While this year seems to have been a much wetter one than usual in Lunenburg County, the isolated flooding some people have experienced doesn't compare to that which the people of Thailand have been enduring.

 "It's the worst floods in 50 years, and they've probably lost 15 per cent of their rice harvest. The industrialist states that are north of Bangkok have been the hardest hit by the floods," explains Alleson Kase, who, with Ellen Agger, is co-owner of Tammachat Natural textiles of Mahone Bay, a fair-trade company which has been supporting women artisans in Thailand and Laos for the past several years. "At last count, there are more than 600,000 people had been laid off because their factories are under water."

 Ms Kase says that word out of the country is that those enterprises are not likely to start operating once again until early in the new year, and will not be up to capacity until March.

 "Most of these factories closed in October, so that means people will potentially lose six months of employment," she says, adding that, unlike Canada, there is no government social safety net, such as employment insurance, to help support workers in such circumstance.

 Because many of the factory employees send earnings back to rural villages to support their families, those people will be severely impacted by the shutdown.

 Their situation is also compounded by the partial loss of the rice crop, which will drive the price of the grain up and contribute to a rise in the country's inflation rate.

 Ms Kase and Ms Agger, who have made seven previous trips to Thailand, will be embarking on their next junket to the country in December. They will be spending four months in areas that are north and northwest of Bangkok, which have not been flooded.

 "So, we're good that way, but all the prices are going to go up and we're looking to see how this has impacted different groups that we work with," Ms Kase says. "We have been in contact with board members of three of the groups ... and they have said that none of their villages have been flooded. There are two other groups that we work with that are in the central river valley area which we heard was flooded, but we haven't been in contact with them yet, so it remains to be seen."

 Regardless, she says the additional income generated by the women artisans with whom they work is going to be significantly more important than ever to their overall household economy.

 "The likelihood that their domestic markets are going to drop off are very high, so they're going to be really looking to their export market and we're their only customer in North America," she adds. "I think they are really going to be looking to us to place substantial orders to help add to the sustainability of these village economies."

 Tammachat Natural Textiles is also assisting people in Thailand by donating 10 per cent of all sales from November shows in Nova Scotia to flood relief in the stricken country.

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 One of those events, a Fibre Fair of Fashion and Gifts featuring a variety of fair-trade organic silk and cotton products, will be held at the Mahone Bay Legion hall November 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 For more information visit http://www.tammachat.com.

posted on 11/23/11