Rescuing the beralu-making community at Mirissa

Dressed in reddha hetta, in a cheerful mood, they were at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. It was a special moment in their lives – the Beralu lace-making community in Mirissa, once devastated by the boxing day tsunami tragedy, gathered at the hotel recently to showcase their talents at the exhibition-‘Paramparaven.’

HSBC and the South Asia Partnership Sri Lanka (SAPSRI) were instrumental in this noble initiative to uplift the lives of about 150 female entrepreneurs from Mirissa whose dreams and livelihoods, along with the kith and kin, were washed away to the tsunami. These beneficiaries followed a training programme to uplift their skills – to help them discover new avenues in this traditional craft.

Instead of the standard beralu, what we now see is beralu lace in colour, delicate and eye-catching…Weaving corners and weaving with stenciled designs were unheard of before, but today they know all that.

“Originally I learnt the art of beralu making from my mother during my schooldays. True, we had the knowledge passed down to us by our ancestors, but we could never become innovative as we are now. We know how to make beralu in different colours and this is a great achievement for us,” said a smiling K.H Chamila.

“This organization came to our village a few months after the tsunami and they went from house to house inquiring what our needs are, a result of which this project to give three months training came into being. In addition to that, machinery, thread and everything that is needed were also given to us,” she said.

Chintha Ruwan Kumari, another small entrepreneur, believes that what they weave now is so ‘great’ when compared to the ones they have done before.

“Earlier we created the designs with the help of square rule exercise papers. But at this project we were taught how to use the graph paper through which we create new designs. Earlier we did not even get the real value for our products as they were very dull and not up to the modern standards. But now we are very confident of what we make and we are even ready to target the foreign market,” she said.

R.P. Dhammika, a mother of two small sons, says the traditional beralu industry was dying with many losing their interest in the art as they lost all their machinery and products.

“We are ever grateful to them for helping us regain our livelihoods, while enabling us discover hidden talents. Thanks to them, we now have a way to support our families. People are so keen on this field once again as there is a very big demand for our products now. What we could not earn for weeks and months, we are capable of earning within a couple of days after we went through this training programme. People have realized the value of it and they allocate more time now as they can earn a lot from this, she said.In the aftermath of tsunami, what we see and hear most is about the suffering and the anguish of the affected. However, it is not so for this community in Mirissa as their future now looks as bright as the multi-hued lace they weave.