Weaving cooperative

My friend Jackie in Chiang Mai has worked with this weaving cooperative in the northern part of the country for the past couple of years, and I asked if we could go up and pay them a visit. We did, and it was a pretty damn moving trip. The region is home to MANY different ethnic groups, and many of these groups who live in the mountains and rural areas still live in the same basic state that they have for centuries. The towns have no electricity, running water, etc. One of the biggest crisis's that is hitting these communities is the modern world. Today, many of the villages are occupied largely by only older people and children. The trappings of the modern world lures all the young adults away to the city, and they never return. Along with them goes the group's language, culture and traditions. In another generation there will be little left of many of these cultures. Additionally, this migration tears apart families, separates children from their parents, and leaves the elderly with no one to care for them, and to take raise the children. In an effort to off set loss, this cooperative was started in a village of the Karen (pronounced ker-rin) tribe. The Karen people have a long history of weaving, and the cooperative takes this skill and allows them to make a living doing it. The goal of the cooperative is to provide jobs in the village which will allow people to not only stay in the village, but because the product is a traditional one, the work actually reinforces and preserves the tradition. So far, it has worked great. The coop has been in operation for 15 years now, and 80 members of the village participate in it. The most amazing part for me was Dewey, the fellow who started the group. He was a village member who saw his culture dying before him, and decided to try to help stop it. He started the group with 1800 baht (about $200) and continues it with almost no personal compensation. He was clearly tired and overworked the day we visited, and the most touching part was that he still took over hour out of his day to sit and talk with us and explain the organization and it's goals (thank god Jackie speaks thai!) During this talk you could really get a sense of the deep caring and compassion Dewey had for people and trying to make their lives better. The work was hard, but to him it was unquestionably worth every minute. It was incredible touching and moving. I can say I haven't met many people like Dewey, and the world could use a lot more of people like him. Needless to say some of you have some Karen handwoven gifts when I get back!

This idea of a sewing cooperative is not unique, there are many other similar groups in Thailand. The link below isn't for this group as they don't have a web site, but it is for a very similar group that does the same thing for Karen refugees from Burma.

http://www.karenwomen.org/shop.html