Nombres:
Gladys Támara

Vive en:
San Jacinto, Bolívar
Colombia

Elabora:
Hamacas, Bolsos

Versión en Español

I can’t stop weaving; If I do, I get sick! Once I stopped knitting for a year and I got sick!

Gladys says that life was very “bitter and sad” in the years the Colombian armed conflict hit the Montes de María. At 7 pm San Jacinto was a ghost town. Everyone locked up watching TV in their houses behind closed doors and windows. Since Thursday, all of them wondered with fear who would be executed the coming Saturday, when illegal armed groups murdered people without mercy on the streets and in their houses, in front of everyone, with impunity. Gladys still has engraved in her memory the faces and names of friends and neighbors she lost in the conflict and is grateful that those times are already behind.

“I never wanted to leave San Jacinto; My children have proposed me to go to Cartagena, but no…. My life is in San Jacinto, in my house, weaving. I was born here, I grew up here, I raised my children here and I will die here”– says Gladys when we asked if she ever thought of leaving the town; her roots and her love for weaving are great.

Gladys is 68 years old, with two marriages on her back, 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Gladys is one of the oldest and most experienced artisans in San Jacinto. Hammocks, towels, blankets and tablecloths with beautiful macramé finishes are woven on the vertical looms in her house’s backyard. In addition to her, friends, neighbors and other town’s women parade through her looms from time to time to weave whatever is mounted on them, between work and domestic work. Gladys produces its products in a communal way.

As certified by the Geographical Indication, the technique of weaving in San Jacinto is a five centuries tradition that has been transmitted orally from generation to the present, but it was only until the 80s that artisans of San Jacinto began to group together in associations and cooperatives that allowed them to turn that traditional knowledge into an option to generate income consistently for their households, opening to the Colombian national market in a structured and organized way. This was a rebirth of San Jacinto’s weaving tradition and Gladys Tamara was one of its pioneers.

She still remembers July 15, 1986 as the day that changed her life. It was the date in which 15 artisans with no money but with great desire and vision, gathered and formed an association and skyrocketed: united we are stronger, and already organized collectively and formally, made many contacts beyond the region; Traveled to craft fairs throughout Colombia, grew and began to receive income that had never before received because of their activity. In fact, thanks to the work of 20 years in that association, Gladys was able to buy the house where she currently lives.

Over the years, new members were incorporated and tensions arose within the association for different reasons, so Gladys decided to retire and work on her own. Since then her backyard remains with her looms full of threads, and she weaves in a communal and therapeutic way with her friends.

Weaving is a therapy for Gladys, whenever she can, she weaves for a little bit. Because the up and downs of the threads on the loom has become increasingly difficult due to her age, she pays other younger craftswoman for doing so under her supervision and when the threads are ready, Gladys and her entourage of friends and collaborators weave up until it is all finished.

Gladys’ life has been tough. She married at the age of 17 and had a son with Federico, his first husband; She had to learn to do different trades in order to get money for her home: she washed clothes by order, worked as a maid in a nearby town and learned to weave also by necessity. A neighbor taught her and thanks to weaving, she has got what she has. Her marriage lasted 15 months; The immaturity of both, the lack of commitment and responsibility on his part made her decide to separate. Each one formed another family and still today they remain good friends and the two families are close.

Every woman with children who gives herself a second chance feels that if they are good with their children, they have earned half of their heart. And so Don Leopoldo conquered Gladys some time later: with solidarity, support and affection. Leopoldo, her second husband, was twenty years her senior; He conquered her with his solidarity and protective attitude; They had 3 more children and he was unconditional with all of them. He supported her when she had to take care of her 5 orphaned nephews for the death of her brother, he was her companion in good and bad times for 28 years, but in the end he did something that Gladys still finds hard to forgive; Besides seducing twenty-somethings while Gladys worked from sunrise to sunset with the craft association she helped found, he tried to seduce his own niece; and that was the end of that marriage twenty years ago. He died four years ago.

Thank you Gladys for your example of tenacity, courage, hard work and entrepreneurship!