Visible Change
Thursday, May 7, 2020
On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Dr. Siller Siller, I on my own behalf and on the behalf of all other volunteers associated with Thatta Kedona we take this opportunity to thank her heartily for her exemplary and untiring efforts towards the cause.
Twenty years are a long time for a village NGO, or for that matter any other organizations from private and government sectors. The Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama in district Okara (near Gogera) has come a long way in th last two decades. From the start, the NGO never aimed at mass production and has focused on high quality products in small.
The work of the NGO is based upon artistic handicraft. Remember, a large machine based production would be dependent upon the energy supply, which in this country, is hardly available 24 hours.
Cooperation with local and international NGOs
- 1998: 12 NGOs in Germany, Stadthalle Bonn through the Export Promotion Bureau and Commercial Counselor of the Embassy of Pakistan in Bonn.
- 1999: International Toy Fair in Nuerenberg.
- 2002: Import Shop in Berlin through Export Promotion Bureau and Commercial Counselor of the Pakistan Embassy in Berlin.
Cooperation including workshops with local artisans
Along with the own production of the Ethnic Dolls, Tin Toys, Pottery, Stationery (embroidered cards, letter pads), the NGO also works together with other handicraft workers through workshops in the village, so that it became possible to include Block Printing, Dolls’ Furniture, Lacquer Work, Shoe Making, Wool and Wire Products, Needle Work, Camel Skin Painting into the scope of activity.
Cooperation with foreign projects
The quick success of the Dr. Senta Siller – the honorable mother of dolls - resulted in invitations to other countries. Today a soft network of similar projects supervised by Dr. Senta Siller exist in Cameroon, Columbia, Iceland, Greece, Greenland and Germany. Other artisans from these countries have been integrated into the projects, for example brass work in Cameron and Tagua Art in Columbia.
Sales
The products of the NGO are offered in the local market (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad), and also to customers in Japan, Dubai, USA, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Europe. The initiator of the Project, Dr Senta Siller sells the products of the project on voluntary basis at exhibitions in ethnological museums of Leipzig, Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Vienna, Berlin, Zurich, together with other volunteers.
Conclusion
Despite all successes, the importance of marketing and distribution of the handicraft products should not be under estimated. If the projects already exist over twenty years is generating income for the local participants, this has become possible only through the long term supervision and efforts of volunteer workers.
Those, who value traditional handicraft, can support this effort through the purchase of the products or tby giving their time. -an honorarium fore such work is not possible, because one would thereby be eating away at the income source of the really needy.
Dr. Senta Siller, your work has brought a visible change in the village and in the lives of the villagers. Please keep it up.
Labels: Dr Senta Siller
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 4:10 PM,
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