Weaving behind Honduran bars
By Nathan Baker and Chansin Bird
Through thin metal bars prisoners can see their work on display. Woven bags, hammocks and bracelets sway in the Honduran wind to entice customers.
Some items have little marks of tape displaying a price and a prisoner’s name. Working with their hands is a means to support their families and their livelihood, and it passes the time.
“Even though we are here, our families are still outside,” Leyonidas Garcia Carillo said in Spanish. “Somehow we have to support our families too.”
Carillo wears a bright yellow shirt and Nike hat.
Upon entering a fenced-in yard, a shopper can buy a hand woven purse for 50 lempiras, which is under $3.
A privileged prisoner greets shoppers with a notepad. He records what each prisoner sells.
We buy all our own materials. The money is split between whoever helped on each project, Garcia said.
For example, three prisoners might work together to make a hammock. The process, if each of them spends four to five hours a day working, takes six days. One person prepares the material. Somebody else might do the actual weaving of the thread, Garcia said.
It took Garcia six months to learn his craft, he said. The knowledge is passed down as people come and leave.
“I don’t even remember who was here that taught me to do this,” Garcia said.
He has been in the prison for 13 years. In three more, he will be released.
“We all make mistakes and that’s why we’re here,” Garcia said.
He holds his hammock through the bars. The hammock was $15.88.
Comments
Wow! That story touches my heart just reading it. I can't imagine what it was like to actually be there. May you continue your good work!
Posted by: Emmy Scott | January 7, 2006 09:34 AM