Turning traditions into livelihoods
Empreza Diak is bringing together cultural preservation and inclusive businesses for vulnerable communities from remote and impoverished areas. This program is bringing almost lost traditional arts and crafts to life, helping hundreds of families rise up from the ashes of poverty and conflict.
The story of Sanan Rai
Arlo is a very poor village of 56 families who have a subsistence agricultural livelihood far away from schools, doctors or markets - as hundreds of communities in Timor-Leste.
Located in one of the country’s poorest areas, an excluded community of 250 people was stuck in the poverty trap, living out of subsistence farming, four hours from the closest village.
Arlo was traditionally the ceramics production center on Atauro island but ceramic production was overtaken by metal and plastic. In 2014 only two frail women in their 90’s held this knowledge, about to be lost. Empreza Diak’s work guided this remote community, led by their amazing Grandmothers , to turn this tradition into an income – and pride – generator for the entire community.
“I remember seeing the older women from the village making pots and being amazed. I am very happy to be part of this group and feel very lucky to be taught this important tradition from my community. I want to continue to learn and do more and better pots”
Cristina, Atauro
“But they don’t just sell our products. We had trainings to learn to improve our products, to record our sales, to be more confident. And we meet every month too!”
Orba, Atauro
“Empreza Diak supports our product development, marketing, training and access to market”
Domingas, Atauro
This is the story of two hard and inspiring lives, one impoverished community and a team supporting their dreams and aspirations.
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