5 years ago we where forced to leave Clombia due to several reasons and came to the USA, though my husband has a very good job and we live in a wonderful place, half of my heart is still in Colombia. Ever since we got here I've been trying to find a project that will both, give us an additional income but most important, will let me help my country in some way. On one of my visits to Bogota I finally found it. On December, there is a huge craft show in Bogota and I was amazed by the quality of the things I found there, but what caught my attention was some seed every body was talking about, they are called TAGUA seeds. Every body was wearing jewelry made with them and as it seemed to be a very strong trend I decided to find more about them....that's how I found my project. They are making such beauty full objects that I wouldn't call them jewelry, I'd call them works of art. Each of them is individually created by native artists, and each one of them has an incredible amount of time and labor invested .
Tagua nuts look exactly like animal Ivory, that means that no Elephants are killed to get it.. Ain't that cool?
But also, Tagua nuts come from a Native Palm that grows in the Colombian Pacific jungle that means that the more Tagua they sell the more Palms they have to plant....so, when people gets a product made with Tagua, they are helping reforest the jungle...also cool, don't you think?
Our project is called Baloka which is the name of a Colombian native Indian tribe.
I'm really glad that me, like Shakira have found ways to help our people.
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Maria Mizrahi.
Ethnic, eclectic and exotic jewelry with ecological conscience
www.baloka.com
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