AKA Design
A Brief History
The Akha are a hill tribe people who live in very remote mountain villages in Northern Thailand and Burma, in the middle of the infamous 'Golden Triangle' that straddles the borders of Burma, Laos and Thailand. The 'Golden Triangle' is so called because at one point it was estimated to account for 70% of the world's heroin supply. It's an area known for both drug production and poverty. Many Aka are illiterate and have little or no formal education. This combined with extreme poverty and a lack of awareness has left the children of such communities very vulnerable to exploitation.
Parents, unaware of the real dangers awaiting their daughters, are encouraged by financial rewards to allow 'traders' to take their children away. The young people are promised employment but in fact most end up imprisoned in brothels or are forced into other forms of slavery.
Other young people, as young as 11 or 12, having completed only a few years of primary school education, make their own way to the lowland towns and cities in search of work because they have no options in their villages. There, they too, are often taken advantage of and forced into prostitution or slavery in order to survive.
HANDS, together with ARM (Akha Rescue Ministry based in New Zealand) currently run two hostels and a Vocational Training Centre. These facilities provide a safe environment allowing children to attend school and/or benefit from Vocational Training. Currently the children range from 3 to19 years old. Once at the hostel all the young people are enrolled at the local school, which is just a few minutes walk away. Unfortunately the school is not able to offer education beyond the third year of secondary school.
The Aka Design Project has been set up to assist the older young people who have finished school. These young people are still at risk from the dangers of exploitation.
The Project
The Aka Design Project helps provide safe housing, vocational training and skills development. This gives the young people involved more opportunities and choices in the future, and will help to enable them to be self sufficient.
The project began with the design and production of high quality hand crafted greetings cards and envelopes. Other products such as jewelry are currently being developed. Profits from the cards will help create more employment opportunities for young people and help fund other income generation activities. These projects will provide a better future for those who have had a difficult beginning.
Products are available from the shop.