"My father taught me to carve... By making statuettes, I was able to earn enough money to pay my own expenses."

"My parents were farmers, like others in the village and they worked hard in order to provide a good living for their children. They would spend their spare time creating wood carvings.

"My father taught me to carve. First I had to choose what kind of wood is ideal for what type of carving. Second, I learned to hold different types of tools in the right way. The next step is to carve the figure. Slowly but surely, by my first year of secondary school, I was able to finish my first sculpture within one week. Each time I finished a statuette, my mother took it into town together with my father's works. By making statuettes, I was able to earn enough money to pay my own expenses.

"In 1992, I went on to the local high school. I'm very happy to be able to study because my parents weren't able to finish elementary school. But having no formal education did not mean my parents couldn't teach me something. I learned a lot from them, including how to market my work. Furthermore they have provided a place for me to develop my art."