EPAF’s advocacy quilt is off and running after a very productive trip to the village of Sacsamarca. 10 hours in bus to Ayacucho and then another several hours in car is quite a journey, but it felt very good to be back in Sacsamarca again. We were warmly received upon arrival, as always, and went straight to work. The team gathered in the municipality to receive the group of about 20 quilters who have been participating with us on the quilt project. EPAF had already sent materials to Ayacucho for the quilters to gather what they needed and prepare for the project. We were very pleased to find that they had been hard at work. The quilters have already produced fantastic and high quality material that was very impressive to all of us. It looks like we will have enough material to have more than one advocacy quilt if need be. I think the quality of the material and the final product will be a great advocacy tool for the Disappeared and the victims of Sacsamarca.

The women of the Sacsamarca have chosen to create squares that display the name of their family member that has been disappeared, the date of the disappearance and the place that they are from. This last point is important as we have family members participating from the surrounding annexes as well. Our quilters have elected to both knit and sow which should result in a very well done and colorful quilt that will include figures and images as well.

We plan to return mid-late October to continue our work in Sacsamarca and oversee the completion of the quilt. Everyone here at EPAF is very excited with how the project is proceeding and we are already discussing ways to expand and improve the project going forward. Above all, the most important part of the quilt is the process of bringing the participants together to create a collective object and provide a medium to tell their story. I hope that the story of Sacsamarca will be heard and seen in Peru, the United States and around the world with the completion of the quilt. I know that we are making a difference here in Peru with this project and can sense the potential further afield as well.

More from Sacsamarca to come soon. Stay tuned.