Silk Island

I spent yesterday at the Russian Market with Sanjaya, Mark, John, Teresa, Brooke and Zvi. It's a mad, frenetic place full of textiles, gucci bags, furniture and fake software. At the end of the labrynth are the tailors. An enticing proposition for foreigners is the prospect of getting clothes made custom. I couldn't resist. For a hundred bucks, I got a suit and two shirts made to match every inch of my amazing body.

I spent today on an island right outside of Phnom Penh. Mark and the staff of Maxima Microfinance took us to see three Maxima-Kiva borrowers. It's an island famous for its weavers. There are about 3,000 families on the island, 80% of which make their living from weaving silk. We got the chance to visit 3.

Most always women manage the household. We found her at her house which sits on stilts above the rain soaked plain. Under the house, on the dry side, sit a series of massive silk looms operated by her and her daughters. Her sons are blacksmiths. The family operates as a financial unit, managed by Saret. We spent an hour there and attempted to break down exactly how her silk business works.

Saret received a loan from Maxima months ago. She used the loan to buy white silk from Vietnam. She can buy 1 bag of threaded white silk for about $60, from a middleman who comes across in a boat from the city. The first thing she does with the silk is to die it according to changing preferences of the middleman. After dying it, she spools the silk, and gets it ready to place on the loom. She then gets the loom configured match the complicated patterns we see on dresses and shirts. She pays $5 to the island expert to do so and to rent the suggested pattern.

Once the silk is died and the loom is configured, it's time to make the pattern. Saret's daughter spends 10 hours a day weaving the thread through the loom intricately. There's no room for error. Watching the minute pattern develop line by line is absolutely amazing.

From 1 silk bag, a weaver can produce 3 long rolls of finished material -- one roll per 7 days. She takes the rolls to the ferry dock where she can be assured a guaranteed $65/roll sale back to the middleman The $60 Vietnamese silk bag transforms into $200 in sales after three weeks, tons of labor and a number of extra costs.

Saret has 10 children; 6 daughters and 4 sons. Going to school in Phnom Penh is expensive because of the transport costs. One by one, her daughters have quit going to school and returned to be weavers on the island. Their silk business appears to be growing -- Saret has taken out larger and larger loans over the past few years to buy more and more silk. The fact that her daughters quit school is the main driver of growth. The loans enable the family to buy larger and larger amounts of silk every year. She's paid back each cycle on time. The Maxima loan officers meet her monthly at her home, saving the boat ride.

It's a story of incremental growth, stability, smoothing and financial literacy. Microfinance has been called overrated because it is often sold with a rags to riches narrative. It's a uniquely American narrative that makes it particularly appealing in the states. However, it rarely represents the reality in the field. Poverty alleviation -- when it happens -- is usually found in a series of small victories. It can seem to take forever.

I'm picking up my clothes tomorrow then heading home. I'll be looking good. Also, I'll be looking at the silk rack. Maybe I can spot that purple and gold diamond pattern from the island.