Magic from the Mines of Mexico
In the tiny village of Tecalpulco, outside of Taxco, Mexico, “the silver capital of the world,” Artesanas Campesinas was formed in the 1990’s. A group of women with a saved casting machine from a foreign-owned factory where they had worked was the foundation for their Cooperative. With the collapse of the local abalone and silver jewelry so popular in the 1980’s and the introduction of market globalization, a town that once employed thousands was reduced to poverty. With the men coming north for work and the women and family left behind, the women needed to find a way to survive. Thus the Artesanas Campesinas Cooperative was formed by six women. This Cooperative, by providing an annual income of $3,000 a year, enables the women to spend only as much as needed to support their families - the rest goes to developing the village and improving village life. As stated by the women, “Our handcraft work is who we are, giving us our daily bread and providing a hope that one day things will be better.”
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