Ethnic Minorities of Vietnam

Hello, I had hoped when I got the bee in my bonnet and started this blog, it could be more of a meeting spot, others would contribute their leads as well...

we could all support the idea of Fair Trade and help pin point where to look for direct connections....I still live in Hope.

Here are a few pics I recently took in Vietnam, we are up around Sapa and Bac Ha, textiles are central to many of the Ethnic Minorities way of life and gloriuos to behold.

In the markets you are often dealing with the individual who made things or who has bought from other groups and is re-cycling textiles.

Picture 1. Flower H'mong ladies, their skits have rich panels running around them of cross stitch

Picture 2. Red Dzou ladies- the finess of the stitching on their garments is extraudinarily beautiful...the stitching will come up in your dreams...

Picture 3. Miss Mung, our lovely guide to the area, she is of the Black H'mong people, there garments are a simple 'black' really indigo so dark it looks black then burnished to a beetle wing sheen with very rich bands of embroidery on the sleeves and collars.

Just a few of the delights of the Mountains, there are 54 Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam in all, each distinctly different. Until fairly recently they were the poorest people in Vietnam, living a pretty tough life, with the advent of tourism in the last 10 years or so, some money is starting to get to them, but there is also a great erosion of their lifestyle...that opens up some big questions doesn't it?

Visiting the mountains in your textile quest you are taking funds directly to the source, shopping in town middle men as getting fat. Not visiting and many of the young move to town and leave their traditions behind....if we go there looking for the traditions -it encourages them to continue?

I like to hope so....

Morocco

Morocco...hard to spot Fair Trade ventures- if your are on the Sahara side of the country there are a lot of Berber Co-operatives, and as far as I can make out they are legitimate [they are not allowed to use Co-operative in their name if they are not] these would be Fair trade in that members share profits.

In the bigger cities I would be careful of what I am told.

The Ensemble Artisan is a government initiative to foster artisian work and all fixed price- looks good quality.

www.alkawter.org in Marakech is a Not For Profit organization offering day care, meals, technical, medical and personal assistance to women. The embroidery workshop offers apprenticeships to disabled young girls and women without skills, to enable them to support themselves with dignity.

The work they produce based on traditional embroidery designs, often with a contemporary twist is of a very high quality.

Please pass on any places you could recomend...

Fiji- Savusavu on Vanua Levu island

At Savusavu down behind the vegetable markets on the right hand side you will find Mhasivina's Artifacts
contact Maria-
location Savusavu Market
Town Council Building.
This is a handicaft Co-operatives, producing good quality local work for sale.
They are always interested in visitors who would like to spend some time with them developing ideas for new projects.
They aim to keep traditional skills continuing in a way that also helps suppliment local people's income, work with their members to improve production skills, design skills, quality control and innovation.
Fiji is a lovely, relaxed and friendly place; very safe and welcoming the ploitics over on the big island in recent years has seen the local ecconomy slip and the general population is really feeling a pinch.
The fertility of the islands means basic food is not a real issue but education, health care and general maintainance of the community become more of a luxury and harder to attain.

Request letter

I have just started sending this email out to people and groups I know.
Please pass it along to anyone you know who might have suggestions
thanks
Fiona
Hello everyone,
It has been a long time since I wrote...life has been extremely busy.
I travel quite a bit and am always on the look out for textiles [I also lead a tour company and like to show the best textiles to my clients].
I have seen in my travels in Developing Nations the difference in people's lives if they are part of a Fair Trade arrangement or Co-operative [same idea as us getting all the proceeds of a sale and not loosing the gallery commission- it really means a BIG difference but much more so!]

Lately I have had people contacting me asking for leads to visit these types of places on their travels- I am only too happy to share when I have the info...there are many places to see and I have not [yet!] seen all of them.

I have set up a new blog spot hoping to be able to share this type of info through it. http://tactiletextiletravels.blogspot.com/
Would you mind helping out?

If there are places you visited in your travels- that are Fair Trade - by that I mean the artisans get a living wage for their work, profit goes back into community development like health and education or Co-operatives where profit is shared back to all members OR where you can buy directly from the artisan, where the artisan perhaps runs classes or demonstrations.
Please share the info, I will post it on the blog, make a table of contents and others will be able to share the info.

By going directly to the source, in my experience you will find the BEST contemporary craft and artisan work- you are getting quality goods, often much better prices AND most importantly voting with you cash to keep people alive, well and prospering who are keeping the world's cultural heritage alive.

Please share any leads you have across the globe- I am paying particular emphasis to Developing Nations [or Third World as they are sometimes called where Two-thirds of the world's inhabitants live or struggle to do so]
Thank so very much
Fiona
fiona@creative-arts-safaris.com

Please pass this email along to anyone you think might have a lead…

I am sure there is a big thankyou coming from all the travellers who will be able to access easier quality textile fixes in their travels. I am very grateful.

Thailand Textiles -Help please

I was just asked if I had any textile leads in Thailand, especially something hands on -
can any one offer some leads please??
thanks
Fiona

To find Barefoot College, Rajasthan, India

To find Barefoot College http://www.barefootcollege.org/is a challenge- the first time we went there Parveen and I did drive around for quite a while looking and asking....as with many things in India people live so locally they aren't always able to give the best directions.

Barefoot College has been established for a considerable time- do look over their website to learn more of this amazing place.

Whan we arrived I was struck by the quiet air of confidence the village displayed- it is in avery poor area of Rajasthan but it was immediately very obvious it was something special.

There is a shop- definitely closed on public holidays, you can also get hand printed meterage from another localtion in the village- do ask the ladies.

The quality of the goods is excellent and the prices so cheap you realise how much the middle men in most places make. Here there is a living wage for producers and extra to feed back into local health and education projects.

To find Barefoot College.

you do need your own transport.

tourist taxi/ hie car and driver- it would be a very long walk from a bus drop on the highway.

Driving along the main highway from Ajmer/ Pushkar north to Jaipur is the easiest...the road opens up to the big new highway near Kishangarh, you will go through [yet another ] toll both,

on your right you will see a service sation and A1 food stop

next you will see a village approaching and a tall water tower on your left.

village called PATON

turn left here- keep following the road for 7 to 10 kms...it winds through desert like farming and the occasional water pump.

On your right a smallish, old sign we be seen saying Barefoot College, Tilonia [up to the right is a large red rocky hill- fairly close to the road]

turn into your left- it is a well used dirt road and about 1 km through the thorn scrub.

well worth the effort.

Coming from Jaipur, heading south

keep an eye on the sign posts, you will be getting close-ish to Kishangarh

look for village PATON, you might just see the watertank on the other side of the village over on the right hand side of the road.

Turn across the highway to your right.....

You might miss the turn off but within a km or so will see the fuel station and A1 food stop [ petrol station is Reliance Fuels and sign is aqua and gold] so chuck a U turn before the toll gates [perfectly OK in India] and head back up the road.

good luck in your travels.

http://www.barefootcollege.org/

If there are places you know - please share them with others,

it adds to our experinces on your travels and more importantly we are supporting artisans earning a livable income and keeping traditions alive and flourishing

try and make your instrctions as user friendly as possible but even a hint is better than nothing...as others could then fill out the details during their travels.

Fair Trade and Travel

Hello and Welcome, as you can see this is a brand new Blog site.

if you read the profile you will see what we are on about..please share any bonafide leads you have...
let's all work together to use our spending power to help create a better world for all....
Gandhi had it right when he said
BE the change you want to see in the world.

We can all make a difference

as you can see there is much housework to do yet on this site and it will happen very soon...
the info we can share is the important bit.
please contribute your findings, research, pictures and feed back about places. We want to be as up to date and honest in our assessments as we possibly can.
people livlihoods and sometimes lives depend on these things

all the best to you
happy travels
Fiona