Hiotshy joined One Thread Collective in March of 2021. Our instructor, Paula Restrepo, met Camila Epieyu by chance when she was traveling to one of our artisan communities to give a workshop. When Paula explained about her work with One Thread Collective, Camila asked us to consider including her community, Hiotshy. She invited Paula to her home and introduced her to all of the women who were eager to join.

Hiotshy is a farming community consisting of a few extended families. Typically, the men in the community leave for long periods of time to live and work on farms. Tragically, the matriarch of the family, Gladis, lost one of her sons to pesticide poisoning while he was working at a farm. At least three quarters of the women in Hiotshy are sole earners, relying on One Thread Collective for income.

Hiotshy was one of our first teams to graduate the Yalayalaa School for Women's Empowerment and Leadership, a program managed by Fundación Talento Colectivo and held in our office in Riohacha.