Renate Perner in TGD

AFA is doing wonders for the education of children in village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka. In addition to creating academic opportunities for teachers as well as students in two government schools for girls and boys, the NGO also trains the young students in art work.

This summer, AFA arranged an education workshop in which Renate Perner – volunteer who was in the village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka for third time – gave lessons to six girls from village school in special art.

The girls will become artists for diverse artistic work in Women Art Centre of AFA in the village TGD.

Start of Thatta Kedona

The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (TGD) looks like a typical Pakistani village about 80 kilometres away from Lahore and 40 kilometres from Indus civilization ruins in Harappa. There is no gas or telephone in the village. No asphalt roads lead to it. Yet it is different, the beautiful dolls and other handicrafts made by the village folks are collectors' delight all over the world. Influencers from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by the German volunteers can be seen in the village together.

The dolls made in the village are on display in international doll museum in Iceland, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. TGD village doll project was one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. Earlier, the dolls from Pakistan participated in international toy fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

Thatta Kedona is a project, first of its kind, in rural area where handmade quality dolls and toys are crafted using all indigenous material and traditional designs based on cultural and folklore themes. The workmanship of the dolls and toys has acclaimed international recognition and clientele through their participation in numerous international events, exhibitions, fairs and display at International Doll Museum Iceland and Deutsche Gesellschafr zur Foerderung der Kultar, Germany. These toys are the embodiment of dreams, hopes and most of all self-reliance of the hands, which breathe a part of the soul into them.

How all this started? A Pakistan studying in Germany, Amjad Ali who is a native of village TGD invited his German teachers Dr. Senta Siller to visit his village back home. Dr. Senta Siller along with Dr. Norbert Pinstch came to the village where they were presented a doll made by a local woman. Dr. Senta Siller was impressed by the doll and liked the natural and simple village life. She decided to work for the village; established NGO Anjumane-e-Falah-e-Aama and started community based Woman Art Centre in TGD in 1992. The aim of this centre is to involve local womenfolk in productive, creative and healthy income generating activities. For men Dr. Norbert Pintsch established Technology Transfer and Training Centre (TTTC). This created awareness and built confidence among the village folks and they started making dolls and toys on self-help biases that are marketed all over the world. The village and its residents are benefiting in the process.

This is a holistic project. Handicraft is in the spot on the stage but the project has a cultural philosophy. Education, science, agriculture, hydrogeology (drinking water project), appropriate technology, public health, economy (marketing, distribution), tourism and communication, are all in practice.

TTTC is concentrating on improved agricultural techniques and other suitable jobs for men. Also, carpenters, blacksmiths and tailors in the village are profitably involved in production for the TTTC for men. On Dr. Norbert Pintsch's arrival in Pakistan this time (November 2007), Nation took a chance to ask him about goals, the motives and motivations.

"The goals of the project are self-help activities at a grass roots levels, holistic village development, empowerment of women, income generation, and literacy and vocational training, says Dr. Norbert Pintsch. The philosophy working behind this selfless work is "preservation of cultural heritage, reduction of migration to cities by creating additional income in the village and future is in the rural areas," he added.

Dolls from Pakistan in authentic attires of the specific tribes, communities and areas and thematic toys tempt tourists and diplomats. They collect these dolls as a souvenir of the time they spent in Pakistan. "During last seven years, the Pakistani dolls have travelled in suitcases of our client to 40 different countries. They (dolls) sit in the ambassadors' residences not only in Islamabad, but accompany them to the next and second next posting. I have met TGD dolls in the Japanese ambassador's home in Jakarta and also in the German embassy in Damascus," tells Dr. Norbert Pintsch with pride and pleasure. "Part of the artists go where ever the dolls go," says a young artist. Each doll has a small plate attached carrying the name of the doll maker.

Doll making is one of the oldest and popular folk art in Pakistan. Simple stuffed dolls are made for children particularly in rural areas where people are still striving for the attainment of basic needs. The main difference of previous doll making and the modern techniques taught by Dr. Senta is that she has introduced variety in size and shapes and dresses them in colourful costumes with attentions to details. This has resulted in high quality soft toys to cater to demands of the gift market.

Work of Dr. Norbert Pintsch and Dr. Senta Siller has not only moved the people of area but also raised a spacious and simple building for the Women Art Centre and TTTC with the help of different donors. Now there are as many as 120 women from the age of 24 to 40 working in both the centres making dolls dressed in regional (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Balochi, Kashmiri and Kalash) embroider costumes, miniatures, hand knitted shawls tin rickshaws and other toys and earning their living. They are making their own lives better and strengthening their families. "They (the women) are moving towards true equality and independence" says a doll maker who has twelve year of schooling, is married in this village and working in the Centre.

Village TGD is changing. The relative prosperity has beginning to show. Villagers are putting their children, particularly the girls in school. The Woman Art Centre is also playing a part in the well being of the villagers. The Centre has provided furniture and other equipment to the primary school in village and opened a well equipped health care centre. An annual quality of life competition is held in the village when best houses are selected in three different categories.

This seems to be one of the unique and best self help project anywhere in Pakistan.

Greenland Doll Project

The idea for the project originated in the year 2002 and is based on the location of the west to east greenland. At first there were various contacts between Narsalik and Qaqortoq and in 2006 a meeting with the director of the group in greenland was held. The meeting took place in the south of the island.

The pre-conditions for the project were good due to the parallels in the locations as well as the income generating factors sheep breeding and tourism.

After the activities came to a standstill and difficulties regarding deadlines and financing emerged but also as first orders for the Inuit-Dolls were received, the project was revived by arranging the finance and a visit to Kulusuk was undertaken in September 2007.

Complete manufacturing of the Inuit-Dolls is also not feasible here as the manufacturing of the naked doll would be too expensive here. For this purpose the doll bodies from Pakistan are used here. However, the hair and skin type as well as the face form correspond to the Greenland.

Comparison: Public, Private Organisations and NGOs

The problem has already been described elsewhere, however the differences in various forms of organization are again mentioned specially in context to the anthropological and ethnological aspects.

The constructed organizations have rationalized their inter-human problems. Hostilities and mobbing do exist but are principally possible to be reduced by way of changes in work place, even if it does sometime entail social injustices like loss of income and ultimately slipping into poverty is only the tip of the iceberg. Members of the city culture today do not live under the pressures, which under the slogan “city life makes you free” lead to immense growth of the cities and a freedom of the person in the sense of independence from social responsibilities.

The NGO, if it really represents an alternative to the constructed organizational entities, is flexible and it can react faster to the changes. This is the theory.

If the NGO works in the rural environment integrated into the traditional culture, the city persons come across additional intangible problems, which cannot be solved by anthropologists and ethnologists, unless they work together with the village NGO and do their research covertly.

Even in relatively small village units of about 1000 residents exist in the course of the day chaos, the violence, archaic circumstances, which can disturb the sensitive work of the NGO.

The behavioral structures here are not at all so different from the construed organizations but the effects are more difficult and complex. Who marries whom, which field belongs to whom, who has more land, who enjoys what type of respect, who behaves as a member of village society, who is physically stronger, who is psychologically smarter, which does not mean that it leads to longer life because violence can easily be applied from many directions.

Who shall work in the NGO, will it change their position in the village community, should this be possible ? Who takes over the leadership function, should he be allowed to exercise influence over the family? Can he exercise influence and to what extent?

Although there may be lot of general knowledge about the traditional culture but the reality can only be experienced by being there in person.

The efforts of the NGOs should not be directed towards financing the whole life but only income to the extent of earning the daily bread. Nevertheless, this also means that the production methods, which maintain the cultural identity, are made difficult by the above mentioned factors. Pressure cannot be exerted due to the missing dependence of the subjects and the village customs must also be taken into consideration.

The task is like walking on a cable rope even for special experts, whose performance can hardly be judged in tangible terms.

UAE Dolls

A possibility for the participation of a Pakistani NGO at the Global Village of the Dubai Shopping Festival for exhibiting and offering its outstanding handicrafts products emerged in 2000 on the invitation of the consulate general of Pakistan in Dubai.

The first participation in the fair followed in 2001 and was quite successful right from the start, -reports of the local media also confirmed the success of advertising and media attention.

The stand in the Pakistan Pavillion through the courtesy of the pakistani commercial counsellor however required careful organization, transport, resolution of visa matters and schooling of the the village NGO staff as well as locating cheap accomodation in Dubai.

Two young women as well young men from the village NGO have participated in the festival uptill now. A german volunteer was also found as a temporary arrangement to bridge the staff requirement at the stand. Additionally, we also succeeded in winning a permanent customer for the products at this temporary forum so that it became possible to sell the products over the whole year.

An arabic pair of dolls was specially developed by the pakistani NGO for the arabian market, which can be purchased on the spot as well as orders cab also be placed. Local volunteers are also helpful in the order processing and they have also participated in village project in Pakistan.

NGO

Even if generally and in the meanwhile the term NGO has degraded into Sham-NGO, an effort is made to describe the most important functions of such an entity.

Contrary to a GO (Government Organization) and a Firm (prive or public limited company, etc.) the offices of management in an NGO are honorary positions, i.e. the president, treasurer etc. do not receive any remuneration for their work. The members of the NGO are not salaried employees, rather they work according to their own possibilities and necessities of the NGO, because contrary to the above mentioned entities, the NGO posesses neither the annual budget nor can it operate in a perspective.

An NGO should not be the extended arm of a political, religious, scientific or any other entity, thereby appearing as an institution, which is intended to be an income generating measure for its workers, because -as mentioned above-, there should supposedly be no employees in the NGO.

If this description appears to be unreal, then only because the NGO in the meanwhile is seen as a milkable cow, which is to be milked until it dries out. An NGO should also not function as a charity organization, which gives financial or material aid without the receiving party contributing anything in return. And there is also no back door (see above); - which would enable influence through the purchase of shares !

Also the tasks should be defined in such a way that, that new problem factors are not created through the work of the NGO. This means that the organization of the NGO should be horizontal in nature and it should consider its surrounding environment.

In order to achieve a certain level of independence, it is important for an NGO in urban as well as rural areas to collect and concentrate the forces at its disposal. This is infact the basic idea of an NGO - to convert an idea into reality. Administering with charity in the foreground would actually mean that instead of being strengthened, the forces are actually being weakened through the acts of charity. International charity organizations do this for the sole purpose, because they are themselves income generating measures, - Providing help as profession is as reprehensible as providing help for image reasons !

These limitations, which reflect on how an NGO should actually be, again give rise to the question, whether there exists any institution at all, which fulfills all the classical requirements. The simple answer is: yes and one may point to AFA project in the TGD village, which is working on these principles since 1992.

Self Help Project

The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (TGD) looks like a typical Pakistani village about 80 kilometres away from Lahore and 40 kilometres from Indus civilization ruins in Harappa. There is no gas or telephone in the village. No asphalt roads lead to it. Yet it is different, the beautiful dolls and other handicrafts made by the village folks are collectors' delight all over the world. Influencers from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by the German volunteers can be seen in the village together.

The dolls made in the village are on display in international doll museum in Iceland, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. TGD village doll project was one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. Earlier, the dolls from Pakistan participated in international toy fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

Thatta Kedona is a project, first of its kind, in rural area where handmade quality dolls and toys are crafted using all indigenous material and traditional designs based on cultural and folklore themes. The workmanship of the dolls and toys has acclaimed international recognition and clientele through their participation in numerous international events, exhibitions, fairs and display at International Doll Museum Iceland and Deutsche Gesellschafr zur Foerderung der Kultar, Germany. These toys are the embodiment of dreams, hopes and most of all self-reliance of the hands, which breathe a part of the soul into them.

How all this started? A Pakistan studying in Germany, Amjad Ali who is a native of village TGD invited his German teachers Dr. Senta Siller to visit his village back home. Dr. Senta Siller along with Dr. Norbert Pinstch came to the village where they were presented a doll made by a local woman. Dr. Senta Siller was impressed by the doll and liked the natural and simple village life. She decided to work for the village; established NGO Anjumane-e-Falah-e-Aama and started community based Woman Art Centre in TGD in 1992. The aim of this centre is to involve local womenfolk in productive, creative and healthy income generating activities. For men Dr. Norbert Pintsch established Technology Transfer and Training Centre (TTTC). This created awareness and built confidence among the village folks and they started making dolls and toys on self-help biases that are marketed all over the world. The village and its residents are benefiting in the process.

This is a holistic project. Handicraft is in the spot on the stage but the project has a cultural philosophy. Education, science, agriculture, hydrogeology (drinking water project), appropriate technology, public health, economy (marketing, distribution), tourism and communication, are all in practice.

TTTC is concentrating on improved agricultural techniques and other suitable jobs for men. Also, carpenters, blacksmiths and tailors in the village are profitably involved in production for the TTTC for men. On Dr. Norbert Pintsch's arrival in Pakistan this time (November 2007), Nation took a chance to ask him about goals, the motives and motivations.

"The goals of the project are self-help activities at a grass roots levels, holistic village development, empowerment of women, income generation, and literacy and vocational training, says Dr. Norbert Pintsch. The philosophy working behind this selfless work is "preservation of cultural heritage, reduction of migration to cities by creating additional income in the village and future is in the rural areas," he added.

Dolls from Pakistan in authentic attires of the specific tribes, communities and areas and thematic toys tempt tourists and diplomats. They collect these dolls as a souvenir of the time they spent in Pakistan. "During last seven years, the Pakistani dolls have travelled in suitcases of our client to 40 different countries. They (dolls) sit in the ambassadors' residences not only in Islamabad, but accompany them to the next and second next posting. I have met TGD dolls in the Japanese ambassador's home in Jakarta and also in the German embassy in Damascus," tells Dr. Norbert Pintsch with pride and pleasure. "Part of the artists go where ever the dolls go," says a young artist. Each doll has a small plate attached carrying the name of the doll maker.

Doll making is one of the oldest and popular folk art in Pakistan. Simple stuffed dolls are made for children particularly in rural areas where people are still striving for the attainment of basic needs. The main difference of previous doll making and the modern techniques taught by Dr. Senta is that she has introduced variety in size and shapes and dresses them in colourful costumes with attentions to details. This has resulted in high quality soft toys to cater to demands of the gift market.

Work of Dr. Norbert Pintsch and Dr. Senta Siller has not only moved the people of area but also raised a spacious and simple building for the Women Art Centre and TTTC with the help of different donors. Now there are as many as 120 women from the age of 24 to 40 working in both the centres making dolls dressed in regional (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Balochi, Kashmiri and Kalash) embroider costumes, miniatures, hand knitted shawls tin rickshaws and other toys and earning their living. They are making their own lives better and strengthening their families. "They (the women) are moving towards true equality and independence" says a doll maker who has twelve year of schooling, is married in this village and working in the Centre.

Village TGD is changing. The relative prosperity has beginning to show. Villagers are putting their children, particularly the girls in school. The Woman Art Centre is also playing a part in the well being of the villagers. The Centre has provided furniture and other equipment to the primary school in village and opened a well equipped health care centre. An annual quality of life competition is held in the village when best houses are selected in three different categories.

This seems to be one of the unique and best self help project anywhere in Pakistan.