When Charo Portaro first moved to Olympia from Lima, Peru seven years ago with her husband and four children, it was like starting over. After a career as an industrial engineer in her home country, she suddenly found that her skills and training were useless without an understanding of English and the cultural norms of her new locale. She did, however, have one talent that would come in handy: she knew how to sew.
Today, Portaro is the Educational Programs Director at the CIELO Project, an Integral Education Center for Latinos in Olympia. She and board chair Sherry Sullivan administer CIELO’s ‘From the Fabric of Our Lives’ program, which offers immigrant women sewing classes as well as basic English lessons to help them become entrepreneurs and support themselves and their families.
“They’re learning basic sewing,” says Sullivan. “We also offer these women a special English language class that focuses on basic literacy and communicating with customers. This allows them to hone their abilities within their own communities and beyond so that they can become dressmakers and entrepreneurs, which helps to support them and their families.”
Four years ago Portaro became an instructor for the program, an experience that enabled her to better understand the population that CIELO serves. “It helped me a lot to develop more confidence and to understand more about the need of other women and immigrants,” she says. “I wanted with all my heart to help and serve the Latino population. I encouraged women to develop their skills to be more independent. Now, as a director of educational programs, I can empathize because I was once an immigrant in need, too; and I totally understand how many difficulties we all have to face when you start living in a totally new culture.”
No matter what your former profession, moving to the United States is like starting at square one, especially for those who don’t yet speak English, she maintains. “When you come here, even if you come with a profession, you are nothing. You have to start learning the language and developing your own skills.” Portaro returned to school, attending SPSCC to improve her English and update her computer skills and The Evergreen State College to learn the ins and outs of grant writing in the United States.
Earlier this year, CIELO received a grant the Women’s Leadership Council of Thurston County specifically designated for the From the Fabric of Our Lives program. The grant has enabled them to both expand the program and move into a larger space. “Because of this grant, we can take women from this very small, crowded space where they have to move everything from the cupboards for the one night a week we’ve been able to offer, and move them upstairs so that they’ll have a whole room,” says Sullivan.
More women are able to benefit from the program as a result. “Now with this big room that we have on the second floor, we can have 20 women at the same time,” says Portaro. “We are increasing to two days a week with the sewing classes and another dressmaker will come on Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.” The enhanced schedule means that progress can occur more rapidly, says Sullivan.
Despite some organizational upheaval such as losing their executive director several years ago, CIELO has continued to expand its outreach. “We passed through many economic struggles, but we continued working,” says Portaro. “The question was, how many classes do you want to close? I didn’t want to close anything. I want to keep going with all of those services because people need them. We can make a very wonderful impact in our community if we just take care of people.”
Through it all, the program continued and grew. “When I started we were serving no more than 30 students and now we are serving more than 300,” says Portaro.
She wants that expansion to continue. “When I first came here, I could see that this community is very aware of how to work together and improve the lives of everyone,” she says. “I met different people who welcomed us with their love and support. It is the same at CIELO. We welcome not only Latinos but people from Asia and Africa.” They also serve a wide range of ages. “We have children who are two and a half years old, and one student from Africa who is 94,” she says. “He comes because he loves to feel that he is not isolated, that he has some friends. That is the beauty in CIELO, that all of us can change the world.”
For more information about CIELO, visit www.cieloproject.org or call 360-709-0931.
