Testimonies...

The life of a Lahu family from a Thai Tribal Crafts’ village:

 

Nalee learned to weave alone, before meet Thai Tribal Crafts, her future was very doubtful. In fact, 35 years ago, she sale her own products on different markets but she could not take care of her family of 4 children, moreover, send them to the university was impossible.

Children education: they are compulsory to go to primary school from 1 to 6 into their village, and then they have to go to the high school in town nearby the village, until the age of 12. Afterwards, the secondary school and the university are payable.

Thanks to Thai Tribal Crafts, Nalee sent her children in town for their studies, she stayed in the village to work for Thai Tribal Crafts and earn enough money to pay her children studies. Lahu peoples live in hostels adapted to Lahus families. Nalee’s husband works in the hostel like a cooker.

Usually, the men work in fields and cultured rice, lychees, melons, pineapple, tobacco, etc.

Today, Nalee is 58 and unfortunately her husband deceased 3 years ago, she is still working for Thai tribal Crafts, she can’t speak Thai so she lives and works in her daughter’s house for our “finishing group”. She misses her husband and works for Thai Tribal Crafts make her forget his absence. She makes 10 pieces per week and she works from 6 am to 10 pm. All of her 4 children are now graduate and one of them became a marketing manager in our office.

 

 

 

 

 

A Lahu young mother:

Nowadays, the situation is changing because of the crisis; a young woman from Lahu tribe ignores her children future. She is a new worker for our hammock’s producers. Her parents didn’t have the averages to pay her studies. She didn’t have the same education as our older producers, thus she get married at the age of 15, after primary school and has her first children at 16. Now she has 26 and 5 children, she just starts working for Thai Tribal Crafts. Thanks to this new job, she could maybe give a better life than her to her children.

Rencontre avec des travailleuses Lahus (french translation) 

Nalee  a appris la couture toute seule, il y a 35 ans, elle vendait ses propres produits sur le marché. Elle ne pouvait pas subvenir aux besoins de sa famille de 4 enfants et encore moins les envoyer  au lycée et à l’université. Depuis qu’elle travaille pour Thai Tribal Crafts la situation s’est nettement améliorée, 3 de ses 4 enfants sont diplômés d’études supérieures, l’un d’entre eux est responsable marketing dans nos bureaux.

Education des enfants des tribus :

Ils vont à l’école du village de 1 à 6 ans, puis ils rejoignent la ville la plus proche en moto ou bus pour étudier au collège et ce jusqu’à 12 ans. Ensuite l’école n’est pas obligatoire, mais elle est surtout payante.

Pour les familles ayant les moyens, comme celle de Nalee, ils envoient les enfants en ville pour étudier. Ceux-ci sont logés dans des résidences « spécialisées » pour les familles Lahus. Les parents doivent travailler dur pour assumer les dépenses, le mari de Nalee est cuisinier pour l’hôtel des Lahus. Nalee reste au village avec les autres travailleurs pour continuer à confectionner des produits pour Thai Tribal Crafts.

Habituellement les hommes des tribus travaillent dans les champs, ils récoltent le riz, les lytchees, ananas, café, tabac, etc.

Aujourd’hui Nalee a 58 ans et elle travaille chez sa fille à Chiang Mai. Elle reste à la maison car elle ne sait pas parler le Thai. Elle a malheureusement perdu son mari il y a 3 ans, elle comble ce vide grâce à  Thai Tribal Crafts et travaille parfois de 6 H du matin jusqu’à 22 H, « pour le plaisir » dit-elle, ainsi elle confectionne par exemple 10 portemonnaies par semaine. 

Témoignage d’une nouvelle recrue Lahu :

Cette jeune femme ignore encore ce que sera l’avenir de ces enfants, elle-même n’a pas eu la chance d’avoir une éducation après l’école primaire. Elle s’est mariée à l’âge de 15 ans et a eu son premier enfant un an après. Aujourd’hui elle a 26 ans et elle a 5 enfants, elle est en formation pour apprendre la confection de nos hamacs Lahus. Grâce à ce nouveau travail, elle pourra peut-être offrir un meilleur avenir à ses enfants.

Lawa young man at La Oob village

The Lawa live in villages in two provinces of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, and have a population of about 16,000 people. They traditionally supported their families by engaging in slash-and-burn agriculture, but now need other sources of income, as the old way of agriculture is no longer possible.


Thai Tribal Craft has been working with the Lawa people from Ban La Oob since 1996. This village is about 250 kilometers west of Chiang Mai, located in Mae La Noi district of Mae Hong Son province. They make beautiful silver products and black hand-woven cloth with tie-dye designs. There are 12 producers of silver earrings, bracelets and necklaces, and 20 weavers who weave black cloth with tie-dye designs from which TTC makes a number of products, such as vests, purses, small accessories, travel bags etc….


Nowadays, many young tribal people leave their villages to go to the city, seeking jobs and a better income. Some of them stay in the city after they graduate, hoping to earn money to spend on an easier lifestyle than the one they have in their villages. This is happening to many young people in La Oob village.

Narongchai Pratheeppoj, 25 years old, is a young Lawa man from Ban La Oob who decided to take over the role that his father, Khampan Pratheeppoj, now holds as a representative of the La Oob silver producer group. After Narongchai finished high school, he decided to stay in the village and work as a silversmith with the La Oob silver producer group founded by his father. “I would like to preserve our traditional silver work by teaching this skill to the generations to come. I want to create an income opportunity for the villagers here so that they do not need to move into the city,” said Narongchai. As agriculture is the main income for the people in the village, Narongchai is also working on growing rice, cabbage, corn, and coffee for their own consumption and working on the silver jewelry production when the group has orders or when they have free time. “I can use the money that I earn from making jewelry and invest it in my agricultural work by buying organic fertilizer, seeds, etc. Working on silver handicrafts is very important to us because it helps our cash flow and we do not need to borrow money from the financial agency at a high interest rate,” said Narongchai.

Narongchai is now assuming his father’s role by being a representative of the group. He comes to the Thai Tribal Crafts head office to pick up orders, collect payments and to make contact with several shops in Chiang Mai. He also leads the group in participation in the OTOP fair organized by the Thai Government.


With the advice and cooperation of Thai Tribal Crafts, the group lead by Narongchai has established an eco-tourism and home-stay program in the village. The aims are to promote their beautiful silver work, explore the real life story of the artisans behind the Lawa silver products, and provide extra income to the families of the group. Thai Tribal Crafts Fair Trade also develops Eco Fair Trade Tour programs for those who love Fair Trade.

La Oob Village

As travellers are welcomed into the La Oob community with dignity and respect in the context of a family atmosphere, and have the opportunity to try on the silver products, the group hopes that many will gain a better understanding of the impact that Fair Trade has made in La Oob village and leave with special memories of their time there.


In all Narongchai’s efforts, he is trying to create more income opportunities for the group and lift up the living standards of the La Oob villagers.

Lahu Weaving

There are approximately 102,876 Lahus now living in Thailand. The four sub-tribes of Lahu are the Lahu Na, Lahu Sheh Leh, Lahu Shi and Lahu Nyi and they all produce a diversity of designs. Lahu women are skilled in weaving cloth both on back strap and foot treadle looms. Lahu weaving is unique in that the pattern appears on only one side of the cloth. Lahu women also produce delicate and colorful patchwork trims. Lahu men make baskets, crossbows and musical instruments. Below VDO clip is showing Lahu women at work (weaving) :



Thai Tribal Crafts team..