Ms Sang, age 34, weaver of Phiengdi Village, Bolikhan District
Interviewed by Shui-Meng of PADETC
Photos by Sombath and Shui-Meng

I came to Phiengdi Village together with Khampha, a relative of my husband, said Ms Sang, who now lives next door to Khampha. My village in Xam Tai district of Houa Phan province is even more difficult to reach than Khamphas village. There are no proper roads and there are no schools or clinics, Sang added. Married at 18 to Saitong, Sang wanted a better life and a better place to raise their children, and Phiengdi seemed to offer better prospects to the young family. Sang now has 4 children, the eldest is 14, while the youngest is 7. All attend school near the village.

Sang is a good weaver, a common trait among women of the Tai Deang ethnic group from Houa Phan who have been passing this ancient skill from mother to daughter for generations. All the girls in our village knew how to weave. I learned how to weave from my mother at age 5. My daughter now aged 9 already knows how to weave since age 6, Sang explained, showing off a beautiful skirt-border with deer and flower motif woven by her daughter Lah.

Like Khampha, Sangs life in Phiengdi village revolves mainly helping her husband grow rice and other food crops mainly for subsistence. To earn cash for daily expenses, she depends on the sale of her woven products.

Two years ago, she joined the weaving group headed by Khampha. Joining the group was a good thing. We share weaving knowledge and marketing information. We also learn to help and support one another, Sang explained. Another benefit is that we get training on use of natural dyes and about designs and colors which are in demand. We now understand the importance of making sure that the quality of the weaving is good and consistent, she added.

Sangs income from weaving has increased since joining the weaving group. In the past I cannot make much money from weaving because there are not many buyers nearby. After joining the weavers group led by Khampha, things have become better, Sang said. We have more places to sell our weaving. This is because PADETC links us to more buyers and we now get more orders, Sang continued. With her income now averaging about 900,000 kip per month, Sang is hopeful that she can keep all her children until they finish high school and have good jobs. I hope their lives will be easier than mine, sighed Sang. Her next wish is that she can build a new house. Looking around her modest house made mainly of woven bamboo, she badly wants to build a bigger and better house.

Sang is already working hard to make her dream come true. Pointing to a pile of wooden planks under her house, Sang said, I am slowly accumulating wood and I hope that in another two years, we will be able to build a better house, she said. To this, her husband Saithong sitting nearby nodded in agreement.

Ms Noud, age 25, weaver of None Somboun Village, Bolikhan District
Interviewed by Shui-Meng of PADETC
Photos by Sombath and Shui-Meng

Most of the weavers in Bolikhan District are migrants from Houa Phan, one of the poorest and least developed provinces in northern Laos.  In the case of Noud, the fourth child of a poor family of seven children, she left her remote village in Soubbau District of Houa Phan at age fifteen to escape poverty. She came to live with her uncle in Vientiane and supported herself by weaving.  In Vientiane she met her present husband, Bounkhong, who was at that time a student studying agriculture in a college in the city. Noud and Bounkhong fell in love and got married in 2002.  After their wedding, Bounkhong took his young wife back to live with his family in Phonesaat Village in Bolikhan district.  Three years ago, the district authorities asked families who needed more land for production to develop a new village at None Somboun.  Bounkhong decided to take up the offer and moved his young family to None Somboun where they built a small house and started to farm the land near the village.

Although the government has given them land, opening up new land for cultivation is not an easy task, especially when they had no machinery to clear and level the land.  Determined to build a better life for themselves, the young couple decided to persevere and work hard, hoping that life will become better progressively.  So Bounkhong now besides farming his own land also works about 10 days a month as casual hire in a nearby rubber plantation where he earns 30,000 kip/day.  

This is where Noud’s weaving skills have come in very handy.  Income from Noud’s weaving brings in about 700,000 Kip a month. “Opening up new land for farming is difficult.  Even after three years, we do not produce enough rice to last the whole year.  We still need to buy about half of our food needs.  If not for Noud’s ability to earn extra money from her weaving, our family will not be able to make ends meet”, Boualiene admitted frankly.

Noud is a good weaver and can produce good quality products.  Having lived in the capital city of Vientiane before moving to Bolikhan district, Noud is more in touch with market trends and marketing outlets in Vientiane.  She does not sell her woven products at the local market but often makes the half-day journey each way to sell her weaving in Vientiane herself so as to get a better price.  Her knowledge of weaving and market information is well appreciated by the women who live in the newly developed village of None Somboun.  So, when PADETC initiated a weaving promotion project to help poor in the village, Noud was elected to be the deputy head of the weaving group of 14 members.  With two young children - a 5-year old daughter and a 2-year old son - to take care of and other domestic and farming chores to attend to, Noud is a very busy woman.  

Despite her limited time, Noud is very committed to helping the other women in her group. She teaches the less experienced weavers how to set new designs and weave the more complicated motifs.  She also helps take the other members’ products to sell whenever she goes to Vientiane.  All this means that she has less time for her own weaving.  Pointing to a lovely piece of silk shawl she was completing, she said that she could finish it in one day if she worked on it full-time, but because of her many other chores, she now can finish only 15 to 18 pieces a month. Nevertheless, Noud is happy to lead the weaver’s group and obviously pleased with the fact that she is trusted and respected by others.  “Being in a group gives us a sense of solidarity.  We have the opportunity to learn new things from the training and after the training we continue to meet regularly and support each other”, she said smiling.

Although life is still a struggle for young Noud, she is full of ambition and hopes for the future.  Her dream is that she can develop a small weaving training and production center at None Somboun where she can train women to weave and create a sale center for the weavers groups from the nearby villages. “I will continue to weave and design patterns and train others.  I have seen other women in Vientiane set up small weaving workshops.  I would like to be able to do that one day”, the budding entrepreneur in Noud said shyly.

Ms Khampha, age 40, weaver of Phiengdi Village, Bolikhan District
Interviewed by Shui-Meng of PADECT
Photos by Sombath and Shui-Meng

Ms Khampha, now aged 40, is the leader of a group of 14 women weavers in Phiengdi Village, Bolikhan District.  The weavers’ group was formed only two years ago when PADETC, a development agency, started working with the village to improve livelihoods among poor rural women through its small and medium business enterprise project.

Khampha and her family had settled in Phiengdi Village only about 10 years ago.  Originally hailed from Kham District of Xiengkhoung Province from the northern part of Laos, she and her family had hoped to escape poverty by coming to Phiengdi on the news that agricultural land was available around Phiengdi for those who were willing to open up new lands for farming.  Khampha and her family and a few others in her village and decided to move to take advantage of this offer.  They built simple houses at the outer edge of Phiengdi village and cleared land for rice production.  Over the next few years, more families, mainly friends and families, of Khampha and her neighbours followed suit and settled in Phiengdi.  

Khampha and her family were initially happy about their move.  In Phiengdi they had access to more agriculture land which ensured their basic food security as well a little cash income from sale of their excess rice or other food crops like corn and vegetables. Also, they were able to send their four children to a nearby school. She could also earn some additional income by selling her woven products like “skirt-borders” used in traditional Lao skirt in the local market.  However, despite her hard work, the family remained poor.  Worse yet, demand for Khampha’s skirt borders at the local market had progressively fallen because of over-supply.

“Two years ago, the village leader called a village meeting and asked the women who knew how to weave whether we would be interested to participate in a project to help us improve the quality of our weaving and build it like a business,” recalled Khampha.  “A few of my neighbors and I jumped at the opportunity and indicated our interest.”

Working with the staff of PADETC, Khampha and four other women were organized into a weaving group.  Khampha herself was selected by the women as a group leader because of her weaving skills and her seniority in the group.  The weaving group attended training in basic understanding about costing, pricing, and quality control and product grading.  They also learned about new designs and weaving techniques and how to make natural dyes and the art of dyeing from master weavers and master dyers from Vientiane.  

“Before forming the weaving group, each person just wove according to what we thought would sell.  But after forming into a group and meeting regularly we came to understand the value of sharing information about what designs sell well, what colors are popular, and learn different weaving techniques and styles from each other”, Khampha explained. “Now we do not only produce skirt-borders, but also silk shawls of different designs and techniques which sell better at the market”, she continued.  As the quality of the weaving improved, the group has been contracted by the district

As other women see the income generating potential of Khampha and her group, they too asked to join the project.  As a result, the group has grown from the original 5 members to 14 members. At the same time, staff of PADETC have continued to help the group develop new weaving designs and products and link the group to buyers in Vientiane and overseas who operate on “fair trade” principles so that the weavers get a fair price for their work.  PADETC also arranged for Khampha and her group to visit other weaving communities to share experiences and exhibit their products at trade fairs or crafts fairs to broaden their marketing links.

To meet the increased demand, Khampha now out-sources some of the weaving to a new member of the group.  She provides her with all the raw materials and pays her on an agreed piece-rate. “Now I make about 1,000,000 kip per month.  The increased earnings have made my life a little better than before, Khampha said smiling.  “I am glad that my wife can earn money from weaving,” chimed in Boualiene her farmer husband. “Frankly most of our household expenses such as medical fees, school fees, fuel for the motorbike, and other household expenses are from Khampha’s weaving”, he said.  Like most Lao farmers agriculture production is mainly for household consumption, and only a small amount is sold for cash.

“If I and my group members continue to work hard and improve the sale of our woven products we can make more income and improve our lives”, Khampha added.  Her greatest wish now is to see her youngest son complete high schooling.  Another wish she has is to upgrade the family motorbike to a small car so that they can get around more conveniently.

Ms Nuthong, age 35, weaver of Had Xiengthong Village, Bolikhan District
Interviewed by Shui-Meng of PADETC
Photos by Sombath and Shui-Meng

Ms Nuthong is a dynamic organizer and a go-getter when it comes to making sure that women in her weaver’s group get as many production contracts as possible.  “Yes, we will dye the silk in the color you ordered, but I also want the weaving order.  Show me the design and I can assure you that Mai, my best weaver in the group, can replicate the design exactly” Nuthong persisted.  She was arguing with a buyer who was there to contract Nuthong’s group to dye the silk for another group in nearby village who will receive the weaving contract.  Finally, the buyer agreed to let Nuthong’s group weave one sample to show him, and if it meets the specifications, he will place an order with them for 20 scarves for a start.  Such is the leadership quality of Nuthong, the head of 4 weaver groups of 60 weavers in Had Xiengthong Village in Bolikhan District.

Had Xiengthong Village is an established village, and with nearly 250 households it is one of the largest villages in Bolikhan District.  The village is settled mainly by people of the Moei ethnic group, a sub-group of Lao-tai people found mainly in Central Laos.  The Moei ethnic group also has a long weaving tradition specializing in weaving the traditional Lao skirt and colorful skirt border.  

In recent years, income from weaving for the women in Had Xiengthong Village has been falling.  The reason is that the women had not changed their weaving designs or range of products much.  As a result they have not kept up with the market’s changing demand in styles and colors.  “We work individually and mainly wove skirts and skirt-borders.  The buyers at the local market do not give us a good price for our weaving as most of the women in the surrounding villages also produce the same products for sale”, Nuthong explained.  “In 2007, when PADETC offered to help us improve our weaving, we were happy to co-operate. Those who agree to participate in the project must agree to form weaving groups and promise to attend training and monthly meetings”, Nuthong continued.

After joining the project, the women were trained in how to improve the designs, broaden the range of products, and use natural colors.  Nuthong after attending training in making natural dyes experimented with various local materials and came up with a number of new colors.  A dye made from a mixture of local river clay produced a warm earthy brown color which proved to be very popular with some buyers. Nuthong calls the color “Bolikhan brown” and she and her group members have since used the new dye to weave silk scarves.  At a recent craft fair, Nuthong exhibited the new scarves and they were all snatched up.  Now they have received repeat orders from buyers in Vientiane and overseas.  

“We will have to work hard to create new designs and experiment with more new natural colors”, Nuthong said. “One thing we must improve is the consistency and quality of our products.  In the past we did not pay enough attention to this and so we have lost some contracts to the weaver groups in the next village”, Nuthong continued.  She and Mai, a fellow weaver in her village, are now determined to weave according to specifications and to make sure that the group members pay attention to every fine detail to ensure good quality.

Nuthong’s perseverance has paid off.  The weaver groups now have broadened the range of their products and have attracted more buyers.  PADETC also links the group with buyers who pay a “fair price” which is mutually agreed to before any contract is signed.  Slowly Nuthong and her fellow weavers are seeing a gradual increase in their income which they are determined to continually improve.   

Nuthong now makes about 900,000 kip a month from the sale of her weaving.  Her farm worked mainly by her husband, Bounsone, produces enough rice to feed her family of three children. During the non-farming season, Bounsone also runs a little transportation business by driving his “tuk-tuk to carry passengers to and from town. With these various sources of income, Nuthong considers her family fortunate compared to others. “We have enough to eat and with the cash I earn from weaving, we can meet all our family’s expenses, and keep all our children to school”, she said smiling.  

Nuthong's dream is to see her children finish at least high school and get good jobs.  Another wish is that her husband can buy a van for his transportation business.