Lima
Casa Betania, in El Pacifico, Lima was started fifteen years ago by Sister Dorothy Stevenson and Rosa Pacheco, in response to a desperate need to generate employment in the area, particularly for women.
The group now consists of approximately eleven women who are employed full time, and another eight women who work when demand is high. They specialise in making bags, and also make children's clothing and jumpers on small knitting machines, finished with hand embroidery. They now run as an independent business and pride themselves on the excellent quality of their products. It is a friendly place to work, where everyone is respected and treated as equal. Birthdays are celebrated together and at Christmas everyone receives a sack of essentials such as rice and sugar, or the employees are treated to a celebratory lunch at a local restaurant. The key materials they use are cotton (including an organic, fairtrade certified cotton which they source from Naturtex in Lima) and an alpaca mix which is 50% alpaca and 50% acrylic.
Amy has worked with the ladies at Casa Betania for five years and is close friends with them, speaking with them frequently. When Casa Betania was formed fifteen years ago, it was on the very edge of Lima, and infrastructure and roads were lacking. Nowadays, the area is built up and much advanced, although shanty houses are nestled amongst better houses and parks. However, it is still an area of great need and Mamacha is committed to continuing to provide work to the women there.
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