Old knowledge, new fibres. Silk production in East Timor

Tais Tais production Silk tais production   Tais Tais are a type of clothing traditionally worn in East Timor (Timor Leste). A tais mane (man’s cloth) is a large piece of cloth worn wrapped around the waist like a sarong. A tais feto (women’s cloth) is a large piece of cloth sewn together to form a tube and worn tucked around the waist or pulled high like a dress worn with bare shoulders. Tais are important for ceremonial occasions such as births, weddings and funerals. Knowing how to weave is women’s work and traditionally was considered a prerequisite for marriage. Mothers would teach their daughters the local techniques and patterns, depicting cultural beliefs and stories sand using the colours available from the environment. In recent years the selendang, a scarf-like tais which is placed ceremoniously around the neck to pay tribute, has become common. Photo 1: Women and men preparing for a traditional festival wearing tais and selendang David Haigh/AusAID Tais production Tais are traditionally made from cotton harvested from local cotton trees, hand-spun, and dyed using dyes from the leaves, bark and fruit rinds and woven in patterns unique to each community. During the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999), frequent conflict meant that people would have to move away from their homes, so harvesting cotton and weaving became difficult. It became common for commercially produced threads and dyes imported from Indonesia to be used, although most considered them an expensive luxury. Tais are woven on a simple manual backstrap bamboo loom. The loom comprises two wooden poles joined by the dyed warp threads. The women hang one end from a tree or house beam. The weaver sits on the ground and creates the design as she weaves the weft threads between the warp threads. Skilled weavers produce clear and intricate designs and are highly valued in their communities. Each step takes days to complete, with complex pieces taking more than a year to make. As women are very involved in producing food and caring for children, finding time for weaving can be difficult. It is only recent times they have been produced for sale, mainly to westerners, for extra income.   Silk tais production In 1999, shortly after the referendum for independence from Indonesia, Father Pat MacAnally worked with AusAID and the Catholic Relief Services to set up a sericulture, silk production, project in Triloka in the Baucau district. Photo 2: Father Pat MacAnally and villagers care for the young mulberry plants. David Haigh/AusAID The project aimed to use the traditional knowledge of farming and tais production of the local men and women in new ways to start a business to help villagers become self-sufficient. Farmers would produce mulberry trees for their leaves to feed imported silk worms from which silk could be spun and woven into tais. Sales of the silk worms, silk and tais would result in a higher income than could be achieved with cotton tais. Photo 3: Villagers prepare the mulberry seedlings in the newly built sheds. David Haigh/AusAID Initially, the village chiefs nominated people to work on the farm – mostly widows or young men without skills. The land was prepared for planting and hatching sheds were built. Mulberry trees and silk worms were imported from Indonesia. For each day’s work each worker received three kilos of rice, supplied by the World Food Program, and 10,000 rupiah from Father Pat. Photo 4: Thousands of tiny silkworms gorge themselves on fresh mulberry leaves for three weeks before spinning their cocoons. Debra Plueckhahn/Australian Volunteers International Called Loron Aban Hahu Ohin (LAHO), or ‘the future starts today’, the project has continued growing. Surplus land in each village is used to cultivate mulberry trees. LAHO purchases eggs from Thailand to supply the villages with week-old silkworms for families to feed the silkworms with fresh leaves from their mulberry trees. There was great excitement when the first batch of cocoons was spun. Each farmer produces about 20 kilograms of cocoons per cycle, and there are about six cycles each year. As the mulberry trees develop, the number of silk worm caterpillars they can raise will increase. Eventually, each farmer will earn around US$700 per year from the silkworms. There are hopes that in the future silkworm eggs can be produced locally. More villagers have become involved and learnt new skills. Technical assistance, maintenance, training and product marketing was provided by a number of Australian Volunteers International (AVI) volunteers. LAHO buys the cocoons from the villagers. Photo 5: Cocoons are boiled to loosen the fibres before being spun into yarn. Bev Watkinson Photo 6: Cocoons and raw silk ready for spinning. David Haigh/AusAID The silk spinning process provides another opportunity to employ and train local people. In 2006, AVI volunteer Louise Higgins helped set up a training program through which the older women in the villages train the younger ones in traditional hand-spinning practices, ensuring that this knowledge is not lost. After the training, the women return to their villages with quantities of raw silk, which they hand-spin and weave in tais, then sell back to LAHO. Photo 7: Australian Volunteer, Louise Higgins, helps local women set up a floor loom ready for weaving tais. Debra Plueckhahn/Australian Volunteers International Since 2002, 23 hectares of mulberry trees have been cultivated, and 19 local farming groups, (made up of approximately 75 individual farmers) have been assisted with both material and technical support. Silk production has given local women and men the opportunity to develop the skills required for the manufacture of marketable silk products and become self-sufficient. Sources Alola Foundation: http://www.alolafoundation.org Australian Volunteers International: http://www.australianvolunteers.com/ You may use these photos for educational purposes. Please include the source.