Projects
Kajsiab Shelter for Women and Children
Kajsiab Womens Workplace: Help for Women
Kajsiab Children Care
and Education
Kajsiab Cultural Exchange
and Traineeship
Last year 2014 Kajsiab completed the first phase ofthe Project Women’s Workplace Launch of Kajsiab activities. This year 2015 Kajsiab will complete the second phase and will begin with the follow-up Project Women's Health Ambassadors 2016.
Last year we sent the Report of Phase 1 and now we send you an interim Update about the developments of the second phase.
Below we briefly describe the 5 different projects of Kajsiab, and explain how they are becoming self sustainable. After we show you the developments within the Women’s Workplace in Phase 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, since the building of the Workplace in 2012 and 2013, there are some renovations that need to be done mainly because of heavy rainfall: we need to replace the roof and we need to repair or replace some tools.
We are working on generating funds, however, Daauw Home can not pay the running costs of the Kajsiab Shelter just yet and it is very challenging to try to find sponsors for renovations.
Project Kajsiab Laos includes 5 small-scale local projects.
Kajsiab Shelter – shelter, information point for health, medical care, administration and education, traineeships for the mountain people.
Kajsiab Education – care and education for children from the mountains help with education for adults and training at Daauw Home.
Kajsiab Women’s Workplace – Make local products using traditional techniques, sell the products and generate new incomes, Workshops and Trainings, provide information about/for women and health, mother and child, anti-conception, STD’s pregnancies and teenage mums.
Kajsiab Villages - Local Kajsiab women and volunteers go together to villages and lead creative workshops so village people open up to new ideas and possibilities for their own future.
In open discussions we will talk about and provide information about/for women and health, mother and child, anti-conception, STD’s pregnancies and teenage mums ( Women's Health Ambassador's Project 2016)
Kajsiab Cultural Exchange -Daauw Home and - future Organic Farm: Daauw Farm (working and living with volunteers from all over the world and the Lao people from the mountains)
Income of Daauw Home - guesthouse and restaurant, - built right next to the Shelter and Women’s Workplace (Cultural exchange, Traineeships for the mountain people) goes 100 percent to the running costs of Kajsiab Shelter.
At this point Daauw Home cannot cover all the running costs yet, but in the future this will change once we launch Daauw Farm and fresh foods will come to the Shelter from the organic farm.
Kajsiab Children’s Care and Education has been funded for a small part by previous volunteers who have been in Daauw Home and worked and lived together with the mountain people. From this month on a bigger part will be funded by a Charity too. After a few very stressful financial years this gives the founders of Kajsiab some air to breathe. We initiated a Health Bank where people can donate to help with medical bills and hospital visits.
Kajsiab Women’s Workplace cannot run self-sustainable (yet) The income of the products are not enough to cover running costs. The women of the mountains do have a good salary from their work. Rabobank Share4More has contributed to the building of the Workplace and to the launch of the Workshops and trainings. A few previous volunteers have donated once in a while too. Thanks to the help of these foundations and volunteers Kajsiab was able to launch the projects in the Women’s Workplace and are the women of the mountains able to generate new income.
Kajsiab Villages will need funding, especially in the beginning, apart from building projects the costs are expected to stay low.
Kajsiab Cultural Exchange is running completely self-sustainable thanks to the contribution of the volunteers. Kajsiab will have to find funding to buy land for the Farm and to launch Daauw Farm. Meanwhile kajsiab owns 5 cows, some pigs and chickens, some gardens and a medicine garden.
After the first Phase of the launch of the Women’s Workplace (see update 2014) we almost finished the second phase now. We have a more clear view about the way we will keep working, the main focus and the kind of local products we will produce. We know with which workshops we will continue and what new ideas we will work on.
Meanwhile in the Women’s Workplace a few women work with the sewing machines. Some other women work by hand on embroideries. Finally a third group of women makes embroideries by hand and the other woman finishes their work with the sewing machine.
The third group of women does their work in the villages with their families and come once in a while to the workplace to show their work or share new ideas. The women make unique products and people can order a unique product that means that no product will be exactly the same.
Read More About Kajsiab Women's Workplace