Near Luang Prabang in Laos there is a roadside craft centre which helps local women learn weaving and other skills, and employs them in making clothes, wall hangings, bedding, and assorted textile products. The women then take a cut of the profits from the items they sell and this venture has grown to include a number of centres across the country and over 400 women. It’s a great success and has empowered people who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to learn and then earn. You can read more about them at their website www.ockpoptok.com.
The centre cultivates it’s own silk from silkworms who chew all day on mulberry leaves, and one of the by-products of this is silk worm poo, which the centre then uses to make tea. You can try it in the cafe.
It may not be everyone’s “cup of tea” (apologies, but it was too good an opportunity to not say that) but it was actually very nice. No sign of a hobnob though.
