Search by Topic
Stay Connected!
LIKE Us on Facebook!
Social Media Connections
-
Connect: email, text or WhatsApp +1-919-274-6194, FB Messenger, IG
-
Why Travel With Us: Help sustain regenerative traditions.
-
- We know the culture! This is our land! We are locally owned and operated.
- Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
- Eric was founding director of education, Museo Textil de Oaxaca + folk art expert
- Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
- Norma is a seasoned university educator.
- We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
- 63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
- Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
- We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
-
We organize private travel + tours for museums, arts, organizations, collectors + appreciators.
-
Creating Connection and Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
-
What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
-
OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here
-
Meet Makers. Make a Difference
-
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
-
Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
-
Arts organizations, museums, designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
-
Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *North Carolina Museum of Art *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
-
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
PRESS
- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
- NY Times, Weavers Embrace Natural Dye Alternatives
- NY Times, Open Thread–Style News
- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
Our Favorites
- Cooking Classes–El Sabor Zapoteco
- Currency Converter
- Fe y Lola Rugs by Chavez Santiago Family
- Friends of Oaxaca Folk Art
- Hoofing It In Oaxaca Hikes
- Living Textiles of Mexico
- Mexican Indigenous Textiles Project
- Museo Textil de Oaxaca
- Oaxaca Lending Library
- Oaxaca Weather
- Taller Teñido a Mano Natural Dyes
Colorful Necklaces Benefit Oaxaca Learning Center: Computers for Students
Who would ever think that putting together metal washers and colorful ribbon would result in stunning necklaces and a successful fundraising project for The Oaxaca Learning Center (TOLC)? That’s what volunteer Francine LaPorte did to help the Center recently raise almost $2,000 USD to buy computers for its students.
The Project: Necklaces for Computers
“Everything about TOLC moved me, she says. There are dedicated and inspirational young people working so hard as students, tutors and coordinators, all together as a respectful community.”
“While in Oaxaca this year, I learned how to make a deceptively simple yet elegant necklace composed of washers and ribbon. At the same time, Armando badly needed to replace his almost dead, six-year-old computer,” Francine said. An idea was born.
How the Necklace Project Started
Francine was talking with a friend the need when the friend spontaneously handed her a gift of 500 pesos, saying only, ʻI want to help.ʼ Earlier that day the friend had complimented Francine’s necklace, so in thanks Francine gave her a necklace as a gift. “Voila,” Francine said, “an idea was born: Collares Por Computadoras.”
Order necklaces online at portedelaporte@gmail.com
Order from Mexico or the USA. The price in Mexico is 100 pesos. In the U.S. the necklaces cost $10 each, plus shipping.
Since that epiphany moment, Francine has made and sold hundreds of necklaces and donated the proceeds to the Learning Center. She is a regular customer at the local fabric shop where she buys yards of rainbow-colored ribbon. The neighborhood family-owned hardware store is her source for metal washers that she buys by the kilo.
“I have shown the necklaces to friends, along with the TOLC brochure and personal photos of the young people needing financial help. I show them the three shades of red – or, as I have named them, vino tinto, bugambilia and jitomate. Any color from the spectrum can be ordered, including red, green and white for the Mexican flag. She has also developed a pink one in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.
Recently Francine and Tracy Roach, another Oaxaca Learning Center ESL volunteer teacher, hosted a workshop with three scholarship recipients. Together they made 39 necklaces one Sunday morning. This will develop into a peer-directed, non-profit social business to build on TOLCʼs mission to provide financial support for tutors and staff. The new entity is called “Porte de La Porte”. They have new ideas and marketing strategies, as well as designs for men that include bracelets and belts.
How Francine Got Involved
Francine comes to Oaxaca for the winter from Tenants Harbor, Maine. A former Teacher of English as a Second Language, she discovered the Learning Center during an Internet search about Oaxaca. “I wanted to use my TESOL skills as a volunteer,” she says. “I became involved with the Center during a stay in 2010 as a tutor working with Armando Carmona Cruz and Mirell Duarte, members of the senior staff who were both on scholarships given by the Cambridge Academy to study English.” From that moment, Francine became an ardent supporter of the Center.
Bravo! for this project, for the sustainability of the Oaxaca Learning Center, and in honor of founder Gary Titus’ 80th birthday.
How To Order
Order necklaces by sending an email to portedelaporte@gmail.com.
Fran can fill your order from Mexico or the USA. The price in Mexico is 100 pesos. In the U.S. the necklaces cost $10 each, plus shipping.
All gifts are tax-deductible because the Learning Center operates as a U.S. non-profit organization. Think of this as a meaningful gift.
Like this:
Comments Off on Colorful Necklaces Benefit Oaxaca Learning Center: Computers for Students
Posted in Cultural Commentary, Jewelry, Travel & Tourism
Tagged Fran LaPorte, fundraising, Gary Titus, Learning Center, Mexico, necklaces, Oaxaca, TOLC, volunteer