Vietnam Quilts Advent Calendar.

I attend the SSIS Christmas Bazaar on Saturday and could not resist these beautiful Advent Calendars made by Vietnam Quilts.  These exquisite hand made quilted calendars were $20USD each.

Mekong Quilts is a non-profit, community development, income generating project, which provides sustainable employment for women in Vietnam and Cambodia. Due to the expansion of the project into Cambodia, the organisation is known by two names; Vietnam Quilts in Vietnam and Mekong Quilts in Cambodia.

International shipping is available by both sea and air.

One of their motto's is that it is the gift that gives twice.  Their quilters are women from very poor rural regions, who were desperate for work. Before quilting, these women would travel to far-away fields in search of work, leaving their children at home. In the quilt groups, the women have a regular income and employment benefits. Besides the economic benefit to the women, Mekong Quilts through Mekong Plus provides training on health and hygiene, group management and assistance to the women. 

Currently, Mekong Quilts employs women in communities northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (Duc Linh, Tanh Linh and Ham Thuan Nam in Binh Thuan Province) and Long My in the Mekong Delta. Mekong Quilts also offers employment opportunities to Cambodian women through Mekong Quilts, a similar project located in the village of Rumdoul, near the Vietnam / Cambodia border.

Profits generated from the sale of the quilts are reinvested into the community through Mekong Plus. This includes programmes such as scholarships for children, agricultural training and micro-finance programmes, etc. As a result, not only does your support through the purchase of products help to provide sustainable employment to women but the profits from the sale of the quilts also benefit the poor communities in which they live.

Aside from all of those wonderful reasons to visit....aren't they divine?  I'm having trouble keeping little fingers out of the pockets until December first.  All of this information and more can be found on their web page http://vietnam-quilts.org/ 
They can be found in HCMC at 64 Ngo Duc Ke, District One and in Hanoi at 13 Hang Bac, Hoan Kiem.  As you can imagine their bed quilts are amazing and they have all sorts of quilted products including christmas decorations!  At Christmas time it is always nice to get into the Christmas spirit by giving a little back to the community.  This is a great way to do that and you get to keep something truly special and treasure it year after year.