I have a rather faded sarong that I have carried on my travels for 25 years, using it as a towel, a sheet or even, on occasions, a piece of clothing. I bought it in the north-east of Thailand from a business set up by some enterprising nuns to help local women make a living from their traditional weaving skills. The aim was to reduce the numbers of women driven by poverty to join the sex trade in Bangkok. The business – the Village Weavers Handicrafts – has been a great success and the last I heard was still going strong. It is hard to imagine any other type of intervention that would have been ...
There are approximately 951 more words in this article.
To read the rest of this article, please buy this issue, or join the Resurgence Trust. As a member you will receive access to the complete archive of magazines from May 1966.
If you are already a member, please Sign in
