As you make your way to Jardín, Antioquia, you’ll pass through Karmata Rúa, an Embera Chamí reservation nestled in the lush, misty hills near the Andes. It’s a place where the air hums with stories and the land holds memory in its roots. This is where I first met Rosa Edith, the heart and hands behind Imaginando con las Manos, a collective of women artisans who breathe life into their traditions through beading.

Rosa greeted me with a warm smile, eager to share the story of her community and collective. She spoke of the land and the fight to reclaim their ancestral territory, a struggle that just 40 years ago, ended with the community regaining their home. Since then, they’ve been committed to restoring not only the land but also the cultural practices that make them who they are. Rosa explained how agriculture and crafting are woven together in their lives, planting seeds in the soil, threading beads onto strings, both acts of nurturing, of creating something that will outlive the hands that made it and will be passed down to their youngins. 

The women of Karmata Rúa bead with vibrant beads that become stories in color. Every necklace, every earring, and every intricate pattern is a fragment of their cosmology that’s representative of an ancestral symbol, a song, a memory, the landscape, the fauna, and flora. 

When you wear an Okama or a pair of earrings, you carry a piece of that world with you. You wear a path of wisdom that walks across your neck, the wisdom of and carries a piece of history of our elders. 

Rosa says that the women she works with create as they “imagine with their hands.” They weave their pasts into the present, and in doing so, they ensure their culture survives. It’s a quiet but yet loud kind of resistance, a way of saying: We are still here. We are still ourselves.

The women who make Imaginando con Las Manos are filled with pride when others wear their work, appreciating and valuing their work, we are helping ensure their stories continue. Each okama, each pair of earrings, is a bridge that honors and celebrates the Embera as they are, from birth to death, for as long as the rivers run and the mountains stand. It’s not just jewelry to them, it’s a piece of who they are, and they pour so much care, meaning, and attention into every design. As I sat with them while we chose colors and patterns and talked up a storm, I could see the spark of imagination in their eyes as it flowed into their hands.

Even when I’m back in the States and aren’t able to visit in person, Rosa and I stay connected. Over time, our relationship has grown into a friendship, one I deeply respect and hold close to my heart. Now that I’m here in Medellín, just a couple of hours away from Karmata Rúa, I plan to visit more often, so I can take the time to learn more about my roots, to witness the magic of these women creating. From the first spark of an idea to the final, intricate piece, and to capture that story behind the scenes.

I’m looking forward to being back on those ancestral lands, soaking in the beauty of those blue mountains, and sharing the quiet, powerful energy that lives in the hands of these women.