OUR COLLECTION — ASIA — THAILAND 178. PAINTED WOOD NATIVITY
This 14-piece folk art Nativity set is painted wood. The pieces include the Holy Family, an angel, a shepherd, the three wise men, and six animals: camel, cow, horse, sheep, goat, and elephant. The largest character stands 4 .25 inches.
A Women’s collective in Chiang Mai, Thailand, started making various wooden items three years ago and has grown steadily in their quality and quantity of output. They have received attention from various media outlets and this very much excites these simple women who have come from bamboo huts and subsistence living to a low level of financial self- sufficiency. The women are all infected by HIV.
When the women started the collective five years ago, they were all from one place and were either infected with HIV or had a family member who was. It was started by a missionary from Australia, who is now gone and whom I never knew. As they grew, they decided to limit the workers to those actually infected and now let the AIDS agency here select workers for the program. They now have 15 workers and also “farm” out some simple pieces on an individual basis to a few freelance workers in their villages. The collective has been going for 5 years, but in the last three has become much more organized and productive. One of the original workers has died.
A Women’s collective in Chiang Mai, Thailand, started making various wooden items three years ago and has grown steadily in their quality and quantity of output. They have received attention from various media outlets and this very much excites these simple women who have come from bamboo huts and subsistence living to a low level of financial self- sufficiency. The women are all infected by HIV.
When the women started the collective five years ago, they were all from one place and were either infected with HIV or had a family member who was. It was started by a missionary from Australia, who is now gone and whom I never knew. As they grew, they decided to limit the workers to those actually infected and now let the AIDS agency here select workers for the program. They now have 15 workers and also “farm” out some simple pieces on an individual basis to a few freelance workers in their villages. The collective has been going for 5 years, but in the last three has become much more organized and productive. One of the original workers has died.