Yabal’s 2020 Scholarships!

Yabal scholarship student

Yabal has awarded scholarships to eight youth, children of our women weavers to use towards middle school and high school for 2020. Our youth are excited for this opportunity to continue their studies and look forward to achieving their dreams. Feliciana, above, is 13 years old and has just started 7th grade. She walks daily

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New Eyes, New Points

needle point

At the beginning of a recent needle-point workshop in the Pacutama community last month, we asked the women why the older members weren’t there.“They have bad eyesight so they figured they wouldn’t come to a workshop on needle point embroidery” to which we replied, “No, tell them to come! We have reading glasses for them!”

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Yabal gone Wild (at the amusement park)

Yabal weavers on rollar coaster

To celebrate our work together in 2019 Yabal took our 41 backstrap loom weavers to the Xetulul amusement park, in Retalhuleu, Guatemala. The park is a major tourist destination about 2 hours from their community and is similar to Disney Land. Tourists from all over Central America travel to Guatemala just to visit this the

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Yabal Featured on Sustainably Chic Blog!

Yabal ethical home decor

We’re excited to share with you the lovely feature on Yabal’s Birds Wall-hanging and Birds Pillows in this week’s Sustainably Chic blog. Sustainably Chic is an online destination for sustainable fashion, green beauty & eco lifestyle. It’s a place where fashion can exist responsibly, so we can enjoy the art and love behind the things

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mmm mmm good!

Cooking class with Yabal in Guatemala

As part of this year’s oyster mushroom cultivation program with Yabal’s women weavers in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, Yabal offered a cooking workshop to give the women new ideas of how to incorporate this nutritious and delicious food into their daily diet. Oyster mushrooms are high in protein, iron, zinc, potassium, folic acid, B vitamins, vitamin

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All Saints Day & Day of the Dead

Guatemala Day of the Dead

El dia de los santos (Nov. 1) and dia de los muertos (Nov. 2), All Saints Day and Day of the Dead, are one of our favorite holidays in Guatemala. In contrast to Halloween, celebrated during the same time in the US, Day of the Dead is one of the most important family holidays of

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Our Mayan Textiles

Huipil from Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan Guatemala

By Isabel Coxaj Boj We invited our colleague, Isabel Coxaj Boj, to contribute to the blog today to share more about the deep spiritual symbolism in traditional Mayan textiles and clothes. Isabel is a backstrap-loom weaving teacher, textile-lover, and Yabal’s Store Coordinator in the Yabal shop in Xela, Guatemala.  The Maya are recognized for their

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Mushrooms and Weaving?

Mushroom workshop for Yabal artisan org in guatemala

What do mushrooms and weaving have in common? They’re both great income-generating projects for women in Guatemala! And projects that Yabal supports in our Guatemalan artisan communities. While we’ve had our Yabal weaving brand for over 10 years now, oyster mushroom cultivation is a newer project. The mission of Yabal is to support the economic

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