At last I return to Cambodia … April however, is not the best month to travel there .. when I arrived I felt I had been smacked in the face by the heat and humidity. It took me at least a week to climatise (and I was missing the chilled warmth of Mexico). It’s really hard to work in the day when you are battling this kind of pre monsoon heat, I had forgotton how draining it can be.

That said, I was very happy to be back in Cambodia and Phnom Penh especially. The Cambodian people are some of the nicest people I have ever met … there is no doubt that there is extreme poverty here (and of course, no all people are nice like any place in the world) and most people live in situations and enviroments that we couldnt even countenance, but their smiling laughing faces are what I remember most.

      

Above are some kids that I ran into in a village outside Phnom Penh. Soooo cute, curious and funny.

Back to work: I had come here for Happy-Hammock because I felt sure that I would be able to source some wonderful silk for you and also that I would be able to find good causes and companies to do this through.      

In the next 4 entries I will tell you about some of the main companies and organisations I worked with and show you the fabulous items coming your way.

Here’s some pictures of silk to start you off.

           

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The moment I walked into Thanan’s place I was excited by the pieces on display.

Thanan and her husband opened this place in 2003 and for the first c. 3 years they were both working 2 jobs to get it started (I know the feeling!). It is a private business that they started their company with their own money they had saved. Thanan had spent the past c. 10 years working with an organisation called NCDP (National Centre for Disabled Persons) as a project manager.

Thanan was telling me that c. 10 years ago an organisation called AARCC provided a lot of training to poor, disadvantaged and disabled Cambodians from the cities and countryside. However, after this there was not necessarily enough employment for them to move on to. So Thanan has taken this situation as an opportunity (and a necessity) to create her business. They employ c. 30 disabled and disadvantaged people from various villages in Cambodia.

I liked Thanan a lot and I was lucky that she was kind enough to take me to visit one of the areas just outside Phnom Pehn to meet some of the people that work for her and to hear their stories. I’ll get to that a little later .. first some yummy products!

There are 3 items that I had made up .. Silk Clutches (quite glam and def for a dressed up night out), make up bags with beautiful beading on and a really cool alternative to the traditional business card holder. They are all made out of the same printed silk and come in the same colours. The colours I have seperated into 2 areas .. the bright colours (Orange, Purple, Green) and the more classic muted tones (Black, Gold, Silver, Mocca)

Goodies:

    

Business card holder:

As you can see I use the Orange Silk one for my Happy-Hammock business cards .. It’s had quite a few comments since I’ve been using it!

The Green/Olive set (Clutch + Make-up bag + Business card holder):

And now for my visit to some of the people that helped to make these products. I went out to an area just outside of Phnom Penh and we stopped by the side of the road and whent into a long wooden house (of sorts) that extends far out and is perched on stilts. I had passed these hold traditional houses before and always wondered what they were like inside. Inside, there were a number of single rooms that are all rented out. In each room between 1 - 4 people live and incase of the people that work for Thanan, there is also a sewing machine. I visited 4 rooms and here are their stories:

1) Runchea, his wife Sokyan and his daughter Chunlean.

Runchea lost his right leg in a land mine incident when he was c. 12 years old. He was collecting wood in a forrest. He offered to show me his prosthetic for a photos but somehow it didn’t seem right. He sews for between 8 - 10 hours a day in which he can make up to 3 bags.

  Runchea and Chunlean

  The room the family lives and works in.

Runchea’s main issue is that he is still supporting his parents and his wife’s parents in the countryside and 3 of his 4 children are not married yet, so he is still supporting them. What seems to make him happy is being able to work, because that means support family … very simple really.

2) Kongpin and Kongphat (sisters)

Kongphin has a severley disabled leg and finds it hard to walk, her sister Kongphat’s husband is dead and her children are grown up. Both are from the countryside.

 

Kongphin (middle) and Kongphat (right)

3) Seanng Sophat.

Seanng contracted Polio aged 2 and has difficulties walking. She also suffers from strong headaches that make it difficult to sleep and work sometimes. Her dream is to build her own house. From the ages of 18 - 40 she lived in the countryside with her father and older brothers where there was not much work. In c. 1998 she was trained by AARCC in textiles and c. 3 years ago she was offered work by Thanan. Amazing sense of humour .. kept cracking up .. I couldn’t work out what I was doing that was so damn hilarious … Thanan assured me that it wasn’t me, it was just the way she was, always laughing !!

  Thanan (left) and Seanng (right) 

  Seanng Sophat

4) Pen Worn. 

Pen has problems with her back and spine. She was trained by AARRC in 1996. Before she worked as a farmer. She has been working for Thanan for c. 5 years.

Pen asked whether I could use the Happy-Hammock website as a dating venue as well … I couldn’t stop laughing at this …. in fact it cracked us all up. So …. Pen would like Happy-Hammock readers to know that she is currently single so if anyone out there is interested she would be open to offers … over to you.    

Here’s some pictures of Pen at her machine, laughing & smiling:

       

The group:

I made the mistake of offering each of them a little money when I left. I was so honoured to be invited into their small homes and they allowed me to talk about their disabilities and take photos .. I felt it was a small token. However, it didnt go down too well .. not badly .. but I was told that it wasnt what they wanted. What they want is for me to sell my goods and come back and order more … fopr me to be sucessful and therefore to provide more work to them.

I hear this story so many times and I must stress it to the readers, Happy-Hammock is not a charity, it is a business … just like these Cambodians, it is not about charity it is about helping people through commercial trade. So please tell me what you think of these products and offer any suggestions about the types of things you would like to see made, or changes that could be made .. these are very skilled and open minded people, they will try new patterns, and designs if they have samples.

The other thing that we may be able to do in the future is help them to invest in new machinery …. their tools. Currently they use very old machines (and make amazing goods with them) but if they fall apart (and at some time they will) we may be able to help by contributing to investing in newer ones .. just a thought.

I felt inspired. �

I have come across a nice organisation in Phnom Penh that sells amongst other things very sweet silk painted gift cards. It employs c. 20 disabled and disadvantged youths in Phom Penh and a few more at stores in Shianoukville and Siem Reap. It is one of the few organisations that I have dealt with that is offically classed as ‘Fair Trade’. The workshops are on 2 levels above the store in PP and they invited me up to watch them work. Most of the disabilites that I encountered were in relation to hearing.

Great idea to be able to order a card with your gift .. and a for a good cause.

 Lotus flower (1)

 Lotus flower (2)

 Gecko

   Elephant

  Cambodian Tree

I also got some small cards made up with stars and hearts for the ‘Estrella’ and ‘El Corozon’ ranges.

In Mexico I bought some small heart shaped pendants (think ‘Tiffany’ style) so together with a small heart card painted on silk will be perefect for Valentines day (maybe wrapped up in a red silk scalf from Cambodia and in a red bamboo bag from thailand). I also bought some small simple star/estrella pendants, that I was thinking would make awesome gifst for young girls .. together with the star card you can just tell someone ‘you’re my little star’. How cute is that!

  Estrella and El Corozon cards

  Estrella and El Corozon pendants

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I came accross this organisation in 2006 at a Silk Fair heald in one of the main green squares in Phnom Penh. I had bought a few purses for friends and retuned to the UK with them. I specifically wrote to them this year telling them of my intention to return and see what other stock they make.

The organisation was set up in 2004 with an idea to develop job opportunities for Cambodian and socially business motivated people. It uses the Fair Trade guide when paying its artisans.

I liked the simplicity of some of the items that were being made here and decided that I could set up a ‘mix and match’ theme with the purses and jewellery pouches.

Here’s the colour theme:

  Orange, Chocolate Brown and Turquoise .. great colours individually or mixed in any combination.

  Blue Set     Chocolate Brown set    Orange purse       

 There are also some rather funky silk flower purses available:

  

Unfortunatley I was unable to make any of the groups making up this order as I was in Thailand getting bags. When I came back to Phnom Penh I was able to go and visit a couple of families/groups in the city. It was a similar story to the Kravan House visit. From what I can see the most important thing that these organisations provide is employment. The ability to make some money. That’s a hard thing in Cambodia … you only have to walk around the town for an hour and have literally 50 people ask you if you need a moto to see that earning money in this country is tough.

  One of the groups I went to visit in Phnom Penh, making silk business card holders.

When I return I want to develop this relationship further and visit more of the groups producing these items.

These are screen printed and come in fabulous colours, muted and bright. Very funky and cool, they are easy to dress up or down. They also come with matching lined purses.

       

 There are also cushion covers:

These are made by a small company in Phnom Penh, again providing vital employment to many people.

India - Rajasthan  

I arrived for the final month in India at the end of May. Straight into Dehli which has to be one of my least favorite places in the world … it is just soooo full on and finding a decent reasonably priced place to stay can be a bit tricky. Within 24hrs I was out of there and on a night train to Udiapur … a small lake town in Rajasthan. I had been here c. 8 years previously and was very keen to return. If you have ever seen the James Bond movie ‘Octapussy’, part of it was filmed here. There is a rather amazing hotel in the modlle of the lake called ‘The Lake Palace Hotel’ (funnily enough) .. this was the place used as Octupussy’s all woman palace in the film. It’s an incredibly romantic and beautiful town. 

              and crazy … 

Within a few hours I had run into a friend that I met here 8 years ago (wierd I know .. but he does live here). That was great and very interesting to catch up after all this time and see how each other had changed and yet were the still the same.

I decided not to do much sourcing here as I was out of cash and energy. HOWEVER .. I did do a little research on some potential products. In particular one of the things I like most about Rajasthani women is the colours and the elaborate jewellery they wear. These girls really know how to dress (having said that I would never bear my tummy in a sari any more … way too old for that). I found one shop just FILLED with bangles … it was like heavan. I have brought some of these back but because they are all different I will not be able to sell them on line just yet, but only privatley or at the shows / events. The owner of the shop Sanjay, was suitably fabulous and had a knack for posing in photos … check this out !

        

After a very hot 2 weeks in Rajasthan I decided to take the opportunity (season wise) to head to Northern India and visit Kashmir and Ladakh .. 2 very different states.

Kashmir:

A complex place for me .. Srinigar the capital of the province is pretty rough, not a pleasant place to walk around for me. Then on the outskirts of town are these lakes with houseboats on. A craze taken up by the English in colonial times because they couldn’t own homes in Kashmir. The houseboats are where the tourists and travellers stay and the lakes are very peaceful.

I went to a place called Mt Aru near Phalagram to walk, c. 3 hours from Srinigar. It was a bit off the beaten track but incredibly beautiful. Approached from Phalagram up a valley with cool mountain rapids flowing below. The area reminded me of the Alps .. cool Alpine forrests. The hike from Mt Aru was one of the most beautiful I have ever done … forrests, gypsies, shepherds, wild horses, snow capped mountains and glaciers in the distance. The scenery was magic, I kept expecting hobit like creatures to pop out. 

                         amazing pictures which hopefully give you an insight into the peoples and scenery of rural mountainous Kashmir. 

One downside was that we met 2 armed groups of surrendered militants (now working for the Indian Army to find real militants) .. meeting any armed group is enough to shake me. So I say with caution that this is am AMAZING place to walk and rest … but read up on it first .. be prepared because there are some issues here as well. Naturally I don’t have any pictures of these groups … wasn’t too sure how to ask! 

         The evenings entertainment in Mt Aru … guy dressed as a girl with a band of unusual intsruments, strutting his stuff .. very unusual and very funny ! 

After Mt Aru we went to another place c. 3 hrs the other way otherside of Srinigar called Yousmarg. Another stunningly beautiful walk ina remote place. Lush green forrests, covered in Fox Glove flowers, shephers and local women wandering with pots on their heads.    

         

Kashmiri Papier Mache Boxes:

One sourcing thing I was interested in in Kashmir was these papier mache boxes. I had bought a few in Rajasthan c. 8 years ago and they made wonderful pressies to put on your dressing table and keep jewellery and precious things in.

I found a place in Srinigar that had an ‘Alladins Den’ full of these  boxes .. heavan again.  

I have bought some sample boxes to see how they are received.

           

Ladakh.

Ladakh and Kasmir are neibouring provinces but to me the people and the vibe couldn’t have been more different. Kasmir is mostly Shia Muslim whereas Ladakh is mostly Tibetan Buddhist.

The road from Kashmir to Leh (capital of Ladakh) is a pretty hairy one. The first mountain pass was literally a small road cut out of the mountain winding up and down .. definately no room for errors with a shear drop on the side.

           an Indian man sitting next to me in the jeep declared that we were ‘close to heavan’ at this point! I just put my i-pod in and hoped for the best. Reaching Leh after a c. 16hr drive was a relief.

Leh was a wonderful place to end this epic enormous trip. I met a wonderful Maltese couple called Nicky and David and spent a week chilling at 3,500 altitude in the Himalayas. Walking and resting.

Here are some pictures from the end of the trip.

             yeahhhhhhyyyyyy love the mountains!

Until next time

Hobo out x   

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