Mat Weaving Group

As part of our community building skills program, we travelled to a small tambon (village) on the outskirts of Uthai Thani and met with a group of "Cutters and Weavers". Approximately 20 people harvest, cut, and dry the local bamboo. A group of 12 ladies cut the harvested bamboo into strips and weave the mats. They work all day under an open air pavilion from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm and receive about 55 baht ($1.50) per day. They are a proud group of people who seem very happy and content. Carol enjoyed meeting them and helping weave the mats!!! Peace Corps encourages volunteers to explore the communities to which they will be assigned in order to discover groups that may benefit from the presence of a volunteer or that may be a resource to the local project that all volunteers are expected to complete.