Handicraft Textile

I need more experience and knowledge of hand-made production

Current textile products in this village

This week, we visited to a village of Toumlane district, Saravanh province in Laos to research for new coming project about textile. Because the time when I started working in this project was already half way of our project's period, I missed the chance to see the stage of product development, which is how we make new unique, local and valued-added product.

I feel process in ward is not difficult to understand for me. It's almost same of what I have done in AIESEC. Point of this stage is below (Same process of the way to make plan).
1.Know the strength and weakness or current products (resource analysis).
2.What makes them limit, or what is Opportunities for producers.
3.Communicate villagers to know their wants or problems
4.Make image of the new product with villagers (sometimes need to facilitate them)

But the most difficult point of this stage is "Idea of new products", and it's for sure coming from knowledge and experience of smiler product and project.

Do you know what kind of Textile has valuable one??
Do you know what kind of weaving style is it on pictures and how much valuable??
Do you know how to die a natural color??
Do you know what kind

This experience makes me realized what I have to study to be expert,
and one the same time makes me realized
the way to utilize my past valuable experience in my future.
No body told me what I have to learn here (not like company),
But I always have to be hungry of knowledge

The last product of our project to be craeted

The last product of our ODOP project to be produced

Can you imagine what they are making from the above pictures?? If so, I can say you are really familiar to social work and maybe you have potential to be social worker.

They are making OVEN for "Pottery" !!!
Today I went to a village in Atsaphone district of Savannakhet, LAO PDR to see and experience of Pottery project. Last year, we invited OTOP expert from Thailand to train how to make an OVEN for small Pottery like the pictures below. But because all of the producers are farmer and when the rainy season comes, they have to work for firm, so we couldn't continue to make OVEN.

You know, to make a OVEN for pottery is not that easy, at first we need to dig sooo much soil, bring it from place to place, mix with cover of rice to be sticky, put it in a machine, cut it, make the shape proper, dry it and put all of it together to make OVEN. But we need more than at least 300 oven stones, but we can make around 40 stones every 3 days. And as you can imagine, it's extremely hard work, and if the quality and shape of the stone is not proper, we can't use it for a piece of the oven. It's like a making pyramid, and they have to do it with only around producers.

As a social worker, of cause I tried to do the same action of producers for a day. I was feeling I was doing resistance training when I did in my high school days for hand ball... Then for the next three days no wonder I had muscle pain.　

When we saw a products, normally we just see the function or design.
But once we knew the history and process of it,
we can love the product more and know the hidden value of it.

To know the value of a product,
to experience of production is the best way

雄揮 / Yuki / ยูกิ

Planting Aloe

I found wonderful plant..... It's Aloe.
Aloe Drink is one of our ODOP products. At first we approached to local water producers coz if we make Aloe Drink, Water is the most important factor because Aloe itself is not difficult to plant, no it's really easy to grow up. Coz basically this plant can survive even desert. we don't have to put much water and don't have to take care so much.

And Aloe can help our health, if you get sick, you can drink, if you get injured, you can put it. even it's good for cancer as well.

I also try to plant Aloe now. You can see my aloe below picture.

In my life, it's the first time to plant.
Interested to see how it's going on.

雄揮 / Yuki / ยูกิ

Handicraft Festival in Capital of Laos

Handicraft Festival 2010 at Vientiane

1st to 5th of Nov 2010, our project joined in Handicraft festival in Vientiane in Laos. There were more than 50 booths from every province in Laos. After I came to Laos, I got interested in Handicraft materials, coz it's something we can't imitate. wonderful and incredible things. it's the technical and traditional way, feel it's really beautiful!!!

one of our products is a bags made of Banana Fiber, which is new products in Lao country. ODOP supports a village which is famous of Cotton and Beads textile in Saravanh Province, and they are minority races called Katu. Of cause they can't speak English and even lao is not their native language. Whole of these things makes me really interested in this village and this product. I was not interested in textile before I met them at all.

Anyway in this event, I helped the producers,
and finally I felt that I'm contributing for producers,
not for the project or JICA.
That is something social workers always have to feel.
What I have done is not for Project.

Now I'm close friends of them =)

雄揮 / Yuki / ยูกิ

9日間、ラオスの首都ビエンチャンにいってきた。
目的は、ハンディクラフトフェスティバルというイベント出展の為。
手で作った製品だとは思えないものばかり。
やっぱし、人間はすごい！！

Loy Kratong Festival in Savannakhet

Loy Kratong Festival in Savannakhet 2010

Last year in this time, it was first time for all of us to come to Laos. We didn't know it was the Loy Kratong Festival in Laos. Actually the trip was one of my best and the most memorial trip in my life.

Morning at 6:30AM, we (my sister, friends of sister and I) left for a temple and pray and feed food to our ancestors called "Sai Bart"

And Night time by Mekong River, there are so many booths selling staffs and thousands of people, it's really like the one I joined last year in Vientiane. And I made my own beautiful Roy.

But Whole of this day, I got heavy stomachache,
so I didn't really enjoy the festival.

People often think about past,
but most of the people know we should see our future.
But sometimes seeing my past gave me power.
Happy time was always happy time to think back.

雄揮 / Yuki / ยูกิ

เรือนบุน (Huan-Bun) Ceremony

Last Sunday Morning, I went to a Ceremony called Huan-Bun in Savanakhet with my Sister here. This ceremony invite Monks for a house for giving foods for their ancestors. And hosting house invite many relatives and neighborhood to do together.

Normally once or twice a week, my sister and I will feed food for monks in front of our house at 6AM.

Do you know why Monks get food or everything from the others?? Not buy it by themselves.
I got this information from a book, this is because Buddhism doesn't like to have "Class" between people and Buddha chooses to be the beggar and demonstrate no class between us.

I like this idea =)

My Friends

In the last month, two of my best friends in Thailand visited to me at Savannakhet.
I hope all of my friends around the world could visit to me and spend wonderful time together.

Both of them really like Savannakhet, because we don't have anything except nature and warm of the people. (I took the picture of water fall at PAKSE, which is different province from Savannakhet.)

Let me host you guys from all over the world.

Amazing Savannakhet

Marketing Research on national highway

ODOP products have to be nigh values products, so it should be more expensive than normal products and most of the Laos people don’t have more money. At that result, one of the biggest potential markets for the products is foreigner. In Savannakhet, we have national highway 9 road bridging between Thailand and Vietnam. And a few days ago, we ODOP team went down to Vietnam for searching market for ODOP. It took 15 hours from 7AM to 10PM.

We went to three big cities (market) and the border of the Vietnam, and asked the people about the information of people visiting to the place and looking for the potential shops where we could sell our products.

In researching, we found the construction for a roadside station supported by Japanese foundation. It will be completed in two months. But looked around the place, we couldn’t see any houses or people around the place…… Just wonder who gonna come and sell the things, and the money is coming from Japanese people’s task, such a wasting money. This is one of the typical examples that developers don’t think of the benefit of the local people.

Found something special on the way .

Social workers has to see situation of the grounds,
otherwise the supports gonna be wasting or even worse for the local people.

雄揮 / Yuki / ยูกิ

調査の為に、ベトナムの国境まで行ってきましたぁ。
15時間くらいかかって調査終了したから、くたくただぁ