Couple bring a taste of Peru to town for the annual Festival of Fair Trade

 

Matt West and Gina Gastulo are committed to connect Peruvian artisans with the fair-trade community in Spokane because they know that fair trade means Peruvian women can earn enough income to make their families more secure. It also means they can preserve 1,000-year-old techniques and traditions while they weave placemats, blankets, ponchos and handbags or make silver jewelry.

Peru is Gina's homeland and is where Matt met her while serving five years in the Peace Corps.

They will be a new vendor at the annual Festival of Fair Trade, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27 and 28, in the lobby of the Community Building. Co-sponsors of the event are Kizuri, the fair-trade shop there, and Ganesh Himal Trading Co., the first fair trade warehouse in the region.

Matt, who teaches science at Garry Middle School, and Gina, who is an assistant teacher at Spokane Falls Community College's Headstart program, were married in a church ceremony in 2022 in Peru.

They noted that their marriage certificate is signed by Father Robert Francis Provost who is now Pope Leo XIV. They also had a civil wedding in the U.S. required for U.S. immigration.

Matt grew up in Spokane knowing the fair traders. A school friend married Austin Zimmerman, who co-owns Ganesh Himal. His sister went to school with Jillian Joseph, who owns Kizuri. His mother and the mother of Kizuri's founder, Kim Harmson, are friends. He passed Kizuri every day when he worked with The Lands Council in the Community Building.

Those ties sparked his interest in fair trade.

During Matt's final year at Evergreen State College in Olympia, he accepted a Gilman scholarship to research development at San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic from 2006 to 2007. Using baseball and other sports, he drew youth to learn the importance of health habits and education.

In 2007, Matt earned two bachelor's degrees at the Evergreen State College in Olympia. One was in biochemistry with a minor in hydrology and the second was in intercultural studies with a minor in teaching English as a second language. After graduating, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to be an environmental volunteer in Chongoyape, Peru. At a private nature reserve, Chaparrí, he did reforestation, rescued animals from circuses, rehabilitated them and released them into the wild.

Matt also advised universities on tourism that respects natural resources, led overnight camps and used a USAID grant to install the first rural waste management system there with old oil drums as waste containers.

His next assignment was in Pimentel, working with fishermen who used reed grass to make boats. He encouraged them to use sustainable fishing techniques and work with the national government to protect marine areas.

Matt met Gina in August 2010 at a national conference for Peace Corps environmental volunteers in Huanchaco. She was working in another village with a Peace Corps volunteer to strengthen the role of national park rangers.

Gina, whose home village is La Zaranda, had a master's degree in public relations from Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo. She worked in health, education and culture, did public relations for the national museum and eventually became a city councilwoman.

Returning to Spokane, Matt worked with The Lands Council and then the East Central Community Center before the Martin Luther King Jr Family Center took over its management.

After earning a master's degree in education at Washington State University in 2019, his first year of teaching was during COVID.

He continued to visit Gina in Peru, working with her on community development in the summers and Decembers of 2021 and 2022 and summer of 2023. It took a year and a half to complete the paperwork for a fiancé visa to bring Gina to Spokane.

In their ongoing visits to Peru and community development work, they have found that the most sustainable form of community development is to empower women to produce products to earn an income to support the household.

On the outskirts of the Bosque De Pómac National Park, an area with many ancient pyramids, Gina assisted weavers who use pre-Incan techniques.

"In the hundred years between the Incas and the conquistadors, the village was home of pre-Incan tribes," said Gina.

These women continue pre-Incan weaving with cotton grown only in Peru. In the pyramids are large murals with traditional symbolism they use in their designs.

Another group makes tapestries for the national museum, produces native cotton fabrics with clay, bees wax and traditional dyes. For fair trade, they make placemats, blankets, ponchos and handbags.

A street artist who earned a master's degree at a national art school, uses modern representations of folklore dancers and animals in murals and on T-shirts.

Another group uses several-thousands-of-years-old techniques to create handwoven silver filament jewelry, such as pendants and earrings.

Matt and Gina have funded a multi-generational workshop where independent artisans work as a collective to keep the traditional artisanry alive.

Many of these artisans are Matt and Gina's long-time friends.

"We believe in what they are doing as they share and learn traditional techniques," Matt said. "They hope to form nonprofits so they can teach the skills to the next generation.

"The pre-Incan artisans in the Peruvian Andes in the north also need to work collectively to counter the black market of outsiders selling cheap replicas," Matt said.

"Part of the Peace Corps mission is to return and share the culture we experienced with people in the U.S.," he said. "So, every time I go, I bring back food, recipes, blankets and artisan work to share.

"I want to help our artisan friends sell things so they can continue to use the traditional techniques," Matt said. "I am glad to bring together my connections with Peruvian producers and my connections with fair trade in Spokane."

Matt said families in Peru are stronger when women are paid a fair wage for what they are doing.

"It empowers the whole household and the whole area," he added.

"It helps artisans keep the language and traditions alive," Gina added.

Artisans often work together in a workshop, where they have a consistent social outlet and conversation among the generations to pass on knowledge about their craft and about life.

They also discuss how the land is worked, how to prepare for natural disasters or plagues, or what plants are used for dyes and for healing.

"Workshops are an opportunity to share stories and histories, to learn about what candidates to vote for and how to keep their animals safe," Gina said.

Often civic leaders go to the workshops to share information on public health and community needs with multiple households.

"For example, with El Nino bringing more rain and more mosquitos that spread dengue and zika, leaders are going to workshops and reminding people to buy mosquito nets for their windows," said Matt. "They also prepare people to work together when prices skyrocket or when a disaster happens."

Fair trade is a way Matt and Gina can continue as public servants and help families find a sustainable way to make a living, rather than working for someone else to dig ditches or wash dishes.

"It makes our souls feel good to help in this way," said Gina.

For information, call 509-998-0636 or email wesmat01@gmail.com.