The factory at the base of the mountain
has an outlet attached which offers handmade
wooden textiles, ceramic pots and fans made out
of mulberry. On the opposite site of the factory
is a paper mill where men and women are busy
soaking, boiling and sifting mulberry barks to
prepare paper sheets.
The first handmade products shop opened
in 1990 on the mountain, and now the goods go
to markets throughout Thailand.
“In the past I was blind,” said Orawan Sopho
-
namnuaykij, an Akha single mother of four who
once relied on small-scale farming since she
cannot read. “Life as an illiterate is like living in
the dark. I was clueless and I didn’t know what
to do,” she added.
She believes that education is very important.
However, due to limited opportunities in the past,
she hasn’t been to school.
Now she had become a skilled artisan,
employed by the project which taught her to
weave. Her work in the quality control department
earns her enough to support her four children.
Two of her children have graduated with
bachelor degrees while the remaining two are
still at school.
Thanks to the success of the DoiTung
brand, the project’s commitment to eradicating
opium production has been self-sustaining
since 2001.
And that means so are the people who
work there: no more debt, no more drugs, no
more darkness.
The project’s ultimate goal of sustainability
was based on three principles:
health, livelihood and education.