On Bringing Change
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The lives of the residents of this village changed 15 years when a German art teacher took up her student Amjad's invite and visited his village: Thatta Ghulam da Dheroka.
An enterprising spirit, she asked the villagers about their craft. The women showed her hand-made rag dolls. The art teacher, Dr Senta Siller, told the villagers she could teach them to make refined hand-made dolls.
Thus spun off a social enterprise in this 200-house strong village that has changed the way of life and living here. Women have a school. The village has a road. They experimented with alternative energy very early on, and now are undertaking community energy & food projects.
The women from this conservative village now go on study tours with the Germans. The villagers have learned about sanitation, childcare, and eco-friendly living. Cleanliness is rewarded here.
Above all, these changes were brought within the system, without breaking down the structure violently.
The whole village participates in the making of the dolls, which represent the four provinces of Pakistan. The original doll is called, "Churail." This is my peek into their lives.
Labels: Change, Development, Ramla Akhtar
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:30 AM,
1 Comments:
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At April 23, 2010 at 6:58 PM,
Vinnie said...
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The name "Churail" for the doll is very frightening ... But the Good thing is that the people are contributing to preserve the culture. They are striving to deliver the best and learning the good things they can adopt without changing themselves.
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