Yen Thanh Village - where the soul of brocade is kept

(Baonghean) -Located in the Southeast, nearly 20 km from Con Cuong town, Yen Thanh village (Luc Da commune) has nearly 100 households with over 300 people, nearly 100% of whom are Thai ethnic people. Yen Thanh became the first craft village of Con Cuong district - Nghe An.

More than ten years ago, due to purely agricultural production, backward slash-and-burn farming practices, and little investment, people here lived in hunger all year round. In 1996, the OXPAM Hong Kong project invested in restoring the brocade weaving profession, because almost every family here still had a loom, and many women still regularly wove fabrics for their families. When the project came in, it further fueled the movement, especially when they were trained and equipped with knowledge of silk spinning, thread spinning, and dyeing to appeal to customers' tastes in the market mechanism.

Since then, brocade weaving has become a valuable sideline for women in Yen Thanh village, making Yen Thanh the first craft village in Con Cuong district - Nghe An. In addition to the agricultural cooperative, the village has a brocade weaving cooperative, gathering more than forty members who are women members of the commune. Women take advantage of the off-season, when they have free time from work, to spin yarn, draw silk, and dye in the evening. When there are orders, many work day and night to serve the needs of customers.

Since the establishment of the Brocade Weaving Cooperative, the weaving profession has been passed down to the children. Previously, many girls in the village forgot the weaving profession. Recently, thanks to the guidance and support of their grandmothers, mothers, and sisters, they have relearned the traditional craft of their people. Many of them have become teachers teaching brocade weaving classes in the district and the province. Ms. Vi Thi Thu and Ms. Vi Thi Ha have become veteran teachers who teach women throughout the district and the province. Thanks to the development of the brocade weaving profession, it has created jobs for many people, both men and women, and generated income, helping many households here escape poverty and become rich, with year-round income. The important thing is to preserve the profession that seemed to have been lost.

Currently, the women hope that some agency will take care of the product output, so that they can have work all year round, both to create jobs for their children so they don't have to work far away, and to strengthen the traditional profession, so that the soul of brocade can stay with the villagers.

Phung Van Mui