Update on Tha Oeur

Update on Tha Oeur
Entrepreneur: Tha Oeur
Location: Khsach Kandal district, Cambodia
Amount Repaid: $118.00 of $700.00
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=17700

This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. This is her fifth loan with Maxima. Tha lives in a village on the east shore of the Mekong River across from Phnom Penh. With the funds from the loan she purchased silk, cotton and nylon thread for weaving. On the day we visited, she was paying off her loan ahead of schedule.

Like all other weavers in this area, she works beneath her stilt house. She began with one but now has three looms on which she shares work with three of her daughters. When I asked her which of her daughters was the best weaver, she paused, smiled widely and said they are the same because she taught them all.

She buys her materials from both a local middleman and occasionally from a large market in Phnom Penh. She sells all of her finished product to a local buyer for about US $14 for each piece. Depending on how complicated the pattern and the grade of the materials she uses (silk and cotton, for example is less expensive than 100% silk), she makes between two and six dollars each. A single piece can take two to four days to weave.

Her weaving supports herself, her husband and the three daughters that work with her. Like all other families in this area, they have a plot of land where they grow vegetables and rice to eat and sell.

She feels her business is going well. Everything she and her daughters produce, they can sell. She hopes to continue growing eventually employing some women from her village.

Posted by Darin Greyerbiehl from Khsach Kandal district, Cambodia
Nov 1, 2007