Serendipity could be the headline of this week’s Digs. On Friday I led a study group of Nuestros
Pequeños Hermanos supporters on a walk through downtown Cuernavaca. That trip takes us to Morelos’ anthropology
museum housed in the Palacio de Cortés.
I intended that we only visit Diego Rivera's famed mural but a temporary
exhibit titled “Tlamacazapa” fortuitously caught my eye.
In the exhibit photos by award-winning photo-journalist
Rodrigo Cruz poignantly portray daily life in Tlamacazapa, a remote mountain
village in the state of Guerrero. Informative captions give us insights into
the villagers' lives, especially those of women.
Their lives, shaped by poverty, are rarely understood or
even contemplated by those who haven't experienced it first-hand. In addition to the photos there are
fascinating and intricate baskets and weavings and a display of the furnishings
of a typical house. Women from
Tlamacazapa are there two days a week to weave and to teach visitors to weave.
For me the word Tlamacazapa conjures up the warm,
intelligent face of Susan Smith, who has almost single-handedly put it on the
map. Smith, a Canadian nurse with
extensive experience in underprivileged communities in Africa, the Arctic, and
Latin America, came to Mexico on vacation in 1996. She’d recently completed a doctorate focusing
on community health and development and sought rest and recreation. With friends she visited the remote,
wretchedly poor Guerrero town of Tlamacazapa.
Vacation was put on hold; vocation took its place.
Tlamacazapa’s Nahuatl name refers to “people who are
fearful”. The village, now with 6,000
inhabitants, formed 500 years ago by indigenous people fleeing the Spanish
conquerors. Centuries of isolation have not been kind.
All three wells in the pueblo are contaminated with natural
lead and arsenic. Harvesting firewood
for both heat and cooking has degraded the environment further. Prior to the
arrival of Dr. Smith, rates of infant mortality, illiteracy, male alcoholism
and mental retardation were among the highest in Mexico.
It took years for Dr. Smith to gain the trust of this
community. Her first successes were a
result of her medical training and the ability to provide medical care and
education. Gradually she trained village
women to be midwives, nurse assistants, and teachers. Now, fifteen years into her work in
Tlamacazapa, ATZIN -- the non-profit organization she founded -- focuses on
substantial programs in four areas:
health and healing; community education and literacy; income generation
for women; and environment, water and sanitation.
The only widely available natural resource in Tlamacazapa is
palm. For generations the people have woven baskets that the men of the pueblo
carry to sell throughout Mexico. Chances are you have a Tlamacazapa basket in
your very own home.
Lucia, mother of seven and traditional midwife, weaves a large basket while sitting outside her house. Photo: Rodrigo Cruz |
It is the baskets that will pull you into the exhibit. You
can't help but think of the smiles on the weavers' faces as they gave free
reign to their ability to skillfully manipulate palm into scenes from their
daily life. Pigs, chickens, children in
the corral feeding them -- all rendered in palm weaving which is smooth to the
touch. Some of the baskets in the shape
of farm animals are even gender specific.
The exhibit is open until September 23. All signage is in Spanish and English.
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