Kids Ark
Presentation:
Operating in the northwestern provinces of Thailand, Kids Ark was first started in 2000, to support children who were orphaned by AIDS and who were in need of assistance to remain in school. Over the years, Kids Ark has helped many poor children to gain access to basic education and health care and had widened their project scope to also provide assistance to the children’s caregivers and families through income-generating activities.
Their products:
Taking a two days walk from the borders to Burma will bring us to Kids Ark’s center of gravity for textile craft. Here, in a world peculiar to our century, lives a community that belongs to the Red Lahu ethnic minority group. Held together by their cultural beliefs, the community has lived the Red Lahu way of life for centuries and is dependent on their skills for self-reliance.
Hence, Kids Ark had started with textile, where the heart of Red Lahu culture lies. With their skills and products, Kids Ark hopes that the income generated by these women weavers can supplement their families' needs.
Please visit their website for more information: www.kidsarkfoundation.org
Akha Ama
Presentation:
Founded in 2007, Akha Ama is a local enterprise that supports disadvantaged farmers and encourages them to direct their efforts towards sustainable farming.
Hit by the economic crisis, many families living in the area around Maejantai village were left to fight for their own existence - with no access to education, food and health care. In the hopes of producing more coffee beans, many farmers had resorted to using chemical products, fertilisers, pesticides or insecticides, without realising the damage they will cause to themselves and the environment. Akha Ama aims to help these coffee farmers.
Today, Akha Ama Coffee offers to these communities a chance to strengthen their local economy by introducing concepts of sustainable and organic agriculture and by helping them to gain access to a larger market. In their efforts, Akha Ama Coffee also raises awareness among villagers by assisting and advising them towards achieving fair trade.
Their products:
Harvested during winter time, Akha Ama Coffee is 100 % Arabica. The coffee beans are shelled on the same day of the harvest and then processed according to the traditional wet methods of removing mucilage. The methods require the coffee beans to be soaked in water for 48-72 hours before they are subsequently washed by hand. Special attention is paid to each phase of the coffee production to make sure that each process is adequately monitored and the coffee tested at all stages. Akha Ama Coffee operates in accordance with the highest standards in all relationships with customers, suppliers, environment and the community.
Please visit their website for more information:
www.akhaama.com
Weave
Presentation:
Motivated by the vision of a world where women and their children are free to exercise their human rights, WEAVE is committed to teaching women to become socially, economically and politically empowered. WEAVE (Women's Education for Advancement and Empowerment) was founded in 1990, with the intent to empower indigenous women and support their needs and basic human rights. The organisation has evolved over the years, especially in the context of the influx of refugees from Burma. WEAVE's projects attempt to address some of the problems faced by marginalised ethnic women and their children from Burma in the key areas of education, health, economic empowerment and self reliance.
Their products:
WEAVE's products are hand made by Karen craft women living in the refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border.
Please visit their website for more information: www.weave-women.org/
Dor Dek
Presentation:
Vast majority of the street children living in Thailand were sold at the Burmese borders and brought into Thailand to be exploited. The objectives of the Volunteers for Children Development Foundation are to reduce risk behaviors in street children, to improve their lives, to foster cooperation between the government and NGO groups to help street children. The staff and volunteers will reach out to street children in Chiang Mai to aid them in times of emergencies, to provide basic healthcare and to engage them in life-skills training and activities. The foundation also aims to protect them from selling sex, and the threats of HIV and drugs.
Their products:
The Arts and Handicrafts for Street Children Project has been helping street children and young people in learning art skills that not only have therapeutic qualities, but also as a source of income.
Please visit their website for more information: www.vgcd.org/
Ying Yum Wan
A group of Shan women in a defacto refugee camp called Ying Yum Wan. With no land to cultivate they rely on food rations from NGOs but try to generate their own income to be more independent.