Taking a short break! Project will resume in June 2020.
This is our Interim Report for The Oaxaca Mask Project. I’ve been focused on making and distributing cloth face masks in Oaxaca, Mexico, and surrounding villages since mid-March.
We have accomplished so much! We did this together:
- Made and distributed 2,480 masks
- Raised $6,320 USD from 116 separate donations*
- Received gifts ranging from $10 to $500
- Employed seamstresses and weavers to make masks in Oaxaca City, San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Teotitlan del Valle, Tlacolula de Matamoros, and San Agustin Etla
- Shipped 675 masks made and donated by USA seamstresses via DHL to Oaxaca villages
Special thanks to Oaxaca mask-makers for their talents, speed, creativity and dedication:
- Rocio Bastida Cruz, San Felipe del Agua, Oaxaca
- Rosario Lazo Lazo, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
- Malena Jimenez, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
- Rocio Mendoza Bazan, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
- Inez Lopez Hernandez, Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca
- Cheri Verber, Patzcuaro, Michoacan
- Beatriz Raymundo Camacho, Telarcito Lindo, Oaxaca
- Armando Sosa, San Pablo Villa de Mitla
- Alfredo Hernandez Orozco, Santa Maria el Tule
Big thanks to USA mask-makers for donating their labor and/or materials to the project:
- Hollie Taylor Novak, Chapel Hill, NC
- Karen Nein, Eldorado, New Mexico
- Sam Robbins, Columbus, Ohio
- Claudia Michel, Portland, Oregon
- Susie Robison, McCloud, California
- Shuko Clouse, Los Angeles, California
- Yumiko Wilson, Los Angeles, California
- Barbara Kuhns, Arizona
- Katharine Jennings
These are the folks who volunteered to make it happen on the ground, getting our masks into the hands of and onto the faces of the people, in the city and far-away villages:
- Kalisa Wells, Oaxaca and Teotitlan del Valle
- Cristy Molina Martinez, Teotitlan del Valle
- Alvin Starkman, Oaxaca
- Eric Ramirez Ramos, Tlacolula de Matamoros
- Gail Pellett, San Agustin Etla
- Kari Klippen-Sierra and Rudy Sierra, San Andres Huayapam
- Jacki Cooper Gordon, Oaxaca
- Luvia Lazo, Teotitlan del Valle
- Dave Crosley, San Felipe del Agua, Oaxaca
- Gabriela Morales Cruz (Morac), San Jeronimo Tlacochuhuaya
And, to all our 116 donors, to whom we are blessed with their generosity. THANK YOU. You made it possible for Oaxaca people to stay safe and healthy. Donors are from Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and the USA.
- Kate Rayner
- Claudia Michel
- Diana Huber
- Martha Sorensen
- Elaine Saunders
- Wendy Sease
- Deborah Mersky
- Susie Robison
- Mary Earle
- Jacob Singleton
- Susan Barkoff
- Diane Manning
- Marla Jensen
- Nancy Craft
- Ellen Benson
- Robin Greene
- Gloria Yeatman
- Sandra Wilcox
- Maureen Parker
- Catherine Johnson
- Anne Damon
- Barbara Beerstein
- Phyllis Milder
- Nancy MacBride
- Lynda Nelson
- Laura Renger
- Natalie Klein
- Sunnie Hikawa
- Chris Clark
- Sam Robbins
- Julia Erickson
- Dennys Eymard
- Kay Michaels
- Carolyn Urban
- Lisa Michie
- Lynn Nichols
- Gail Barraco
- Gail Pellett
- Lesa Porche
- Shuko Clouse
- Kajal Patel
- Janet Waterson
- Lian Brehm
- Mike Bronn
- Phil Schlak
- Beverly Oda
- Winn Kalmon
- Elizabeth Pou
- Irene Keaton
- Bitty Truan
- Barbara Garcia
- Erin Borreson
- Kathryn Leide
- Leslie Roth
- Holly Ziretta
- Heather Leide
- Elizabeth Rosen
- Joan Anyon
- Elizabeth Pomeroy
- Christine Bourdette
- Linda Mansour
- Frances Fine
- Laurie Landau
- Barbara Oseland
- Dorothy Hermann
- Kathryn Kasimor
- James W. Johnston
- Jennifer Becker
- Karen Soskin
- Salima Khakoo
- John O’Connor
- Tamsie Hughes
- Pamela Esty
- Katharine Jennings
- Rita Schweitz
- Cathy Platin
- Elizabeth Cauthorn
- Makiri Sei
- Diane Winters
- Karen Hembree
- Holly Taylor Novak
- Annie Johnson
- Susanne Corrigan
- Virginia Dunstan
- Marsha Smelkinson
- Janet Lowe
- Madelyn Smoak
- Sheri Brautigam
- Marla Jensen
- Virginia Bartley
- Ben Dyer
- William Watts
- Sue Bramley
- Jill Bennett
- Eshkie Zachai
- Tom Sheeran
- Craig Watts
- Julie Kaspar
- Kathleen Smith-Wenning
- George Young
*Note: Some gave more than once!
Gail Pellett, former NPR journalist, writes from San Agustin Etla:
“Oaxaca has some of the lowest official numbers for infections, largely because of the indigenous villages and their community controls, Usos y costumbres, etc. The Sierre Norte villages spinning out from Ixtlan and Gaelatao have no or very few numbers. Some 200 indigenous villages have locked themselves away from commuters from the city of Oaxaca and elsewhere. They check temperatures, spray cars, etc. including our own, San Agustin Etla, which is not so indigenous anymore, but a mixed bag of inhabitants, but still working on the communitario system. At our checkpoint a gun thermometer is put to your forehead, your address checked, your business entering, your car sprayed with disinfectant, especially collectives and taxis.”
We will continue to monitor public health in Oaxaca and her villages to see if we need to start-up again. I was told today that the health minister is warning Oaxaqueños to expect an increase in disease this October. Yesterday, May 19, a covid19 case was announced from Maquilxochitl, the village neighboring Teotitlan del Valle.
As we say in Mexico, Vamos a Ver.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
