Made With Love

During my time visiting and serving in the village of Umasbamba, I have learned about the importance of weaving. Weaving is extremely important for the village culturally as well as financially. Many of the women have learned to weave beautiful pieces from the older women in their communities or from small schools. One of these handmade pieces can take more than a month to make. They start with cleaning the wool of a sheep. After cleaning the wool, they use natural dyes from flowers and plants to make different shades and hues. Then they spin the wool into thread and begin to weave their masterpieces. During our time in the village we learned that the beautiful patterns woven into these pieces have great cultural significance. The symbols represent love, and depict images such as the lake, the hills, and animals that can be found in the village. I bought two of these beautiful pieces to bring home with me and I will use them to tell the stories of the village they came from and the skilled hands that made them.