As well as the pride local communities take in their own work, Lao fabrics are attracting increasing interest in urban and overseas markets, for their high quality, intricate designs, and natural dyes. Several cooperative ventures based in Vientiane are successfully incorporating traditional, village-woven fabrics into goods for export to the upper end of European and North America markets. Enhancing these skills both to improve the quality of their products and to deal with the modern marketplace. Abroad's Community Development workers, organises training sessions for the women, assists in the marketing of their cloth, and provides advice on designs and articles suited for the Vientiane and international markets. Hak Boung is 70 years old, but has a degree of agility and energy beyond that of many younger people.
Indigo is a weedy-looking plant that is grown on the fields between rice crops.
As it fixes nitrogen, it helps restore the soil without the use of chemical fertiliser. Hak Boung has now conducted several training sessions for women of other villages on how to harvest indigo plants, steep them to prepare dye, and dye locally-grown and spun cotton to achieve even and consistent quality. Indigo cloth, traditionally worn by Lao farmers, is now sought after from far beyond Vang Vieng, and cloth dyed and woven by Hak Boung and the women she has trained is gaining them a place in the markets which might otherwise undermine their economic status. The Community Aid Abroad team in Laos is continuing to work on long-term community development strategies in Vang Vieng, but is also establishing programs in the remote and dry provinces of Saravane and Sekhong in southern Laos. Many of the target communities are of highland minority groups, quite outside the market economy.