Weaving and sewing workshops
We have opened two cotton weaving workshops in Lang-Khang (2013) and Phanob (2015) thanks to our local partners: the local branch of the Laos Women's Union, which manages the workshop, and the Vientiane-based company Lao Cotton, set up by the Laotian government and the United Nations to share their knowledge with women in rural areas of the country.
These workshops bring together several groups of village women every day to spin and weave.
They are involved at every stage, from the cotton flower to the woven fabric:
- Planting of cotton fields cultivated by the women themselves: harvesting the cotton flowers is the first stage.
- Cotton is spun onto bobbins using spinning machines made on-site.
- 100% natural dyeing using plants and natural materials.
- Weaving with wooden looms made in the villages
The Lang Khang centre was, unfortunately, badly damaged by a typhoon in 2021, and we are waiting for funding to rebuild it.
We opened a sewing workshop in Lang Khang in March 2022, bringing together 10 young seamstresses, supported by Sourires d'Enfants.
Further training sessions were organised in May and August 2023 in partnership with the Thakhek technical school and the Xon Phao training centre in Vientiane.