Liz Fretes is an experienced and talented artisan living in the outskirts of Asunción, Paraguay’s capital city. For 20 years, she’s practiced the craft of Ñandutí (“spider web”) pieces, a traditional Paraguayan lace.

Liz would sell her Ñandutí crafts, but it didn’t bring in enough money to provide for her family as a single mother, including her daughters, grandchildren (one of whom is pictured above), and her elderly father. She would take on odd jobs—cleaning homes and selling goods on the street—to try and make ends meet, but she couldn’t leave her children alone for long and paying for childcare was impossible.

When a doctor diagnosed one of her children with asthma, Liz’s money problems only worsened. Determined to get the necessary medication, Liz took on more physically demanding work despite her chronic back pain—sacrificing her own health to preserve her child’s. “There was no other option,” she remembers. Continue Reading…