Thatta Kedona

Dr. Senta Siller along with veteran volunteer Monika Kupler (who has been to Pakistan as much as six times) marketing and giving information in Bazaar in Cologne, Germany [File Photo].

Medical examinations in the past have shown, for example, that all children under 6 years had digestion problems caused by unhygienic water. The subsequent survey regarding quality of drinking water in households confirmed the medical suspicions. The promotion of clean drinking water is therefore of primary importance. Here is a brief about some of the projects undertaken in the village:

On the way to Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka - Toys Village - near Renala, you see one of the first Hydroelectric Power Stations constructed in the Subcontinent. Sir Ganga Ram, an Engineer and famous Philanthropist had built this Power Station in 1925 in order to irrigate about 70,000 acres of agricultural land that is higher than the normal level in the area and could not be irrigated through the LBDC. Ganga Ram forked the canal, built the Power Station and installed five motors to generate electricity. The then Governor Punjab, Sir William Malcolm Hailey laid down its foundation stone of the station on March 22, 1925.

Engineer in charge of the station explained the working of the station and its excellent performance despite the old vintage. The Power Station is not linked with National Electric Grid and only provides electricity for the five pumping stations for lifting the water from the LBDC. The Power Station remained with Power and Works Department till 1958 when it was taken over by WAPDA. Why not more similar hydroelectric stations in the country? The question keeps coming back to my mind.

Greatest European thinkers and a large number of scientists and authors have expressed the opinion, and it has been generally deemed to be correct, that Work-Capital-Land are the three determining factors of our system, and that it is considered to be a European-north American system. It cannot be another system for the simple reason that there is no other system and this is believed also by those people, who really have nothing to do with the system because they are culturally differently organized.

Unluckily, due to centuries old political practices, other cultures can hardly or not at all identify or adopt even comparable concepts. One may see this as an example of their inferiority, but also as an example of erroneous basis research, indeed long overdue and still missing proper direction of the basis research.

Visit Photos

Students from Government College University Lahore (Ravians) visited Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka – Home of Dolls – some time ago. Students enjoyed their stay in the village where they were briefed about different aspects of the project, traditional culture and were also shown around the rural way of life.

Authentic Shahi Haleem from the famous Kausar restaurant in Karachi, a variety of delicious sweets, hand-embroidered salwar suits and shawls, trendy leather jackets and handbags, traditional handmade shoes, glittering jewellery, intricately carved wooden furniture, beautiful carpets and entertainment by well known performers — you can get all this and more at the Pakistan pavilion in Global Village.

The façade of this pavilion is modelled on the Baba E Khyber Fort in Peshawar, while the interior is a recreation of a typical Peshawari bazaar with over 80 stalls offering a taste of Pakistani culture, cuisine and creativity. While all the people managing the stalls and the items on sale are Pakistani, visitors will be surprised to find a German manning a stall here. Roman Laube is a media designer from Berlin and is spending his annual vacation as a volunteer for an NGO called Thatta Kedona. He has flown down to Dubai especially to help manage the organisation's stall at the pavilion. By Jyoti Kalsi, Gulf News Report

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Volueteer therapist Gundula trainig workers at Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka.

Puppen hat es schon immer gegeben

Beweise daduer liefern eindeutig Graeberfunde in Suedamerika, dem Subkontinent, Japan, Italien, Griechenland und andere Fundorte auf der ganzen Welt. Aus vielerlei Materialien wie Holz, Wachs, Ton, Stoff, waren sie nicht nur Spielzeug, sondern wurden oft auch als Opfersymbole und Kultgegenstaende verwendet, u.z. in Form von miniaturisierten Menschenabbildungen. Auch heute noch werden sie bei verschiedenen Voelkern noch als Fetisch benutzt. Die Gelehrten sind sich deshalb nicht einig, was zuerst da war: die Puppe als Spielzeug, wodurch sich die Kultfigur entwickelt hat, oder das aus der Kultfigur entwickelte Spielzeug.

Ueber die Rolle als Spielzeug mit paedagogischem Stellenwert hinaus sind Puppen realistische Dokumente der vergangenen und aktuellen Zeit und somit eine wichtige Quelle fuer unser Wissen ueber das Spielen, Leben, Wohnen, Arbeiten und Wirtschaften,- sie sind somit wichtiger Kulturtraeger!

Dr Senta Siller begruendete verschiedene Projekte in Pakistan, Kamerun, Kolumbien, u.a., in denen durch die Anfertigung von kunsthandwerklichen Produkten der ganz besonderen Art, ein Weg der kleinen, aber nachhaltigen Schritte in der Entwicklung im laendlichen Raum, Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, die Eindaemmung der Landflucht durch einkommenschaffende Massnahmen fuer die Landbevoelkerung, als zweites Standbein geschaffen wird.Puppen werden hier in liebevoller Handarbeit hergestellt und in originalen Trachten mit verschiedenen Accesoires bekleidet. Stoffmuster und Arten des Kleidens finden dadurch eine Wiederbelebung und einen wichtigen Platz im Alltag.

Puppen aus Pakistan

Das von Dr Siller 1993 gegruendete Frauen-Projekt in der pakistanischen Provinz Punjab, mittlerweile gibt es weitere Projektteile, auch ein Maennerzentrum, fuehrt bei mittlerweile 120 Frauen zu einem Einkommen. Die Frauen arbeiten aber nicht hauptamtlich, sondern traditionsfreundlich, so dass trotzdem Familien- und Feldarbeit ungehindert sind und Feste verschiedener Art, die die traditionelle Kultur im laendlichen Raum bestimmen, weitergepflegt werden koennen. Das Dorf Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka hat etwa 1200 Einwohner. Die Dorfgemeinschaft gruendete 1991 die Kooperative Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama, die mit der DGFK e.V. (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur \nFoerderung der Kultur e.V.) kooperiert. Anjuman selbst kooperiert mit sechs weiteren Projekten im Land.

Puppen aus Kamerun

Seit 1998 wurden drei Kooperativen (Akwatinuighah, Akaankang, HandiCraft CAT) in Bamenda gegruendet, der Hauptstadt der Nord-West Provinz in Kamerun, die an der Grenze zu Nigeria liegt. Auch diese Kooperative kooperiert mit der DGFK. Bamenda hat etwa 60.000 Einwohner auf sieben Huegeln lebend, die acht verschiedene Sprachen sprechen. Ausser den Maennern von CAT fertigen ueber 100 Frauen kunsthandwerklche Produkte.

Puppen aus Kolumbien

1999 wurde die Kooperative Tantomejor in Saboya gegruendet, die mittlerweile mit drei anderen Initiativen zusammenarbeit. Saboya ist ein Ort mit etwa 6000 Einwohnern in der Naehe von Chiquinquira, der Hauptstadt des Departemento Boyaca, noerdlich von Bogota. Auch mit dieser Kooperative gibt es eine Kooperation seitens der DGFK. Ueber 100 Frauen sind mit der Fertigung kunsthandwerklicher Produkte beschaeftigt."

 
Click the doll to see more.

SupremeMasterTV.com

Students from the University of the Punjab carried out research study in Thatta Ghulmaka Dheroka (TGD), a Pakistan village in the back waters of Punjab now famous all over the world as Doll Village. Research was carried out in cooperation with Social Welfare Office, Okara. One of the total 18 students’ groups that comprised of Gulshan Gloria, Ayesha Latif, Sabiha Latif, Aqeela Fayyaz, Ameena Sehar and Sidra Pervez evaluated living and economic conditions in TGD under the supervision of Professor Tahir Aziz Chaudhry.

Vision of the NGO, founded in 2001, is development, presentation on exhibitions and promoting of appropriate technology. For men, do-it-yourself usage of appropriate technology gives a hope of independence from central technical infrastructure. And for women handmade dolls, dressed in traditional attires from the different provinces is a means of additional income generation in rural areas. CAT also involves children in different initiatives through Youngsters Club.

CAT has develop active cooperation with foreign NGOs like Technology Transfer and Training Centre in Pakistan, Institute for Planning and Consulting, German Society for the Development of Culture (DGFK) and Bamenda University of Science and Technology (B.U.S.T).

This blog, in addition to useful information about Cameroon (one of the most diverse African countries that is called Africa in Miniature) and its culture and people, will covers CAT initiatives and projects.

Mr Njini Victor is Programme Director and Sobe Manasse, Programme Coordinator and Assistant at CAT..

Related: Snail Farming in Cameroon

The 17 year old volunteer Zephanja Arzt from Berlin district was involved in the NGO project of the AFA in TGD for four months. He developed in this period together with the young men in the Mens Centre a model locomotive for a german NGO as well as a glider for the local market.

Last Autumn, he and Head of the TTTC, Mr. Farooq Ahmad, as well as PDP were invited to a workshop about Appropriate Technology by COMSATS in Abbottabad. Because the Mens Centre produces not only handicrafts, which are supplied to the Womens Centre, but it also develops solutions for the use of sun, wind and water in the rural area. A solar cooker and Icefix were introduced in autumn. In the meanwhile, a prototype of a windmill (see illustration) which uses the local wind energy to charge a battery, which is then used to operate an energy saver bulb as well as a radio. There also exists since 1996 a photo-voltaic unit on the roof of the womens centre, which at that time was the largest solar-energy unit in the private sector and even found its way into the school books on the topic of solar energy.

The TTTC also cooperates with an NGO in Cameroun, which follows similar objectives and a columbian initiative. In Cameroun, experiences have already been made with dry toilets, which use excrements for the production of biogas for lighting and cooking purpose as well as the dry remains as fertilizers. The Sulabh-Academy in India is well known in this regard and contacts exist with it since 2006.


The worldwide problems of infrastructure are specially fatal in the urban areas. A solution is still not in sight. The knowledge about the affects of foodstuffs on the human body are still in their infancy; there is still a long way to go, even if the notes on foodstuff packaging suggest the way in the right direction.

The solutions discussed in TTTC are not directed backwards, rather they represent an arc to the High-Tech-Solutions. But these initiatives are hardly available in the urban regions and they are even blocked for various reasons. Conceptual discussion in this regard has also been published in TechnoBiz.

Introduction:

This article again refers to “housing”, the architectural, economical and philosophical aspects of which have already been discussed. In this article we will discuss the scientific and technological aspect (Architecture, Urban & Regional Planning) which however are not totally independent of other areas of the culture. As clear-cut diagrams and illustrations mean more than words for the engineer and scientist, the accompanying text may be considered a literary explanation of the important inter-relationship. A very simple text for the illustrations would probably not appropriately describe the total picture.


Housing in Rural, Urban and Fully-Autonomous Entities

In the following we will discuss the very basic questions of "housing" and describe the range of possibilities between the Rural Entity and the Fully-Autonomous entities, in the middle of which is the most widely practiced concept of Urban entity. Seen from a total perspective, the Urban entity is the subject as well as the object, because the actors in this system are not able to act freely as they are bound by the compulsions and dictations of economy. The actors are forced to act in the way as they do because the system does not allow any other alternative. And: the actors in the system don’t even realize that they are not acting of their own but actually are being acted upon !

The complexity of the urban infra-structure has reached its technological climax, the innovativeness of which is marginal. Should the human organism be laid out in the manner which corresponds to modern industrial way of production, i.e. with highly differentiated functions, it would require a space of more than 10 cricket fields. This example amply describes the limitations of the so-called development. It is in-effective, wasteful, ruins the environment and leads to over-exploitation of resources.

Dubai as a metaphor of out-dated construction techniques is suitable with its fantastic design-results at all levels and without any logic. The model therefore is: A major destruction of environment and misuse of resources is taking place through short-term investments and the mis-use of foreign labourers, who are even happy and not aware that they are actually contributing to destruction of their own traditional cultures. The transformation actually reflects a successful implementation of a totally-outdated economic system, which becomes possible only when the state actors do not realize their mistake and it is characteristic of the ruling elite.

The terminology used in the illustrations enable us to imagine what is coming and to develop a point of view over it. The "new" is actually not really new, rather it has developed parallel to the existing system without being noticed.

In the existing system, generally named as Urban Entity (UE), there are hardly any logical repairs possible in the system as these under the garb of "Problem Solutions" actually represent a "Problem Deferment"!. Solutions have to be judged according to their making sense because, not everything that can be accomplished also makes sense! Infact, only the least will make sense. The sense is actually made when a self-restriction is imposed. “Luxury” in this sense would be the voluntary sacrifice of the available and restriction of the consumption!

Terms like “Sustainability”, “Resource Protection”, “Environmental Protection” are empty words, as long as they are not filled with logical content, they do not remain without influencing the existing system and the relevant behavior and way of life. “Renewable Energy”, is another empty term, which suggests something, which is scientifically nonsense, because energy actually cannot be renewed (see: Law of Conservation of Energy). At the most, it can be transferred (energy change). In this way we can also explain another phenomena related to the educational sector: The number of educated persons does rise with the increase in population and holders of academic degrees but not necessarily the number of intelligent persons!

Continuous creation of newer models in Marketing of products is a waste of energy and resources. This also refers to sectors, which appear far from the industrial background, namely the health sector, the educational sector etc. In totality these measures are actually a mountain of income generating measures. The residents of an Urban Entity are forced to submit to these measures. In the past when the total number of participants was very limited,, the system still functioned on the limited scale but its deficiencies become immediately evident when applied on a global scale.

Urban Life today means:

- expensive living,
- high density of residents per square kilometer,
- increasing infra-structure costs with increasing productivity of the individual, who
works on more efficient machines
- sinking tax income through uniform and global production (the individuals are
exchangeable, when the same thing is produced globally),
- higher water consumption,
- higher energy consumption,
- increasing environmental pollution,
- increasing social problems,
- unhealthy way of living, etc.

The more affluent here can equalize some of the problems through their purchasing power, but they are actually part of an old system and actually live on the cost of the general public.

The technology therefore needs to avail literary and philosophical help in order to clarify things otherwise it will continue to confuse problem-deferment with problem-solution. It is necessary to prefer voluntary self-restraint over the income generation!

Conclusion

The article can go into more depth in professional literature, where it reaches mostly the specialists. In case of a holistic approach, there are apparently unimportant remarks regarding other areas, which may normally appear not to belong to the subject area, but are helpful in understanding the total picture by the reader. The article about "Autonomous Entity” points out information about a closed system or hides behind new ideas (for example the Zero and Plus energy houses). The transportation system points to the Flettner Rotor in the context of mobility and water and the Savonius Rotor in the context of Energy Transfer.

Based on research by Sonia Saleem

Harappa or “Hari-Yupuya” as mentioned in the “Rig Veda” marked the height of urban development of the Indus valley civilization at 2600 B.C.E till 1900 B.C.E. for 700 years. Harappa is located in the present day province of Punjab, near the city of Sahiwal, and in its full glory was the perfect proto-type of a fully developed city of the Indus valley civilization. It was the perfect reflection of the kind of organized thought which the Rig Veda emphasized. [Wheeler, Kenoyer].[go over page25 at the end].

Harappa has the same humble beginnings as any other large city. It began as a village settlement, gradually growing over the centuries to accommodate renowned craft industries, world accessible markets, and clean residential areas and cemeteries. Harappa is 128,800 hinterland, and 150 hectares in area. Harappa city was so developed and central to the Indus Empire that the name Harappa became synonymous with the dominant culture at the time, followed by all the other cities in the Indus region, right down to Kutch on the coast in present day India. [Rehman, Kenoyer]. Accordingly, the ruins of Harappa are three miles in circumference. The ruins of this city are split up into mounds, labeled from mound A, to G by archeologists, making points easily identifiable. The mounds were common to all Indus cities, and the higher the mound, the more central and important that area was in the city. For example the citadel mound was almost always the highest mound. This archetype Indus city was built on the east-west, north –south axis, and was surrounded by four city walls with a large entrance gate on the western wall. The gate was 2.8 meters wide, and 3 to 4 meters high, [Kenoyer], fixed with rooms or look out posts at the top. [Kenoyer]. Inside the gateway there was a grand space for a market making it easier for goods to be transported in and checked, taxed and sold. The Ox and cart was the method used to transport these goods, and the entrance was just big enough to allow one cart in and out at a time. Once inside the city gate, and past the market space, a network of roads led in to the centre of the city. The north road led to all the shell and agate workshops, the west road lead to the copper-craft workshops. Evidence of a caravanserai is found outside, and south of the main city gate. It contained houses, drains, baths, a wel,l and stables for horses. [Kenoyer 55].