WHO WE ARE
Jungle Jar is a social enterprise empowering, training, and diversifying communities in Laos through the production and sale of Bamboo water bottles.
Tom Partridge is a UK Citizen living in Laos and working in Community Tourism Social Enterprise.
Mr. Khamchean Thamamesay is the local go-getter and fixer! A Laos Citizen with 20 years of experience working with developing communities. while
Jungle Jar partner Tiger Trail Travel, a local tour company with a passion for Laos and its people. Tiger Trail has spent 21 years building trust and strong partnerships with rural communities.
Money from the sale of Bottles goes direct to the families, and a fund is set up in the community to help young people finish high school.
WHAT WE DO AND WHY WE DO IT
Luang Prabang is a prosperous tourist town on the Mekong River in Northern Laos, often described as the Gem Of South East Asia. Tourism has developed rapidly here, and many rural communities have been left behind due to the rapid growth. We operate in communities within a 40km radius of the city.
Some local communities have created Community-based tourism initiatives to bring additional income into the village to help develop households and infrastructure whilst farming the land, such as homestay, skillshare, and cultural experiences. However, these villagers have felt the impact of the Covid-19 considerably as border, and internal travel restrictions have crippled tourism, not to mention it has been hard to get correct and current information, medical services, and vaccines.
The Jungle Jar Team reached out to these communities to see if there was a way to reinvigorate the rural economy and deliver lasting non-seasonal income and help break the cycle of poverty through education and productivity.
We chose a simple product that could be replicated in the village quickly with a bit of training and a few simple easy-to-maintained pieces of equipment; the bottle needed to be modern looking, rustic feeling, sustainable, youthful, and above all, cheap to manufacture. Finally, we chose a lightweight bamboo water bottle suitable for all sports activities' daily use and a perfect substitute for single-use plastics.
On arriving in the village of Ban Huay Fai to pitch the idea, we were overwhelmed by the community's enthusiasm. So many families were eager were to join the program, learn to make the bottles, and help build a workshop. They also told us about the problem they had with keeping their kids in secondary education.
High schools can be over 25 km from the villages, and many students walk and stay the week away from their homes in cheap lodgings. Many of the families we spoke to cannot afford to pay for the transport, food, and accommodation for their children. Hence, they drop out and work in the fields or get low-paid, unskilled jobs in the city. In response to this, we decided to make a community fund for anyone in the village to assist with these costs and help kids through high school raise enough money to build free dormitories close to both schools for the village children.
The Village Chief donated land in the village center for the community workspace, which can double as an area for families to showcase their traditional skills and crafts when tourism returns to Laos. And we chose to use plastic bottles to build the workshop, something the village had never seen before and something in keeping with the sustainable ethos of the program.
Jungle Jar pays the families directly for their efforts. We provide the tools, training, logistics, marketing, and promotion of the scheme. We anticipate that the village can run the whole manufacturing side of the operation within two years with minimal support, freeing up the team to develop the program in other towns, provinces, or even countries. High School graduates from the program will also get opportunities to work with us in administration and sales.
There are around 80 families in the Ban Huay Fai, and the majority are farmers; our program encourages people to make bottles in their spare time and continue to farm.
Many women and older people in the village can use the tool and workshops in the day to provide a secondary income.
Ban Huay Fai has 15 families signed to the program and two other villages looking to get involved. We need cash to buy essential tools and complete the workshop and begin training.
SCHOOLS HELPING SCHOOLS
The Jungle Jar Program is a perfect program for Teachers, high schools, and universities to help as it is a program that touches many poignant topics and covers many academic subjects.
In conjunction with Tiger Trail Travel, we have created a school service-learning program in which participating schools can use Jungle Jar in the classroom to learn about, Social Enterprise and Development, Business, Sustainability, Sales, and Marketing. In addition, schools involved can become agents, and we can export bottles to you to raise funds for a trip to visit Laos and see the program first hand and enjoy the village’s hospitality. The trip will include visits to the famous Kuang Si Falls, Jungle trekking, Zip-lining, and many other social enterprises.
We hope creating long-term relationships with educational institutes will significantly benefit both parties and provide truly life-changing experiences and good friends.
