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A new life at the loom
By N.Dilshath Banu
The golden beaches of the southern coast bear few traces of the tsunami, except for a few isolated slabs of concrete scattered on the beach front.
A middle-aged woman crosses the beach, carrying a huge bag. She stops by the tourists lying on the sand and shows them the handwoven dress she has in her bag.

A few metres inland in Kahawa, Luxmi, 55, is busy painting the thread on the loom before her. Someone in the front yard calls out to her asking how to spin the thread into thick yarn. Again and again, she is called out to help.
“This is the job I was doing since school. During my youth, many young girls learnt cooking and sewing. So after I passed my exams at school, I wanted to learn more about weaving. I really wanted to do this as a way of living,” said Luxmi, with a smile.

She moves to the front room where young girls are winding the thread into the bobbin. “I am helping the newcomers learn the trade,” she explains.Luxmi and 15 others like her at the Peshakala Lanka Handloom Weaving Centre in Kahawa, are happy to be a part of the handloom industry.

The Peshakala Weaving Centre was set up as a tsunami livelihood restoration project under the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM). Initiated by a PIM student, Linda Speldewinde, who is also the founder of Academy of Design, this project not only addresses tsunami restoration, but also looks to improve the social structure by empowering women and reviving the dormant handloom industry.

“When restoring the livelihood of these tsunami victims, one must first consider if the livelihood you are restoring is indeed worth doing so. In the Southern region, many women in the camps and in the surrounding areas were involved in the coir industry where they earned about Rs. 2,000 a month. The main aim of this project is to see that women get at least Rs. 6000- 8000 per month,” said Linda.

The handloom industry in Sri Lanka is deteriorating, she adds. “Sri Lankan handlooms have no identity, which makes the hand-woven industry weak. The efforts made to revive the Sri Lankan handloom industry failed as they only focused on building an image rather than finding a product niche in the market. There is no point in trying to compete against large-scale production as the competition drifts to the colourful Indian handlooms. The industry needs to have a proper market and high skilled labour content products,” she said, adding, “This project targets the high end markets. This means that the Sri Lankan products will be valued for their quality. In return, the weavers will get more money.”

Luxmi began working when her husband died in an accident and she was left to feed her family. After doing many part time jobs, she is now employed at Peshakala.

Now I am back on my feet again. I learnt not only weaving but also sewing, batik and making rope carpets. My daughter is here with me learning the trade and I am teaching her all the things I know. I really want my daughter to stand on her feet and depend on no one,” she says with determination.

Yasawathi, 42, began weaving when she was barely twelve. “My family members were not engaged in this business, but one of my neighbours did this as her source of income and I used to go and spend my leisure there. I learnt the weaving little by little and I improved my skills to weave sarongs. Now I am doing a sari,” she said, adjusting the thread in the bobbin.
The centre hopes to export its fabric to Italy in the future.

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