Update on Tha Sann

Update on Tha Sann
Entrepreneur: Tha Sann
Location: Khsach Kandal district, Cambodia
Amount Repaid: $26.00 of $150.00
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=18034
This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. This is the fifth loan she has taken out with Maxima. Hing 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 as well as corrugated, galvanized steel to repair the roof on her house. On the day we visited, she was paying off her loan on schedule.

Tha differentiates her loom production by making scarves instead of the more common wide silks used for making skirts. She can weave two scarves a day which she sells to a middleman/buyer for US $1.20. Business appears to be good. Tha seemed happy saying she can sell everything she produces. She’s been weaving for about ten years, a skill which she learned from her older sister.

She buys her raw materials – mainly bulk, raw silk – usually from a middleman in the village. Occasionally, she crosses the river to go to one of the large markets in Phnom Penh where she gets a better price. Weavers buy the raw silk by the two-kilogram lot. In the village, Tha pays about $65 per two-kilos. In Phnom Penh she can get the same amount for $50-$60.

I still have not seen the entire process but they tell me they first boil, dye then spin the silk into thread before they weave anything. Given that all the neighboring countries also produce the raw silk, it’s surprising they don’t in Cambodia as well. I have not been able to verify it yet but they weavers tell us that the silk comes from Vietnam or China.

Prior to taking her first loan out with Maxima, Tha had never borrowed money before. She wants to continue weaving and building her business. Her husband works on construction jobs (remember, this is village construction, not high-rises or suburban tracts) and sometimes cooks at weddings, funerals or ancestor celebrations. As is the near-unwavering goal of all Khmer parents we’ve interviewed so far, Tha’s main goal is to get the best possible education for her daughter.

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