Crafting Out a Better Life
By R. Zeeneeshri
THE very fine handicraft of poor women in south India is showcased at the Temple of Fine Arts’s shop called Lavanya in Brickfields this weekend.
Soapstone bowls for aromatherapy, bronze statues, hand-woven sarees, hand-made dolls and traditional clothes for children, bags, cushion covers and purses with fabric sourced from all over India, among other items, have filled the shelves of the TFA shop, Lavanya.
The items are mostly created by the women working at the Shivanjali arts and craft centre in Coimbatore, India.
The centre is a TFA initiative to break the cycle of poverty and illhealth among the poor in India.
Shivanajali started as a free rural clinic in 1986, says volunteer Dr Uma Deavi who used to man the TFA free clinics in Malaysia.
Funded by the Shivanjali Trust, the people Dr Uma treats are so poor that she says dispensing advice on nutrition and sanitation often prove futile.
“They can’t afford to buy the right kind of food, or live in the clean environment that most of us take for granted. Sometimes I wonder if I’m changing anything at all. A child that I have treated for worms and anaemia would go back to her old, filthy environment, eat the same food and get sick all over again. It’s a vicious cycle.”
Her patients are asked to pay what they can. “If all they can pay is five rupees (42 sen), then so be it. Most of the time, they can’t afford to pay, so we treat them for free.”
The Shivanjali craft manufacturing centre evolved out of the need to help patients help themselves, to break the cycle of poverty and ill health.
Set up in 1996, it trains mostly jobless women and allows them to earn a living.
“I tell them: if you can’t work, send someone in your household who can work,” says Dr Uma.
“I wanted to do something simple that wouldn’t need a huge capital. I could sketch and sew a little, so I knew I could contribute ideas to make products that were saleable.”
“The craft centre started out with five women. I brought someone in to teach them how to sew and embroider. By December 2002, we had 520 girls and 30 sewing machines.”
The workers each earn between 2,000 and 5,000 rupees (RM167 and RM419) a month.
“The women gain a lot of confidence and pride in earning their own money,” says Dr Uma.
The centre, she says, is not yet self-sufficient and relies on donations to operate.
“We’re making enough just to break even, because most of our earnings go towards the workers’ salaries and running the clinic.”
For Dr Uma, service to humanity knows no borders. “While working here I feel enriched. I feel I have received more from the women than I have given to them.”
Lavanya has organised Deepakalanjali, from Oct 5 to 7, at TFA in Brickfields. Call 03-22735330 or visit www.lavanya.org.my.
(c) 2007 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.