Creaciones Yuca

Creaciones Yuca (Yucca Creations)

 "We are a group of women who struggle to raise ourselves up, to help our families and our selves. We also want to help other women who want to learn to develop themselves and feel useful and productive members of society. We have encountered many obstacles and limitations, but thanks to God and the people and organizations that have supported us in different ways because they believe in our constancy and enthusiasm. Today we feel that we have achieved a lot, and very soon we will achieve our goals. The reason we chose our new name, Creaciones Yuca, is that the Yucca Flower is a native New Mexican plant that resists all kinds of heat and storms, just like we have resisted giving in when the challenges of our project were great."

As immigrants from Mexico, over the last five years we have been working to develop a line of products that reflect our Mexican heritage and our new lives in Southern New Mexico.  The border is a dynamic region of cultural exchange and our products reflect that reality.  We have begun working in collaboration with women's weaving cooperatives in Chiapas, Mexico (also in a border region- the border of Guatemala and Mexico) to develop products using their hand-woven, hand-embroidered textiles.  The cooperatives include Tsobol Antzetik, Mujeres por la Dignidad, and Jolom Mayaetik.  Twice we met with one of the weavers when she visited our region as part of a cultural exchange.  We have a variety of products available, including pillows, potholders, and tote bags that incorporate the hand-made textiles from Mexico. We also use machine-woven textiles from other parts of Mexico to make tote bags in a variety of bright colors.  Recently, our members have begun applying their crochet/knitting talents to make scarves and other products.  We have just started selling our products at www.creacionesyuca.etsy.com, a neat website with many hand-made products for sale. 
 

 The left hand picture below shows Chiapas, Mexico and the right hand picture is our community, Chaparral, New Mexico (photos by Christine Eber and Karen Bucher).  

The photo on the left shows us meeting with a weaver from Chiapas to discuss product development.

If you are interested in learning more about our products or our organization, please contact the Colonias Development Council at the address below.