Back in October 2016, CMJ held a charity auction at the UK Jewellery Conference to help raise money for the communities at the Fairtrade gold mines in Sotrami and Macdesa, Peru. The small cooperative produce gold to the highest environmental, social and commercial standards. The miners invest the Fairtrade premium back into their community and surrounding areas, helping to improve basic services such as electricity, healthcare and education.
A fantastic amount of £31,000 was raised with half of the funds raised going towards buying an ultrasound scanner for the Santa Filomena clinic in Sotrami. The money raised for Macedsa we collaborated with Cred Jewellery and consulted with the “Pallaqueras” (women mineral sorters from the mining community) and facilitated the installation of a sewing machine workshop and project. The idea behind the project was to produce work clothing for the miners, as well as providing a secondary source of income to help improve their standard of living. With funds raised from the CMJ, the group invested in sewing, hem and button machines.
12 months on and Alan Frampton, Director of Cred Jewellery, reported that the project is a huge success. They currently employ 40 women, a professional trainer and manager and in the first year they have produced over 900 garments! Next year they plan to employ 60 women and produce workwear for all the surrounding mines in the local district, as they’d normally have to buy their workwear in Lima, which is 600kms away.
He also commented: “These women’s lives have been transformed by the generosity of the CMJ members and suppliers. Where they were scraping a living collecting rocks in the dry arid conditions of southern Peru, they are now building a business and learning new skills. All they needed was a helping hand to get going. They send a heartfelt thank you to all those that have supported this initiative.”
Cred Jewellery have also released a new collection, Macdesa, made with 18ct Fairtrade yellow gold and lab-grown diamonds, named after the Peruvian mining community. The company also named the rings in the collection after the “Pallaqueras”.
