This post is dedicated to my Mom. She took a basket making course and made a lot of baskets. I am not sure where they are now. I think she would like this post.

When you watch the video posted at the end, you will see my course in basket weaving did not last long. I spent my day watching and listening.

I spent time with an Indigenous woman who still makes baskets and fish traps by hand. Very few people carry on this tradition now. Her husband started the day by taking me out to cut bamboo. He walks 2 hours out to the forest and 2 hours back to find the bamboo, because he can no longer find it near the village. We received permission from the rock crushing company to let him show me how to prepare the bamboo. He stripped short poles into thin, smooth strips, ready for weaving. Without his work, there would be no baskets.

I watched her split and weave bamboo with ease. She was very fast. She showed me how, then handed me the strips. I tried my best, but I had no idea what I was doing. She had no time for that. I realized how much skill it takes to make something that looks simple.

Each basket has a purpose. One was a colander for rinsing vegetables. Another was a small basket that held her betel nut utensils. Betel nut is the seed of the fruit of the areca palm and is a stimulant drug. When people use it, their teeth turn red. The long basket is for separating rice from its husks. Others varied in size, but perfectly woven. They were beautiful, useful, and made to fit daily needs. Looking at them, I thought about how many stories are hidden in things people use every day.

Life here is practical and no frills. I like taking photos of the outhouse toilets. My Great-aunt had an outdoor toilet when I was little. The door on this one leaned against the opening. No hinges. You picked it up and moved it. In front of toilet was an open well where she washes clothes and dishes. Work, water, and survival are tightly linked. This is ordinary here, but always strikes me as a raw and real view of their lives.

At the end of the day, her husband carried one of the finished traps to the river. He showed me how to wedge it just right in the water, where fish might swim in and not find their way out. I watched as the current slipped through the bamboo and thought about how Indigenous knowledge is slipping away.

I went back the next day to pick up a basket she made me.

This a video of the day. ~8 minutes. Bamboo cutting, basket making, singing, and fish trap placement.