My interest for Guatemala began three years ago when I got in touch with the Mayan culture in Mexico, therefore when I had to choose the destination of my future trip I had no doubts.
I didn’t know much about the coun![]()
try so I consulted the Worldpackers platform to find nice opportunity of volunteering. Here I found Trama Textiles, a cooperative run by indigenous artisan women who, through the sale of their products, support over 100 indigenous women and their families throughout Guatemala. I had an interview with Maria, the coordinator of the organization and in November 2024 I find myself catapulted into this beautiful reality.
At “Trama" there is a physical shop where you can buy clothes, jewelery and household items entirely handmade with the aim of keeping the Mayan culture alive; a school to learn how to weave and bring to light your personal project and an office where I worked as an administrative assistant with a fantastic team of volunteers coordinated by Maria.
My initial plan was to stay in the association for a month and travel the remaining months around Central America. All this never happened. I stayed for more than two months at Trama.
As a volunteer I learned a lot, from organizing the product inventory online, to organizing fundraising events, to helping students with weaving classes. More than an administrative assistant, I felt like a factotum, a wild card ready to be played at any time, which I really liked. It allowed me to challenge my limits and gain more confidence in myself. I also improved my communication skills in both English and Spanish, given the international nature of the project.
There are many things that I take away from this experience. Certainly among all, the human relationships that I have built in Trama or thanks to Trama. Now I have pieces of my heart scattered here and there, home and family in Guatemala. I will forever cherish the nice moment I spent with Amparo and Oralia respectively the president and vice-president of the association as well as the two wonderful weaving teachers of the school.
The wealth that this trip left me with is not at all obvious, I couldn't have imagined anything better. The amount of extraordinary people I met, the breathtaking passages I saw. The beauty and diversity of the local culture. Seeing so many indigenous people proud to wear their traditional clothing and share their cultural heritage with the world inspired me greatly.
in the weaving process “Trama” is a stick wrapped in thread that makes up the main color of the project, it must be passed back and forth along the entire canvas. Is the thread that unites and builds the canvas. “Trama textiles” symbolically represents the thread that united my experience in Guatemala and all the relationships I have built there, which will remain forever along the canvas of my life.
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