O-Kart Jewelry

O-kart Jewelry Background:

O-Kart, which means “opportunity” in Thai, is a jewelry-making project that started two and a half years ago under Ruam Mit Foundation for Youth. Ruam Mit is a community-based organization helping youth who are mostly from small tribal communities. All of them have experienced marginalization but in different forms: statelessness, physical disability, homelessness, or drug addiction. The organization raises awareness of the dangers of drug abuse and helps prevent exploitation and trafficking. Ruam Mit’s aim is to enable children and youth to develop every facet of their lives: physically, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, socially and intellectually through a variety of activities.

Ruam Mit launched O-Kart Jewelry with financial and technical assistance from World Concern, an international Christian non-profit relief and development organization. World Concern promotes the protection of children and youth from sexual abuse, trafficking and other circumstances that place them in vulnerable situations. World Concern works in partnership with community-based organizations like Ruam Mit, focusing on high risk areas such as Chang Rai where there are thousands of people migrating to distant places in search of employment and a better life. Many of them become victims of human traffickers and smugglers.

Ruam Mit’s O-Kart Jewelry project currently has 28 beneficiaries consisting of young boys and girls together with their young mothers from remote mountain villages. The project not only provides income but also valuable life skills training and strengthens community cooperation. Through various activities, the beneficiaries learn practical vocational skills and self-discipline. In the process, they gain self-confidence and become more hopeful about their future. They start to dream about bigger things!

Crafting art is part of these young people’s heritage. It gives them a sense of identity and pride. As some of them have lost track of their families, preserving and rebuilding their traditions is a way of reconnecting with their roots and overcoming their experiences of marginalization. By designing and selling handmade jewelry, the beneficiaries are able to generate sufficient income to provide for their daily needs—making less vulnerable to human trafficking.

Download their Catalogue for Bracelets and Earrings and visit their online store at : www.okartjewelry.etsy.com

View slideshow here for more information contact: okartjewelryinfo@gmail.com