IR/PS students lend a hand to underdeveloped villages in Thailand
Quality winter products made by women of Thailand raise money for an impoverished community
01/01/2008
Ryan Pfeiffer,
Warm Heart Foundation sent four IR/PS students to a small village in Thailand last summer. The students spent their summer internships in Phrao, an underdeveloped district in northern Thailand, promoting sustainable development through different initiatives in microenterprise, public health, site development, and clean water. They did “everything from digging holes in the dirt, going on office supply trips and…motorcycle ‘safety’ and driving lessons,” said Shannon Pallone, one of the four IR/PS students who traveled to Thailand. “We’re working on various projects including carbon credits and energy, water resources, micro-enterprises and public health database management.” Areeluck Parnsoonthorn, Huyen Giap, and Andrea Castillo also traveled to Thailand with Shannon.
As part of the Warm Heart Micro Enterprise initiative, the students brought home products made by the local villages in Thailand to sell to the San Diego community. The money raised will benefit the impoverished communities that the products came from. The high-quality and beautifully crafted products were made by local artisans and weavers from the community of Phrao. The collection features northern Thai Saa paper journals produced in Chiang Mai, hand-woven cotton gossamer scarves from the Weavers of Wat Toong Luang, and hand-spun cotton shawls from the Pa Daeng Village Women Weaving Group.
Warm Heart Thailand Product Catalog
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The women in the Weavers of Wat Toong Luang and Pa Daeng Village Women Weaving Group are artfully skilled in producing this beautiful merchandise, but they are unable to sustain themselves and their families within the local market. Warm Heart makes it possible to place these items on the international market, selling the products on university campuses across the United States through the students who volunteered their time in Thailand.
The products can be purchased at UC San Diego at the Warm Heart Thailand booth on Library walk, or you can contact Areeluck Parnsoonthorn to request any of the items available. You can also view the Warm Heart Product Catalog to see the numerous items available for purchase on the UC San Diego campus.
