Bruno Avilo Arintero Quinonez, 20 years old, a resident of the Pintolândia Shelter, is a youth of Warao ethnicity who knew how to move rapidly from taking a training course in shoemaking to the creation of a successful brand, the Kawarao.
As he himself describes, “after we finished the course, we got five people together to make it, but it didn’t work. Then I thought about working with my family, who soon accepted.” In this way, he himself taught them the trade, and they built the brand for making canvas shoes, the Kawarao, which means ‘Our Family’.”
The training course was organized in the Indigenous Cultural and Training Center (ICTC), inaugurated at the beginning of this year, specifically with the intent of offering cultural integration and professional certification to those in the shelters, according to what Sister María de Kibeho explains, who is a member of the handicraft and entrepreneurship area, “the Fraternity –International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF) has concentrated on stimulating entrepreneurship as a possibility for making the talents and potential of the beneficiaries being referred to, as a means for a dignified life, enriching at personal and social levels.”
There are many training and certifying courses being offered, made available by the Livelihoods and LastingSolutions Sector of the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF), which closely follows the processes experienced by the indigenous people of the shelter, also offering the possibility for putting their learning into practice. “This space for practicing was envisioned so that the knowledge acquired in the training is not lost,” highlights Sister María de Kibeho.
It was precisely in this way that the project of the now entrepreneur, Bruno, began and continues, as he himself explains: “we receive the orders, we make the canvas shoes and deliver them; everything is done in the Training Center (ICTC) itself.”
The young Warao has been an example, both in his success and his resolve, and he already has plans for the future: “I think that in a while, the Kawarao shoe brand can move, have its own space, increase its production and sales.”
His story cheers and stimulates not only the shelter indigenous people, but also the whole team of volunteers and humanitarian servers present in the Roraima Humanitarian Mission.
