Peace have to be sewn, sew by sew.
With this concept in thoughts, Ms. Avella set herself to work at a small stitching workshop in Catatumbo, Colombia, one of many dividends of the 2016 peace settlement between the Colombian Authorities and FARC rebels, designed to assist reintegrate former combatants, and heal the injuries of the battle.
Like many former fighters, she was on the lookout for a option to rebuild her life after the struggle, and the workshop served as an area for coaching, care and empowerment for ladies that might contribute to stopping gender-based violence – a spot the place they may study a commerce, help one another and regain confidence within the midst of a territory marked by violence.
Together with a number of different ladies, Ms. Avella arrange Stitches for Peace, which started making sweatshirts, T-shirts and uniforms. However in 2021 the mission took an surprising flip in the direction of excessive vogue.
At an initiative led by the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, she met Lina Garcés, an economist educated on the Externado College and the founding father of a second-hand clothes boutique known as Lina’s Closet, in Cúcuta.
Ms. Garcés used to say that her store offered “second-chance garments,” a phrase that might quickly tackle a brand new which means.
Ms. Garcés agreed to take part, though not with out reservations. Her private historical past was marked by the armed battle, and her household had been victims of a kidnapping, which left painful recollections.
Nevertheless, she determined to journey to Caño Indio, in the midst of the Catatumbo jungle, the place she discovered a spot very completely different from the style world during which she labored: prefabricated lodging, zinc roofs, unpaved roads and communal loos.
However she additionally discovered one thing she didn’t anticipate: expertise. “The ladies had a powerful skill,” she recollects. “The one who sewed did it with unbelievable precision; the one who minimize had the heartbeat of an expert.” Many had realized to deal with needle and thread throughout the struggle, mending uniforms or boots. Now that data wove one other story.
Katerine Avella and Lina Garcés have fun the creation of the Ixora model’s skirts.
The skirts of Ixora and reconciliation
For fifteen days they labored intensely on designs, sizing and finishes. From these days was born the thought of making wraparound skirts with prints impressed by the Ixora flower, a plant that blooms all 12 months spherical and symbolizes resistance and perseverance in Catatumbo.
Because of all of the workshops, the model ‘Ixora, inclusive and autonomous’ was born. By the top of 2021, they already had a primary assortment, which they introduced on the Julio Pérez library in Cúcuta. The parade introduced collectively victims of the battle and peace signatories on the identical catwalk.
Someday later, throughout a dialogue on the Cúcuta Guide Truthful, the place they have been invited to inform their story, Ms. Garcés instructed her household historical past for the primary time earlier than the general public. As she spoke, Ms. Avella listened to her in silence. Ms. Garcés mentioned in entrance of the viewers: “For me, at this time they’re delicate ladies, who need to transfer ahead. Individually, there was forgiveness; now I need to help them and let extra individuals know their work in order that we will dwell in peace.”
The skirts started to be offered by Ms. Garcés’s retailer and shortly different designers have been within the initiative. Ixora started showing in vogue reveals in Tibú, Ocaña and Bogotá, and in 2022 they arrived for the primary time at Colombiamoda, an important textile truthful within the nation. They did so once more in 2023 and 2024, as particular company, on the catwalk.
Girls from the Ixora model on the commerce present following the conclusion of a garment-making workshop organized by UNVMC
Violence returns
Nevertheless, this story of reconciliation, entrepreneurship and peace was strongly affected in January final 12 months, when violence intensified once more on this area. There have been large displacements, murders of social leaders and ex-combatants, and hundreds of households have been compelled to go away their properties.
The stitching workshop needed to shut. “The ladies did not need to return out of concern,” Ms. Avella recollects. At the moment, the precedence was to guard life.
Paradoxically, within the midst of that disaster got here information that that they had been ready for months: Ixora had been formally registered as a trademark in Colombia by the Superintendence of Business and Commerce. However they determined to not have fun. “It wasn’t the time,” Ms. Avella says. “There was an excessive amount of uncertainty.”
Right now the mission goes by a compelled pause. The stitching machines are nonetheless in Caño Indio, whereas the ladies are ready for ensures to have the ability to transfer to a brand new, safer house in a rural space of Cúcuta.
Hope for the long run
Even so, the story of Ixora just isn’t over. The model has simply gained a mission with the Company for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) to accompany different ladies in self-care and psychological help processes. It’s a new stage for Ixora, which now seeks not solely to generate earnings, but additionally to supply an area of well-being for individuals who have lived by the impacts of the battle.
“This mission is a dream,” says Ms. Avella serenely. “Past the financial facet, it means conserving our affiliation alive and displaying that we will construct one thing completely different.”
Within the meantime, the ladies look forward to the second to show the machines again on. In Catatumbo, the place so many tales finish abruptly, Just like the flower that provides it its identify, there may be hope that Ixora will bloom once more, even in probably the most tough situations.
