About Mamacha
All Mamacha products are made at our women's projects in Peru:
Chinchero
The projects were set up by nuns who have lived and worked in these communities for years, in a response to a desperate need for employment and income. Amy first met the nuns while living in Australia between 2003 and 2008 and helped to establish and market a product range, starting with the first group in El Pacifico. As demand for the products increased, more knitting groups were formed, and today over two hundred women are working in the four groups.
Click here for a Google map of Peru with our workshops flagged.
From 1980 to 2000, Peru suffered widespread human rights violations during conflict between the armed forces and opposition groups such as the Shining Path. Abuses included disappearances, executions, unfair trials and torture as civil war raged through the country. People were forced to flee the devastating destruction of their villages and communities, particularly in the central highlands. Many took refuge in the capital, Lima, building make-shift homes in the shanty towns on the outskirts of the city. Today there is still extreme poverty in Lima and there are high levels of unemployment and underemployment. In Peru as a whole more than half the population live below the poverty line. The groups Mamacha support aim to help those affected by these statistics.
