Author Archives: Minkha

About Minkha

MINKHA is a true sustainable development success story that was initiated by Save the Children Canada. From its beginning 18 years ago, the women have established a viable cooperative that has afforded them a means of providing for their children and their extended families. We support them 100%! We are totally NON PROFIT, and all the funds from our sales are returned to the knitters. You will not only love your sweater, you will be helping us make a difference for some very important people in Bolivia! Since the early 1990?s, a small group of Quechua and Aymara women were organized by Save the Children – Bolivia into a co-operative knitting group. These women hand knit beautiful alpaca sweaters that are sold in North America. All profits are returned to the Bolivian women throught the efforts of Canadian volunteers. These women were desperate to earn a living to support and care for their extended families. It is customary to have an extended family that may include parents, grandparents and other relatives, as well as children. In many cases a woman is the sole income earner for her family. In addition to the financial rewards of the program, the women also enjoy a very positive social experience. They thrive on the customer feedback they receive for the superior quality of their knitting. The quality of life for these women and their families has improved significantly because of MINKHA. The number of share-holding knitters has tripled: now Artesanias Minkha essentially sustains 45 families. In 2004, the Cochabamba Chamber of Commerce honoured Artesanias Minkha with a plaque celebrating 15 years of business success… this is surely a first for native women.

Minkha’s Archived News Articles

Since 1990, dedicated Minkha volunteers have helped Bolivian knitters find new sales opportunities in Canada. We have now collected some of the Archived News Items from the past for you to see.

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Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day from everyone at Minkha Sweaters!! It was not long time ago that the culture of celebrating Valentine’s Day in Bolivia began do to the migration of numerous American families in the late 1990s. Previous to this, South … Continue reading

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Spring Sale

Here is the new poster for the next Minkha Sweater Sale. We have celebrated Valentine’s Day by adding a few hearts.

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Feb 9 is National Sweater Day!

With National Sweater Day coming, WWF is calling on Canadians to turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater for the day to show their commitment to the environment. Across the country, Canadians can participate in a variety of … Continue reading

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Motivated, Active and Able Volunteers

Minkha Calgary is looking for motivated, active and able volunteers to walk, stand and talk to retail managers about posting our flyers for an April 21st Fair Trade Sale we will be at. We have submitted this position to Volunteer … Continue reading

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New Photos for Online Catalogue

New photos of the sweaters are now being photographed for our online catalogue. Calgary’s stock should be available for sale sometime next week.

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Connecting through Linkedin

To continue growing outside our existing circle of friends and clients, Minkha has now created a company profile on Linkedin (centralized location where LinkedIn members can go to stay in the loop). If you have a Linkedin account please search … Continue reading

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New $20 form to help show off our beautiful new sweaters.

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Volunteer Calgary

Today we made an application for membership in Volunteer Calgary. We are looking forward to this resource to expand what we do and how we do it.

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Happy Holidays!

Happy Summer Holiday to Minkha in Cochabamba! We’re getting ready to submit our sweater orders and will take requests. Here is one of  the new children’s sweaters Beverley  brought in for their Edmonton sweater sale.

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