June 15, 2011
OttawaStart Community News
Summary: On Friday June 24th, 2011 (5pm - 9pm) the second Tabitha Silk Fair will be held at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The event will feature hand-loomed, hand-dyed, fair-trade Cambodian silk products including bedding, scarves, purses and other accessories.
Hand-made, hand-dyed, fair-trade Cambodian silk for sale at the Canadian Museum of Nature
On Friday June 24th, 2011 (5pm - 9pm) the second Tabitha Silk Fair will be held at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The event will feature hand-loomed, hand-dyed, fair-trade Cambodian silk products including bedding, scarves, purses and other accessories.
In 1994 local resident Janne Ritskes cashed her pension to start the Tabitha Foundation in Cambodia. Phnom Penh’s population had swelled to nearly million people, with refugees living in shanty towns along the Tonle Sap river within view of the Royal Palace.
Starting with one Cambodian assistant, Janne doggedly built the trust of these most vulnerable Cambodians, helping them work themselves towards better lives. To date the Tabitha Foundation has helped over 1.5 million Cambodians help themselves. Micro savings is the first step. With ten-week saving cycles yielding 10% interest, villagers with no hope are able to build their self esteem by setting goals.
Through Tabitha’s savings program, families have gained the ability to buy the raw materials they need to start weaving silk again. This enables participants to progressively change their standard of living. Take ‘Sokun’, one of Tabitha’s silk weavers, as an example. Her life has been very hard - during the Khmer Rouge years she lost her family and ended up an orphan. She met her husband in 1981, at a time when the Khmer Rouge waged war every night. Sokun and her husband finally found a home in Takeo. Her ‘home’ was simply a hut of leaves and bamboo.
In 1995, ‘Sokun’ became involved with the Tabitha silk weavers. She was excited - a regular income meant regular food and improved health. She taught her daughter how to weave silk. It was not easy, but in time she became an expert. Her daughter earned enough to buy her own piece of land, she earned enough to build a home and she earned enough to feed her babies.
Tabitha supports these weavers by buying the finished bolts of silk directly from local producers. Sewers and seamstresses take the silk to produce the silk products sold to the public. Tabitha helps to re-establish the silk-weaving industry in Cambodia.
Silk is more than just silk: it is a thread of life - each piece of woven silk material carries a thread of life from mother to daughter and daughter to child. It provides sustenance and dignity. It provides hope and dreams fulfilled. It provides a future and it tells of the past. It binds worlds together.
In addition to the hand-made silk accessories, silk will also be available for order by the metre. For Ottawan’s with a fashion flair, three local fashion designers, Janna Hanzel Fashion Design, Emelia Torabi and Farrah Studio, have created designs that will be showcased at the event.
The Tabitha Foundation is also partnering with Pearls for Girls, a local fundraising group supporting Help Lesotho Education.
Tickets ($10 each) are available at Metro Music (695 Bank Street), Thyme & Again Creative Catering (1255 Wellington Street) and at the door. Light refreshments and a cash bar will be available.
For more information see http://tabithasilkfair.blogspot.com/
or call 819-771-9758 or 613-878-1065
email: paula@rockin4tabitha.ca
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