A Weaving Enterprise has been established by Baan Dada Children’s Home (
http://www.baandada.org/) to employ
Karen workers from Molaka village. The women weavers use a traditional technique to produce shirts, shoulder bags, purses, and wallets while the men weavers produce large and small woven baskets, mini-takraw key-chains, and table decorations from locally-sourced bamboo. This is a completely separate project from Baan Unrak Home of Joy. Proceeds return to the weavers directly, with 10% going to support Baan Dada and the 42 orphaned and abandoned children who live there.
Being a rural area near the border with Mynamar, this area has a high rate of unemployment, disease, and poverty. Many of the residents are non-Thai and face many obstacles in achieving a decent level of education and a minimum wage job. The Weaving Enterprise currently employs Karen ethnic minority weavers from Molaka. Our workers are paid 90 baht per day, which is above minimum wage for this area and enough for the worker to support their children if their spouse is unemployed. These products are considered fairly traded products.
A Weaving Center was completed in early November on land next to Baan Dada Children’s Home, which has allowed us to expand the enterprise by inviting more weavers to live and work here.
The objective is to raise the standard of living of Molaka village, and in the future, other villages in this area. As well, it seeks to raise awareness about the plight of Karen and other ethnic minorities living in rural areas of Thailand.
SUPPORT THE PROJECT!Do you know of a shop in your town or city that sells ethnic handicrafts from impoverished regions of the world? If so, please forward their contact information to
lindsay@volunteerinthailand.orgEven better, approach the shop manager about the details of this project yourself and ask them to consider importing these products.
Please see
http://lindzinvancouver.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album08for more photos of the products and pricing. Please consider buying our woven goods as Christmas or birthday gifts for your friends, family, and co-workers and promoting the products to clubs, religious groups, sports teams, or other associations you may belong to.
Thank you very much for your interest and support of this project.
Warm regards,
Lindsay Marsh
Ananda Vidyadharma Sustainability Manager
www.baandada.org
