Interested onlookers flocked around, examining interesting art pieces, designs, mehendi artists at work and many more participants at the Hobby and Career Fair 2010.
Considering the level of interest and positive feedback these participants received on their work is clear that the exhibition- organized by the Rotary Club of Colombo- was an excellent platform for new opportunities. And in this sense the event was aptly named; the main objective being to promote the concept of hobbies as career opportunities.
“It’s a great way of having people with different hobbies and interests interact with one another and share experiences and advice on how to derive more value out of a hobby,” reflects Dulanjalee (17 years), a visitor to the exhibition. “For those of us who are just visitors to the exhibition, it is an interesting experience and I feel motivated to pursuing my hobbies not just for getting pleasure out of them but to possibly use them in the future as a career- it would be great to be able to do that.”
Haiza Mazahim (19) can relate to this. In the aftermath of the excitement of the exhibition, she plans for her future with a career in IT as well as Mehendi craft. “I was around 15 when I tried out my Mehendi skills,” she recalls. My cousin was very good at it and I began to watch her and then started looking around for more ideas for designs.” Interestingly, Haiza’s designs are not limited only to the traditional mehendi on hands. Haiza has already expanded into mehendi craft with designs on greeting cards and candles- among other things- and her skills are already widely publicized by word- of- mouth.
Fathima Ishara AbuHaniffa (20) and Fathima Mubashira (20) - co creators of “My Collection” indulge in their hobby in a similar capacity. “As you can see,” explains Ishara as she gestures towards the collection, “We are not only interested in mehendi. We have always enjoyed being creative and trying out new things.” And their collection features a variety of colourful pottery and other handicrafts. “As we have just recently completed our A/L’s we’re not sure exactly how we’re going to pursue this as yet,” explains Mubashira. “But we’re having a lot of fun so we definitely want to pursue it!”
M.B Imran, founder of ‘imzy’s’ sees the Hobby and Career Fair as the perfect opportunity to further the goals of his foundation- to inspire, instill and impress. “The whole purpose of imzy’s,” he says, “is to mold creativity and talent into something that an individual can make use of as a career and to inspire others.” Fresh from the success of dancing with the stars at IIFA, Imran and his group include individuals with different talents and interests such as dancing, drama and photography, to name a few. “We want to give people the confidence to further their talent and realize the potential for turning talent into something lucrative.
” With his passion for and hobby of drawing cars, Eshan Fernando (18) too looks forward to turning his unusual hobby into a career- by working towards becoming a designer of cars. “I have always been fascinated by cars,” he smiles, “and I have been drawing cars from a very young age. As there is little scope for my intended career in this country, I hope to pursue a degree in IT and make use of it to go abroad and work as a designer.” These are just a few of the young personalities whose talents were featured at the exhibition. While it was a vibrant display of creativity and talent, it was also a platform on which talented young individuals could express themselves and prove that hobbies are not just for spare time.
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