Meet Timotea, Alabaster Stone Artisan

Timotea, a local Ayacuchan artisan, had a childhood and adolescence typical of a rural Peruvian woman. After a few years of schooling, she married in the late 70’s, and settled with her husband in a mountain village, on a small plot of land, with two newborn sons. Unfortunately, the late 70’s also marked the rise of the Shining Path, a communist guerrilla group that sought to overthrow the Peruvian government.

It was in the rural villages that the Shining Path did the most damage, and Timotea’s village was no exception, where terrorists frequently ransacked the village during the night. Well aware of the imminent danger, Timotea and her family began fleeing their house every night to  in case of a possible ransack. They snuck out of their house and up into nearby mountains, finding nightly refuge in hidden caves. Life continued this way for years – hiking up to their caves every night and back down into the village every morning to care for their animals and feed the family – until one winter when a storm flooded their cave and rendered their life in their refuge impossible.

Forced to spend nights in her home, Timotea’s family would suffer the consequences only a few months later when terrorists ambushed her house; burning it to the ground, and killing the family’s animals – their sole source of livelihood. Though she barely escaped with her life, Timotea considers herself lucky because, to date, she still doesn’t know exactly how many of her family, neighbors and friends were murdered. Many disappeared, whether they escaped the terrorists to live as internal refugees in another city or whether they were murdered, she will probably never know. Having lost their house and livelihood, Timotea, her husband and now five kids, set off on foot to the closest city, Ayacucho, with nothing more than the grace to be alive and the clothes on their backs.

Upon arrival, they were greeted not by family or opportunities, but by other refugees in hopes of finding salvage from their similarly conflict-torn villages. The flooding of internal refugees and the raging war in Ayacucho made job opportunities scarce. During a period of about eight years, the family lived in a degree of poverty unimaginable to most of the Western world. Each of the seven family members wore the same change of clothing they happened to be wearing the night they fled from the terrorists.

With few options, Timotea and her husband began teaching themselves how to carve a stone that can easily be harvested from nearby mountains. They were able to sell the animal figurines for a meager profit as their skills improved.

Though she has lost much, Timotea looks to the future with hope. She has become a skilled artisan, and she takes great pride in her products. She neither wants – nor expects – charity, but she does hope that you will see the care she puts into each item. She believes that her carvings are among the highest quality artisanal goods, and we think you will agree.