Hammocks and the Mlabri Tribe, helping people relax since 1996
The Mlabri are an enigmatic group of aout 300 people who until a few dexades ago, used to live a nomadic life as hunters and gatherers in the dense forestsand high mountains of Northern Thailand , For and high mountains of Northern Thailand. For shelter. they would build temporary sturctures of bamboo sticks thatched with fresh, green banana leaves and occupy these for a while. until the bananaleaves turned yellow.Since the proof of their existence consisted mostly of these abandoned huts.they were given the traditional Thai name of " Phi TongLuang" meaning " Spiritsof the Yellow Leaves " However, since they are peaceful people and not ghosts.they wish to be referred to as People of the Forest.
There is some countroversy about the origin of the Mlabri , but at present they recognized as (new) Thai citizens. They have had to struggle long time for this. and many problems started/when their natural habitatwas taken away due to deforestation. Because at that time they couldn't own their own land. they had to work forother tirbes ando ften faced slave like servitude,forced tour shows etc. Some 20 yearsago, they started receiving help from a missionary and his family. Great steps wereachieved in the areas of education and health , but the need for a steady income remained.......
   
In 1996 , an adventurus SWISS MOTORFIKE TOUR fuide. Peter Schmid.who had formerly worked as textile engineer,discovered the village and wasstruckby the women's skills in making string bags from the fiber of junglevines. Occasionally these bags would make a sale as souvenirs. but never enough to become a reliable source of income. Peter offered his knowledge of weaving hammocks in order to help, and that was the beginning of one of the most successful development projects in the area.
   
The Mlabri adopted this new handicraft that seemed to go quite well withtheirquiet life style and started off with the production of the original Mlabri hammock,a.k.a.the Jungle Hammock. Meanwhile , they have alsomastered the quite trickyprocess of dying the cotton yarn as well as the most inticate weaving techniquessuch as sitting hammocks. V-weaves and Silk hammocks. Men have joined theworkforce and production has expanded to include 6 different styels of hammocks now. Constrasting traditional sweatshops, tje goal was not to simply mass produce at lowest cost.regardless of humanneeds of the labourers. The idea rather amied at offrering financialindependence for the Mlabri while enabling them to continue as much as possible with their own lifestyle (such as some agriculture etc.) That also means that every hammock is produced
in a healthy and family oriented environment ( the home village) and the workers are paidhonwat wages. Money is set aside for healthcare and education and there is even a steadily growing social fund. None of this wuld have been possible without the Mlabri's own enthusiasm.
Thank you in name of the Mlabri.
Call now. 081 861 17 58
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