The women of Rancho La Joya

I am so thrilled and honored to finally have the chance to meet the women of Rancho La Joya in Mexico. We have sent a few machines down to the rancho over the past few years and now I’m meeting the women who use them.

My host, Cherie St. Cyr and I visited the Rancho yesterday with Angeles, who runs the sewing program. Growing up on the rancho, Angeles knows the level of poverty that these women face–typically earning the equivalent of $40-$80 a month. Angeles has begun a sewing program, teaching sewing and working on marketable products that will help each woman become self-sustaining.

After meeting the group we had a chance to look around a bit and then were treated to a meal of gorditas under the trees. Homemade blue corn tortillas, beans and sauteed cactus stuffed inside, it was wonderful. The mothers talked, the children played and for a moment, life stopped as we just enjoyed the company and community of women.