Yak combing in Mongolia

摘要

It's not every day that you wake up to the prospect of combing yaks. Back in 2007,1 was working with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, and was based at the Textile Institute helping the lecturing staff to develop their textile design education provision. With a background in embroidery and a career which combined lecturing and the knitwear industry, I jumped at the chance to use my skills within an overseas development context. I had made a personal promise to embrace as many opportunities as possible during the year. So, one spring morning I boarded a plane heading to Ulaangom, a small town in northern Mongolia where I linked up with two members of the Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE) team to accompany them on their first yak fibre spinning workshop.