Basket weaving goes national

Basket weaving is a form of art; it requires creativity and particular skills. It is craft that the women of southern Belize rely on to generate income and employment. They traveled to Belize City today to both display their products but also to launch their first national sale. News Five’s Delahnie Bain had a look at an array of baskets made to perfection that can make wonderful gifts for the upcoming season.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

The intricacies of basket making have been mastered by the women of the Toledo District. With the help of two social organizations in Punta Gorda, the craft is being introduced to the rest of the country as the Maya women weave their way out of poverty.

Dorla Bowman, Manager, Socio-Economic Outreach, St. Peter Claver Parish

dorla bowman

“Socio-Economic Outreach came together with Building People Movement to sponsor this event of highlighting the top thirty baskets and a few other crafts from the Toledo District.  Today sees the National Launching of a basket sale. We are trying to take it to a higher level and we are hoping that the people who came here and patronized us, the people who are seeing this on television will placed their orders for baskets, especially the people who are involved in the tourism industry because many times we go to various tourist sports in Belize and we see them selling crafts and it’s not really made in Belize.”

Socio-Economic Outreach has been working with the women in Toledo for years, perfecting their crafts and making them marketable.

mario chuc

Mario Chuc, Agricultural Assistant, Socio-Economic Outreach

“Most of these baskets are made from the local material Jipijapa and the design varies. We have the bird, the turtle, then we have the coaster that goes by the set.”

Delahnie Bain

“I notice you also have some clothes and so on?”

Mario Chuc

“Yes, we also do local embroidery. These women—we get people who sew them and then we display it for sale.”

Dorla Bowman

“The word has been out and we’re hoping to employ a marketing officer in January that will work with the women in Toledo and also travel to different parts of the country and maybe even internationally to help to market these products.”

Ernesta Cal, a basket weaver for fifteen years and one of the best in the south, gave us some insight to the complex and time consuming work.

ernesta cal

Ernesta Cal, Basket Maker, San Jose Village, Toledo

“The basket weaving is done like—let’s say you’re doing the small basket, in the beginning you have to tie the straws together while starting to do stitches.  After you tie the straws you start to sew from the beginning until you get the size that you want.”

Delahnie Bain

“You mentioned there are two types of stitches could you tell us about that?”

Ernesta Cal

“Yes, there are two types of stitches; the first one are like whenever you are sewing, pushing the needle over the top edge.”

Delahnie Bain

“And the other one?”

Ernesta Cal

“The other one you keep on putting them like you’re stocking them together in one.  The small basket takes like three days and let’s say the medium one is like four days or five days and the big ones takes like three weeks or one month.”

Dorla Bowman

“Historically these people used to do basket making for usage in their homes and basket making also had designs that had certain meanings, it was very symbolic. But because of the hard economic times the women have decided to make baskets to sell to send their children to school, to put food on the table, to buy clothing.”

To order these unique baskets, you can reach Socio-Economic Outreach at 625-7982. Delahnie Bain for News Five.

Today’s sale ran until two o’clock this afternoon. Prices of the baskets vary according to size and design.