Born and raised in Guatemala, my mother and father came to the USA in the early 70's after my dad had enlisted in the Army. Upon arriving to the States, they realized just how much opportunity the country had to offer. In the late 70s, I was born on a base in Fort Carson, CO. My family later relocated to Maryland, but, as I got older, my mother would send me to Guatemala every summer. While there, I lived with my mamaita (grandmother) and my Tia in a town that was just outside the city limits. With no running water, no plumbing, and no electricity I often asked myself, at twelve years old, "Why would my mom do this to me?" Little did I know, I would later fall in love with a country that flourished in culture, and people so accepting of the little "Americana", and an economy that would ignite my passion for textiles.
What didn't seem to be very long, soon turned into more than a decade's worth of time that I had not traveled back to the country of my roots. I wondered what happened to all the kids that I played soccer in the cow fields with. Would they still live there? Would they now have kids of their own? Would they remember me? I returned to Guatemala, for the first time in 17 years, in 2010, and one word to describe it was...WOW! Getting off the plane I realized that the mouse that stared at me from across the street was Chuck E. Cheese himself. The country that once fought to keep up now had a Wendy's, Taco Bell, Papa John's and Domino's. As we drove toward that small town outside the city limits that was once my summer home, I realized that Guatemala had grown in so many ways, but in other ways it remained the same; the poor were still poor. People that made their living off of the land barely could afford a decent living due to the raising cost of agriculture. I also discovered the harsh reality of the country's educational system; if parents could afford to send their child(ren) to school, then great, but if they could not afford school, then the only other option for these children was work.
When I returned back home to the States, I realized that no matter how bad I thought my life was, it was actually pretty great compared to what I had observed the families experiencing in Guatemala. And I realized that at 36 years old, and with a child of my own, it was time for me to give back. With a business specializing in the beautiful handmade textiles of Guatemala, not only would it be giving to a country that has my heart, but I would also be sharing the beauty of the art with my home country and countrymen here in America. Behind every textile is a story, there is a life that longs to live out of poverty, there is a child whose only wish is to go to school and not have to work. In every textile is a voice that speaks love, acceptance, and humility, despite the long laboring hours of creation. Not only will I strive to share with you these stories, but I will also, personally, be traveling to Guatemala to share the proceeds in an effort to better the country, one child, one family, one home at a time.