Most of the stories that deserve to be told,

are those of simple dreams.

The story of Sonia Raio, a 60 – year – old Indigenous Mapuche woman, is one of those stories.

Sonia’s life began amidst the tranquil grass fields of her ancestors, with the Budi Lake as her backdrop. Here in the south of Chile, she learned to cultivate potatoes and beans, inheriting the wisdom of generations that came before her. Yet, there was something more profound within Sonia, a talent and a story that would go on to inspire others.

Her one of a kind gift for handcrafts and artisan work was not cultivated in a classroom or through formal training, but was instead nurtured by her own curiosity and inherited from the older women in her community.

Sonia Raio | Artisan from the Mapuche community.

Although life had other plans for Sonia. For over 40 years, she has worked as a housemaid, while her talents remained hidden, known only to herself and a select few. The opportunity to share her art with the world remained always elusive. One fortunate day, someone recognized the brilliance in one of her pieces and offered her a chance to showcase her work to tourism companies seeking for handcrafted creations

Just a few weeks afterwards, there was an opportunity for Sonia. She was asked to replicate an ancient Dalca Canoe, using a material she had never used before, a Chilean award winning wool, made entirely with 100% recycled fabric, using no water or chemicals in the process.

Sonia was given the wool and she had to rely solely on a single picture as a reference to create the piece. After days of hard work, she developed a pattern and knitted the canoe entirely, without sewing or assembling any of the pieces.

Sonia’s sample found its way into the hands of Paula, Dalca Travel’s founder, who was truly impressed by the authenticity of her work. Paula did not hesitate to partner with Sonia, in order to develop her company’s merchandising.

When Sonia got that call, her reaction was a moment of pure emotion and spoke, «This might be such a simple call for you, but this is a dream come true for me. I would have never imagine that my little crafts would cross the world and be seen in Europe… These are the things that never happen to people like me…»

… And as she said, that simple call, made our day in Dalca Travel. And reminded us that in real people and real stories, is how we find meaning in what we do. We thought we were creating eco-friendly merchandising, but we were making dreams come true.