AsiaLIFE

Thanh Truong was a dentist with a passion – she loved quilting. She also had a mission, to provide rewarding employment for poor rural women in Vietnam and increase their incomes. She began by training a group of 30 women in the art of quilt-making in 2001. “Many of them had the basic skills,” explains Sue Wise, an Australian, who started volunteering for Vietnam Quilts in May 2005. “They had the patience and they were all looking for employment and a way to increase their family income.”

Sue admits that the quality of the first quilts was lacking, but quickly as the quality issues were overcome, the organisation began to grow. Initially Thanh sold quilts from her own home. In 2003 she opened her first shop in Saigon. A second retail outlet was opened in Hanoi in 2007, and a third on Phnom Penh’s popular Street 240, this March. The organisation changed its name to Mekong-Quilts to reflect this regional development.

Quality Quilts

 

With so many shops already offering household accessories, often from the finest silk, it is the quality of the product that cuts Mekong-Quilts out from the rest, according to Bernard Kervyn. Bernard is the director and co-founder of Mekong Plus, the NGO established to carry out community development projects in the villages where the quilts are produced. He is also Thanh’s husband.  “Mekong Quilts has aimed, from the start, at the top quality,” he says. “Experts say they could sell for up to US$1,000 in the U.S..” An adult-sized quilt retails for between US$140 to US$190 in the Phnom Penh shop, with other household accessories in the US$2 to US$45 range.

 

“Quilt aficionados can be very difficult people,” he adds. “Mekong-Quilts started from the customers, with design and quality. What do the specialists like? Then we trained women to produce the quilts with extremely strict rules for quality, timely delivery etc.” Today, the programme employs about 200 women in total. The profits from the shops are returned to the villages where the quilters live, to help the whole village. Part of the profits, are set aside to train more quilters and develop the programme through marketing and opening of new shops, with the aim of employing more women.

Community Development

 

The other dimension to the organisation is that it focuses on the community as a whole. “This is not a quilt programme but a community development programme,” says Bernard. “The quilters keep their children at school, improve the sanitary condition of their homes and diversify their sources of income. We will help them for all that, but if they don't try to change, they will have to leave the project. Also, part of the profits are for whole village, not for the quilters, as we want to reinforce the community, not create jealousy.”

 

Since 2004 Mekong-Quilts has supported local NGOs in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng. Although for the moment the quilts are still made in Vietnam, as the quilters require a lot of training to enable them produce top-quality products, the intention is to train quilters in Cambodia. “In the near future we will train Khmer quilters in Svay Rieng,” says Bernard. The aim is to employ 100 women in these villages. This is good news for the poor villagers as on average the income of those involved in the scheme in Vietnam has increased two-fold, according to Bernard. The women also work close to their children, receiving training in health and micro-credit to develop the family economy.

 

Bernard is also keen to point out that money from the Street 240 shop will stay in the country, not channelled into Vietnam. “All the profits from the quilt store will be cycled through our NGO, Mekong Plus, providing scholarships, promoting many health and quality of life initiatives in remote villages of Svay Rieng Province,” he says.

Mekong Quilts, 49 Street 240 is open 9am to 7pm.