Las Tejadoras de Mampujan

Tejadoras de Mampujan: Colores de Paz: This is the original group of women led by Juana Ruiz (standing on the left), from Maria la Baja, Colombia. These women create story quilts that share about their heritage as Afro-Colombians, the violent displacement they experienced during the multiple decades-long civil war, and their hopes and dreams for a future filled with peace, reconciliation, and sufficient resources to live without fear.

I met Juana in 2007 when my husband and I were secunded to Sembrandopaz, a peace and justice organization directed by Ricardo Esquivia in Sincelejo, Colombia. Charlie and I were serving with Mennonite Central Committee, the international relief, development and peacebuilding organization of the Mennonite Church. My work was to accompany communities along the Caribbean Coast, focusing on trauma healing and peacebuilding. The impact of almost 60 years of civil war was clearly visible to us as we met with church leaders and members and heard their stories. Armed groups continued to be active in some of the areas we visited and people suffered. It was a hard placement.

Working with Juana and the women of Maria la Baja was incredibly inspiring. As an indirect trauma healing technique, I taught basic quiltmaking for piecing and applique, sewing everything by hand. Together we made beautiful blocks of traditional patterns. Afterwards, we began to make story quilts, wallhangings about their displacement that told the truth about what really happened. These quilts showed the violence the women suffered. They showed the pain and loss of displacement. And they showed the terrible trauma that war brings. While we sewed, tears mixed with laughter, emerging friendships replaced mistrust, and healing slowly evolved amidst the trauma.

Quilting is a particularly powerful form of art for healing large groups or communities. Though it can be done individually, it is even more meaningful when shared among others. I realized the power of this art form during an earlier assignment we had with MCC in El Salvador. El Salvador also had experienced a terrible civil war. We arrived 10 years later but quickly realized how much trauma was still present in the lives of those we worked with. My experience in that country helped me apply it to our assignment in Colombia.

The women of Maria la Baja have continued to develop this art form. They continue to make story quilts but have also branched out to making clothes with unique designs, food indigenous to their culture, and hold workshops that educate and support trauma healing and reconciliation. As Afro-Colombians, they are an oppressed minority who still endure grinding poverty and limited options due to systematic racism. Nevertheless, the women won the Colombian National Peace Prize in 2015 for their work with trauma healing, historical memory preservation, and community reunification! Since then, with the help of some amazing professionals and funds from reparations as part of the Colombian peace process, they have opened a museum, El Museo de Arte y Memoria de Mampujan. This museum is dedicated to the victims of the civil war to further peace and reconciliation. Their quilts are exhibited in the museum along with other artists, reflections from leaders, and educational exhibits.

We are each called to use the gifts that we’ve been given, no matter how tiny they may seem. It is a sacred invitation, a sacred honor, to do our part in making the world a better place. We do this by allowing God to flow in, around, and through us. You never know what God will do with your offerings of gifts and talents. I certainly never expected that teaching quilting during my MCC assignments would lead to what’s happened since then. I am no fancy quilter! I am a normal person with an average gift but I love quilting and I love the Lord. I thank God that I acted on the inner prompt to use my gift during my time in El Salvador and then later in Colombia. God did so much more with it than I could ever have done. I hope this inspires you to act on your gifts … your inner promptings. We rarely ever get to see the results, but that’s not what’s important. As my spiritual director says, “It has to be birthed.” The gift has to come forth and take shape and then it’s up to God to do with it whatever God wants to do.

Juana Ruiz has certainly done that. The work of Las Tejadoras, under her able leadership, continues to evolve and is a powerful testimony to the importance of bringing forth our gifts to the glory of God … of speaking truth to power … of standing up and demanding justice … and the power of art to educate, heal, and inspire a better way of being in the world. Las Tejadoras de Mampujan lead the way with strength, courage, faith and dignity. They are an inspiration to us all.

~ Terri