Purn is 11 years old and regularly spends time weaving on the traditional looms at DEPDC. She finds academic work difficult and so enjoys being able to use her creative talents to make something tangible and useful.
To begin with Purn was taught to spin the natural fibres to create the thread. Then she practiced basic weaves with just one colour on the traditional loom to create a simple scarf.
Once accomplished at this, Purn continued the learning process, culminating in more intricate weaves with multi-coloured threads. She now produces beautiful scarves, runners and table clothes to be sold at the DEPDC shop.
Arts and crafts activities are important for bringing out the creative and artistic sides of the children, helping them express complex emotions they may have resulting from their complex and often abusive home situations.
DEPDC also runs a handicraft programme designed to teach the children to be creative with everyday items which might otherwise be thrown away making toys and decorations or even repairing them. Past projects have included:
Colourful sand for decoration
Create a toy airplane from discarded plastic
Making a doll from newspaper
Fruit and Vegetable carving
Basic seamstress skills
Dom, 10, says: "We made toy aeroplanes from old plastic bottles and painted them in bright colours. Then we had competitions to see whose would fly the furthest. Mine was the best and flew all the way across the field."
The handicraft programme also extends to the use of domestic science. Noi, 16, explains: "We use basic chemistry to create handicrafts such as soap and candles and also make dye to colour cloth and flowers. The teacher shows us what ingredients we need and how to safely mix them. Then it is up to us to make everything as well as we can."
Children also use their creative skills to cook traditional Thai and hill tribe meals and sweets, a particularly popular craft as they get to eat the results afterwards! |
