepare prepared for us for a lunch and the whole process of like planting with them learning about the plants, things that I had never eaten and then eating them and having them share. When I look back on that it's such a powerful connection. And every time I see a dish like that somewhere else, it draws me right back to that moment. And so that love and to that abundance that I felt and so I really think it just has so many levels, like you said like it kind of connects the dots like it just comes right to where it should.
39:08
And through and through going back to basics. You know, my brother, he said, he's a missionary, he's a priest and he says Maria, I've learned that poor people are not related to how much you have, it's related to how much you're willing to share. And so you know, when when these communities have this abundance of crops, they will you know, they will give you food you will eat you will come home with and so it really brings back the energy of abundance and sharing that then of course it's important to have that the money as well but it starts by being experimented at that level. So you know, you go to a community here and you come back with mangoes and chicken. Sometimes I know that you know, that'd be harder for me but I will call those the Mongols to everything and, and it's all based on what's already here. what's already in the villages is just value in it and finding a way to do it. for it to really generate wealth, and to reconnect the communities because you know, when we may have not been educated, they think maybe, oh, a soda, or junk food, it's a package. So it must be clean, and it must be better. And when you're able to direct an act to know, you know, of course, we need clean water in the communities. And that's one of the other challenges. But once you have that, how do you know, all that they have really takes on you and the value for them. And when you honor where you are and what you are, that's the first empowerment, right? When you're proud of, of your roots and regenerative agriculture allows for
Christine Winebrenner Irick 40:38
Yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful model for creating that, that connection and bringing you back home. I know that you also mentioned, you know, beyond meeting this initial need for food, even today that you were, like, experiencing the follow up of a hurricane. And so, you know, just thinking about, and for people that haven't traveled somewhere like Guatemala, what that means for roads washing out, and bridges washing out, and again, food access becomes a really, really important issue. So it kind of goes beyond the parameters of COVID. Like, this is something that is so important to have in place, and really will help to support the communities in the long run,
41:25
ya know, like where you were saying, you know, with the hurricane, that was two weeks ago, some of our communities were disconnected. And now I just got the communication that the bridges are off for two or three of the communities where we work. And my first thought was like, Oh, my God, no, you know, the farmer is going to have so many chickens, what are we going to do with so many eggs, you know, what are we going to do? And that was like, Oh, my God, he's going to be able to feed his community now with those eggs. And that's exactly what's happening, you know, like, and so he's committed to starting to value the women or the men that have these farms, because now it's like, there's food locally. And today, the only thing we're saying is because electricity went off as well. Now we're going to find the solar energy kits so that they can have access to phones. But yeah, when, you know, a river goes through these things, the families are disconnected for a long time. And with, you know, it's hard for the government to, you know, re invest again, in those bridges and everything when it happens. So one after the other. So yeah, these people are now heroes in their communities, because they are able to be you know, that the family is there with their product. So it's taken on a whole different dimension as well, right? Yeah.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 42:39
Yeah, I think it's so, so amazing. And it allowed them to solve one problem, which then empowers you to solve another problem, right, which may be solar, they'll say, you know, we've, we didn't know that we could invest in this regenerative agriculture. But we've tried it before. And it didn't if we didn't thrive in growing things. But now they've had that success. And so it just makes it easier to take the next step. And then you know, solar power might be something that they navigate. And then what's the next step? Well, the clean water and it just keeps building as a community. Yeah.
43:15
But it's and it all starts and it grows faster, as they're more sure of themselves. And they recognize themselves as leaders as soon as change makers, you know, and that's the key to all of this at the end. Yeah. So yeah, we're happy now is asking how many eggs how many chickens and how many cracked eggs and you know, like, all the indicators are changing, but it's fun to see now the beets growing the Swiss chard, growing the other other native plants that have different names in Spanish and, and just to see everything growing and being circled around and the chicken, then they're going back to the coffee or going back to the organic gardens and just other people working together, because now they will depend on each other for, you know, some to produce the food for the chickens, the other half the eggs, the other. So you start really having that, instead of like a poverty spiral down, it's a prosperity spiral up. And it's just providing the opportunities and part of the knowledge and then you know, they run with the knowledge, because it was embedded in them. So it's just temporarily forgotten, I would say,
Christine Winebrenner Irick 44:15
Yeah, I love that so much.
44:17
I love for all of you listening, and then before you Christine to be back here and be able to say that one of those tables and listen to the women, like one of the women, her husband is in the US and she's saying, Oh, if this grows, you know, I hope he can come back because again, what the models are controlled with only 20 out of 100 people with a formal job. The rest of the 80% have to figure out what to do and it's hard when COVID Plus hurricane plus a lot of stuff so, so yeah, it's just fun to hear her, you know, cry or I mean, I mean, hear her tell her story. But now there's hope at the end of this story. And her two kids are going to call it and you know like it's, it's beautiful stories of change that we can Wait for each other as we work together.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 45:02
Yeah, excellent. Well, I'm happy to just continue to see how we can grow and support one another and to keep bringing more people into the conversation so that it just keeps building. And I just wanted to share for anybody who's listening, and we were talking about the Lotus communities that I launched. I have my nan today, who says she will move mountains. And I had when I saw that, quote, I really thought of those women that I met in Guatemala, and they were moving mountains and the quote, I don't have the whole quote in front of me, I should have brought it but it says, it's something like let her sleep now for when she wakes, she will move mountains. And like, the women are waking up, and they're moving the mountains. And it's so exciting to be able to witness that and to share in a part of that journey. And so this month, with Lotus communities $10 from every shirt is going towards these agricultural products and projects. And I'm also going to roll that over into December because I had a goal of what I wanted to raise for what to call me and for these projects, and I didn't reach it.
This is the beginning of this initiative for me. So December is also going to be celebrating this work in Guatemala. And I'm going to be announcing the new design for the shirts every month will be a new design, kind of limited edition, with an inspirational quote that kind of taps into the community. And, and actually, I haven't even shared with anybody yet, but it's gonna be together we rise, which I think is why I love that I'm getting chills. Yeah, so um, I'm just so happy to be able to create awareness and do whatever I can to, to support and continue to build community. And so I'll share with this conversation how people can connect with Lotus communities and also with what to call me and if there's any other projects right now. Or any way that people listening can reach out to support will call me and to learn more about anything that you would like to share. I'd like to give you the space for that as well.
47:22
No, thank you first I mean I got chills those quotes are so true, you know the women from Vital Voices because we launched Vital Voices in Guatemala to try to you know, mentor other women but the truth is we've been walking together with like eight women and we are like each other's support and together like one of them. I mean, each one is doing very different things that are breaking the glass ceiling for women and gluttony. It's because we're all together. Yeah, so know one of the things that you can go to work on April, what coming Foundation, we are raising money for scholarships for the different villages before what can we use to give like smaller amounts of scholarships, specially for junior high school and high school good, those are not free, you have to pay.
But now that you know less people with work, those are going to be bigger. So you can actually go to the Wikimedia Foundation and there's donations for you to choose which community you want to do. So that's helping a lot. And working with the under shirts, I have some ideas because we're starting a screen printing workshop with some of the women so I don't know, I think there's so much to do. But I think the most important thing is that I love what you're creating in this community. I think there's just my imagination sparks as you said, you know, the local communities and what we can do together. So I just want to say thank you, thank you for thinking about us. Thank you for that connection.
And for everybody listening, you know, like I think these are the moments that call for being heroes, all of us stepping out of our fear and just doing what we want to do. And knowing that there'll be a community to stand by you and to support you. So thank you for this. You're like I said, your seat at the table is here. It sets for one day we can join, we can celebrate but thank you for not forgetting about this. And I'd love to see more of the t-shirt project with you. They're beautiful T-shirts and inspire us. Thank you for doing this, Christine. Basically, for you to forget about this and say we'll get started when things happen again, but to give this connection I'm grateful for so thank you so much.
Thank you. My heart will always have a little piece waiting for me in Guatemala as well. So thank you so much for being with me today and for sharing this with everybody who's listening.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 51:24
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