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Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

Indigenous Knowledge

classroom of life, Karen Village

The Classroom of Life [English]

In the Indigenous Karen village of Huay Ee Khang, in the mountainous north of Thailand, all life starts in the forest: When a baby is born, its umbilical cord is placed in a bamboo container and hung on a healthy fruit tree.

classroom of life, Karen Village, Thai

The Classroom of Life [Thai]

ในหมู่บ้านชนเผ่าพื้นเมืองชาวปกาเกอะญอบ้านห้วยอีค่าง ซึ่งตั้งอยู่บนภูเขาทางตอนเหนือของประเทศไทย ทุกชีวิตเริ่มต้นในป่า เมื่อทารกคลอดออกมา สายสะดือของพวกเขาจะถูกใส่ไว้ในกระบอกไม้ไผ่และผูกไว้บนต้นไม้ผลที่มีความแข็งแรง

classroom of life, Karen Village, Karen

The Classroom Of Life [Karen]

Noraeri is the first woman to head the village and the only female leader in the whole district of Mae Wang, located in the province of Chiang Mai. She belongs to the Karen Indigenous Peoples, which include a great variety of ethnic groups spread across Myanmar and Thailand.

Knowledge is Wealth Not Money

The Law-wer [Lua] community living in the Mae La Noi District of the Maehongsong Province does not measure wealth with money but cotton cultivation and the abundance it provides to the community through the production of cotton fabric woven and dyed with natural pigments.

The community elders hold crucial knowledge of medicinal herbs still used today. For example, in postpartum healing.