Our Story

 

In 2016, the nonprofit HOP Hands on Peru built a Public Health Center in Trujillo, Peru, with a simple but powerful mission: to bring public and preventive health services to marginalized communities.

A year later, we opened our doors a little wider. We began inviting the mothers living in the surrounding area to join our community program, 'Madre Cesapu', where they learned to knit and crochet. What started as a small gathering of women grew into something far greater than we imagined... with handmade pieces finding their way to friends, visitors, and beyond.

Today, the women of Chimuk are not just participants in a program. They are skilled artisans. They are breadwinners. They are a community. Through their craft, they have built dignified livelihoods, discovered new talents, and found in each other a network of strength and belonging.

Every piece you hold is a testament to that journey.

 

The Artisans 

Since 2018, we have trained approximately 30 Peruvian women in the art of knit and crochet, walking alongside them every step of the way. For 80% of them, Chimuk is their only source of income. For most, it is their first real job.

Before joining us, many supplemented their days raising guinea pigs, harvesting blueberries, tomatoes and cucumbers for agriculture companies, baking cakes or cleaning. Today, they are artisans whose work travels the world.

Most of our women learned to knit through Chimuk trainings and through an initiative to encourage technology literacy using YouTube videos.  From those first stitches to the beautifully crafted pieces they create today, watching the women grow in skill, in confidence, and in pride for their own work has been one of our greatest honors. We are now eight years in, and that feeling has never gotten old!

 

 

 

Holistic Program

Chimuk began as a bi-weekly social-emotional wellbeing program called Madre CESAPU in 2017. When we met the women and truly listened to their needs, we knew we could offer something deeper. We began strengthening their capacities through knitting, a beautiful and traditional art that runs through the veins of Peru. Some of our artisans knitted as girls. Others learned watching their aunts and mothers. Many we have trained ourselves.

But our program is so much more than knitting.

Social & Emotional Wellbeing We create safe spaces where artisans can relax, grow into themselves, and build genuine friendships with one another. Through yoga, mindfulness, breathwork, and meditation, we nurture their inner lives. Psychology workshops tackle real themes from their everyday experiences, while leadership and confidence sessions remind each woman of the strength she already carries.

Physical Wellbeing Every artisan and their children have access to primary care, dental care, and preventive healthcare through our center.

Financial Wellbeing We give our artisans the largest possible percentage of profits, because their work deserves to be fairly rewarded. We also offer savings plans and open conversations around financial literacy, because we believe women deserve to understand, control, and grow their own money.

Familial Wellbeing While artisans are in knitting sessions, their children are cared for and receive education support, free of charge, so mothers can focus, create, and breathe.

 

 

 

Our sponsoring NGO

Hands on Peru is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that built CESAPU - Centro de Salud Publica (or Center for Public Health) in December 2016. Hands on Peru focuses on expanding access to primary health care & preventive health in Peru, and building community capacity to empower and engage people in their health. Chimuk is one of the 9 interactive public health programs that Hands on Peru has designed & sustained throughout the last 4 years. Learn more at www.handsonperu.org