GreenHeart Stories of Weavers

GreenHeart Foundation works to empower the lives of women and girls in Asia through their traditional art of weaving textiles to promote sustainable livelihoods. We work with communities of weavers, partners, and enablers who shared mutual goals of women's empowerment through preserving, perpetuating, and promoting the traditional textile industry as a sustainable enterprise.

In Laos

Issues faced by underprivileged Laos Communities:

Young women in Asia often have limited economic independence.
Unavailability of established healthcare, education and clean drinking water.
Young girls became victims of child trafficking and sex slavery.

Poppy flower cultivation and the business of opium production harms local communities.
Atrocities and deaths from unexploded ordnance bombs (UXOs) from the Vietnam War continue to the present day.

How GreenHeart addressed these issues

Beneficiaries: 6 villages; 533 weavers

Financial Assistance:

Through partnerships with government and international NGOs, GHF was able to provide financial assistance to rural Laotian rural villages.

Technical Assistance:

Through our efforts we educated government officials and communities about the importance of Laos’ cultural art heritage and the preservation of traditional textile art production.

Infrastructural Assistance:

Provided various support to help establish village infrastructure targeting issues of healthcare, education, and clean drinking water.

Collaborations:

GHF collaborated with various domestic and international teams who were dedicated to the safe removal of ordnances throughout Laos.

Training:

Many of these underprivileged women in the villages were weavers possessing skills passed down over centuries who could create beautiful works of art. GHF revitalized the centuries-old practice of silk cultivation and production. In conjunction, the organization initiated new schools of design and textile production for local artisans in remote Eastern Laos, as well as Six Northern Villages.