CAMAGÜEY.- King Midas may have died from the curse of turning everything into gold. But there is a different power in Marlene and Nancy, who sew, weave and make gold, but not Midas's, but the real one, the one that is born of the will and love of fulfilling dreams. “Manus Aureus” means hands of gold in Latin and names the project that they make up.

When I got to Marlene's house on Santa Rosa Street, I did it half an hour early; she still cleaned the floor with the agility of people who want to live slowly. She asked me to take care of her business and I, with only vague ideas of buying and selling, sat near the old door, among so many fabrics, while I asked myself how much patience it would take to make all that.

Then Nancy arrived, bringing her instruments in a bag, along with the blouses she was making in those days, because she sews and knits wherever and whenever, even while giving an interview.

"In 2010 this project began as a plastic collective, which grew to become Manus Aureus, which has been founded for 12 years, although as a community project it was formed in 2015," says Marlene tells from her sofa and Nancy continues: “We practice sewing, weaving, embroidery, patchwork, painting, papier-mâché, jewelry, we use different techniques and materials. Now we are inserted within the Arte Plaza project, from the Office of the Historian of the City of Camagüey, to promote creative industries”.

The prizes have not stopped, such as those awarded by the CIERIC and the most recent award in the Reflections Contest of the 3rd Biennial of Design 2022, for having designed the commercial space with the best representation of traditions, in the El Telégrafo store.

“Our project is characterized by rescuing and representing traditions, handicrafts that are no longer used, but that we have insisted on bringing back to the present, so that these aesthetic and artistic elements are not lost. We also direct our work towards the education and training of people in these tasks, through the Orientation House for Women and the Family; for example, Nancy is a cutting and sewing teacher and I - Marlene points out to herself - I teach weaving classes”.

During confinement by COVID-19, her hands were more golden.

“Some stores were closed; others, lacking supplies, people had nowhere to buy simple utilitarian objects such as a kitchen towel, some pot holders, facemasks or a rug and that is where our work began, in providing solutions to existing economic and social problems. Since it was so difficult to find materials for manufacturing, we used a lot of recycled ones”.

Manus Aureus leaves other earnings, which are not measured or sold. Nancy is retired and Marlene, a woman with a disability. Nancy thought that with her retirement her working life was over; Marlene believed the same with the accident that caused a thoracic spinal cord injury, but both found a path of resilience and handmade art.

The interview is over, at least the formal one, but the most pleasant conversation begins, in which Nancy takes out her needle and her cloth again and feels tremendous relief, as if those minutes away had been endless, she already feels safe. Marlene also grabs a huge spool of blue yarn and gives me an “express” knitting class, as if I were a student in her class. She pulls out all the racks in her closet to proudly show me her clothes, the ones she knits and wears.

Nancy tells me about her most immediate dream of doing a fashion show for boys and girls. Marlene recounts her ups and downs in hospitals and in her wheelchair, when nobody believed that she would walk again and "look now, journalist, I received you cleaning my house, that's thanks to my will and this project, which has given me back my desire to live”.

Feeling useful and fulfilled at more than 50 years of age is the true gold that Manus Aureus has bequeathed them. They work with the yarn they buy "here and there" and deliver a little piece of themselves into their hands; because to sew and weave gold you don't have to be Midas, just be a tireless Marlene and a hard-working Nancy, you just need to carry the talent in your hands and leave the gold to your soul.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez