This is why I am really here: the workshop.

There is a non-profit group called Lifestart Foundation, that works out of Hoi An (& Australia) on behalf of people who are in need of assistance in order to live. The range of people that Lifestart serves is wide and ever growing: young, old, able-bodied, disabled, etc. I am here as part of an artist training program that Lifestart is introducing in order to better serve their growing population of people in need. The way it works is simple: Lifestart trains people with skills to make saleable items that are sold in their beautiful shop to visiting tourists. The “maker”, once they have sold enough items to get them on their feet, is responsible for their supplies and for the quality of their product, and also in return, receives 100% of what the store earns for their product.

This is the Lifestart Foundation’s beautiful headquarters in Viettown, Hoi An. For more about Lifestart, do some clicking here lifestartfoundation.org.au and maybe here www.lifestartfoundation.org.au/karens-diary.php

The location is a quiet alleyway of a street with just enough bustle from familiar faces to make you always want to come linger. They have made the atmosphere at this shop so inviting you’d think they were learning merchandising and space planning from my day job, lol. There are places to just sit and read a little about the foundation, or have a glass of complimentary tea. There is always someone on site making something, like the boys who come after morning school and make the beautiful lanterns or the workshop ladies who come in to make the shop goods.