APRAS

Asociacion de Productores y Recidladores Artesanos San Pablo (Association of Artisan producers and recyclers of San Pablo)

The association APRAS was begun by Timoteo, a young nurse in the community of San Pablo who works on a variety of programs which serve the people of San Pablo such as a coordinator of a scholarship program for children, coordinator of a micro-loan program for women, volunteer nurse/health promoter in the community, and director and founder of the group APRAS. San Pablo was named one of the 40 poorest villages in Guatemala by the government this year, thus many of the people live in extreme poverty, and in addition 85% of the adult population of the town is illiterate. Timoteo has two main goals for the group.

1) Promote education about the contamination of the environment and encourage recycling and reuse of inorganic products.

2) Create income generation and new artisan skills for women and children in the town. The group is comprised of 10 women and 20 children who are some of the poorest in the village of San Pablo.

The majority of the products of the group are created from recycled chip bags. Little bags of chips are common snacks in the town of San Pablo and all over Guatemala. The chips come in all different kinds of patterns and bright colors, and the women and children weave these into different patterns to create earrings, bracelets, money pouches and purses. The chip bags are collected by children on the streets; they get paid a couple cents for the bags which promotes recycling and gives the children a bit of money and helps to educate them on the importance of recycling and cleaning up their community. The bags are then disinfected thoroughly through a two-step cleaning process to make sure the products are clean, safe, and high quality for the consumer.

APRAS is also working to find a market for their artesania. They are currently trying to market to tourist stores in other towns in Guatemala and are also searching international markets as a possibility of exporting, but as of yet have not made a successful, sustainable connection.

Timoteo Ixcaya—Director of APRAS San Pablo

La Laguna Email: TimoteoIxcaya@gmail.com If you are interested in making an order of earrings or other products you can contact Timoteo Ixcaya at the above address.