SILKY WAY OF DOING GOOD

Over the last 20 years Cambodia has had to renew itself socially and economically, and it seems to be working. There are campaigns and funding for child sexual abuse, women's rights, victims of land mines (they play in street bands!) , AIDS awareness, blind/deaf, keeping kids in school, community-based tourism instead of poaching, all kinds of historic restorations, etc., etc. Since 1998 a French-initiated cooperative called the Angkor Artisans has provided skills training to allow 18-to-24 year olds a chance to earn an income through art. Their workshop is just down an alley near our Guest House, in an oasis of green amidst the dust and jumble.

The airy workshop shows the emerging talents of 6-month apprentices in painting, sculpture, woodwork, silver, and fabric. But the real wow is at the Silk Farm on the outskirts. In a totally self-sustaining plot, the Artisans grow the mulberry bushes (the only thing silk worms eat), mate the moths, grow the worms, collect the cocoons, process the filaments, add natural colours (e.g., banana leaf makes yellow silk), and create beautiful silk fashions and accessories.

The process is mesmerizing. Did you know the life cycle of a silk moth is 27 days?!? That silk worms have to be fed indoors because birds would pick them off the bushes outside? That male moths die after 12 hours of mating but females live another 12 hours to lay eggs? The worms perish in drying racks because if they were allowed to wiggle out of the cocoon they would rip the silk threads. The sequence continues, fascinatingly, until the raw silk becomes fine. The machinery is decrepit (note the bicycle wheel and chain!) but handled deftly by quick hands and motivated artisans --- there are now 1900 "employees"!

Inevitably, visitors are funneled through a gift shop but shoppers feel like they're doing good by looking good. High fashion styles, funky patterns, and creative foo-foo. The money flows in, smooth as silk.