Vineyard resident and business owner Kati Johnsen recently took part in Indigenous Voices at the United Nations, a 10-day forum. She accompanied a village elder from a remote village in Peru who was invited to the forum last fall. Ms. Johnsen has been working in Peru for 25 years, employing and mentoring women in impoverished mountain villages. The indigenous woman is Marleny Callaunaupa, a Quechan Indian who is a prominent member of her small town, Chinchero, and who has been instrumental in keeping traditional crafts alive in her Andean community.

Ms. Johnsen’s business Mollygoggles, a Vineyard-based children’s sweater design and wholesale company, is devoted to providing fair wages to 250 Peruvian artisans, as well as teaching English, knitting and weaving and practical skills to local women, while encouraging local industry and self-sufficiency in two small towns in Peru. Ms. Johnsen recently started a second organization called Chaska Hill which will further promote traditional Peruvian crafts and will give people from all over the world the opportunity to learn weaving and other crafts from local artisans in Peru, while completely immersing themselves in the Peruvian culture.

Ms. Johnsen has taken groups of young adults and women to Peru with her in the past. She will continue this fall with her workshops in Peru.

She has been working closely with Ms. Callapauna for 10 years, employing her to teach her native weaving techniques and helping her establish a training program for young women. The two women have become close friends. After employing Ms. Johnsen as a liaison in communications with Ms. Callanaupa, the United Nations invited Ms. Johnsen to participate in the forum, which in April brought together over 2,000 indigenous people from all over the world for discussion and an exchange of ideas and concerns.