Meet Sarah Kaye’s baby. No, not the sweet looking Nicaraguan girl, but rather what she’s holding. It’s a jícaro fruit in the process of becoming a stylish bracelet.
Jícaro is a green fruit that grows on the trunk and limbs of some of the trees inhabiting the back yard of El Puente. Although grazing animals are known to feed on fallen, rotting jícaro, we’ve yet to invest in a cow, so we’re harnessing this natural resource in a different way.
The vision for the jícaro creations we’ve been working on was born in Sarah’s mind, and it’s been her savvy business smarts and sheer creativity that have allowed such a brilliant idea to progress; I’m just along for the ride. However, Sarah decided to leave the country for a month, so here I am. The jícaro understudy finally finding her time to shine.
Thursdays at El Puente are devoted to the jícaro project, and we work with teenagers in the community to complete the products. The kids personally receive a portion of the sales, as does Vida Joven, so the result is a win-win situation. The kids are motivated to work because they get a piece of the pie, and Vida Joven, the program they themselves attend throughout the week, benefits as well.
It was only three months ago that I began learning the basics of the bracelet-making process from Sarah, and I remember how hesitant I was to use the dremel; that tiny blade intimidated me so much. I cut half the gourd, but I wanted her to finish the rest. She said no. (In case you didn’t know, when Sarah speaks, people move.) So I finished the job, and thus began the closest thing to an apprenticeship I’ve ever experienced. 
Since Sarah’s been gone, the Vida Joven kids and I have been working hard, and we recently sold our entire stock of bracelets to a team that just left. We’re also working on Christmas ornaments, candles and tea caddies as Sarah calls them (I call them boxes or little buckets with or without lids. Less professional, but I like the word bucket.) Earring designs are coming along as well.
It seems that new doors are opening as far as sales go, and we are soon going to have to find ways to up production, a very good problem to have! I’m already finding myself spending hours in the “office” (okay, for us it’s an office) working on this craft in order to make the most of the opportunity to sell to the gringos who are here. Good thing our jícaro trees produce fruit year-round!
