Thailand, Good Shepherd Youth Centre, Chiang Rai
Since 1996, the Good Shepherd Youth Centre in Phan Province (about 50 Kms from Chiang Rai) has offered support to young women from the hill tribes of North Thailand.
Girls in this area are often deprived of an education and have to support their parents and families, often through subsistence agriculture. This does not net them much income: a kilo of carrots, for example, sells for as little as 2 baht. Unsurprisingly, one of the major problems of this area is human trafficking.
At the Centre, some 45 young women aged between 14 and 20 years are offered accommodation and support in beginning or continuing their education. Many have advanced to high school level and some have continued to university. They still have to earn money, however, to support their families. For example, the father of one young women remarried recently and she now has to help support nine children.
These young hill tribe women are embroiderers from their childhood and through the Centre are now trying to turn this skill to their financial advantage. Each tribal group has its unique embroidery style and they produce beautiful work as they sit and talk with each other during their free time. The Trading Circle now has a number of items displaying their work. Some of the mothers of the young women also send in embroidered pieces to be used in the bags and purses that are produced at the Centre.
As well as supporting these young women, the Centre also assists women from the surrounding areas to sell their work. For example, a group of women began making bags from patches of material (Yajok bags) when the "One Village, One Product" scheme initiated by the former Prime Minister, Thaksin, was operative, but when the scheme was discontinued, they had no markets for their work. Fortunately the bags have proved very popular in The Trading Circle's shops in Australia and new Zealand!
For their work the young women receive approximately 4,000 baht per month plus full board and accommodation and all other amenities offered by the Centre. They are also able to remain closer to their villages. This makes them much better off financially than if they had gone to Bangkok, where they might receive more money, but at the same time incur many more expenses.
Here is a selection of their products
- Rose Shoulder Bag
- Large Yajok Bag
- Water Bottle Holder
- Tin Jok Embroidered Bag
- Embroidered Spectacle Case
The seven hill tribes of North Thailand have migrated to Thailand over the last century from the Asian interior. Each tribe has its own unique culture and language. For the most part they are subsistence farmers and the cultivation of the opium poppy was a major source of income although the Thai government has worked hard to eradicate this. The young woman pictured here is from the Akha tribal group, possibly the most downtrodden of the tribal groups. The Akha originated from Burma. Their language was never written, but they have a rich oral history.
