Greatest nation is imagination

Ishara Jayawardane

Sri Lanka is sitting on a gold mine. And this gold mine is Handicraft. It is not possible for a Sri Lankan not to feel excited at the rapid strides our country is taking in the direction of becoming a regional hub. The Crafts Marketing Village is set to become a major player in the Sri Lanka economy as it opens its doors to the very best of Sri Lankan talent.

Because of creativity, Sri Lankan manpower is our greatest strength. A resource we have in abundance. By helping the rural folk earn their living, there is the opportunity to attract tourists.

The Crafts Marketing village was declared open by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa on December 2 last year at the Battaramulla Janakala Kendraya Complex. The Janakala Kendraya was opened early February 2007.

It is called the Shilpa Craft Marketing village and this was done by the National Crafts Council in collaboration with the Economic Development Ministry and traditional industries and small enterprise development ministry.

In this marketing village; the products are made from various villages from around the country by the craftsmen and some crafts societies - individual or joint basis. The stall is given out to them on a very nominal rate.

“We want to give facilities as much as possible to the Craftsmen, particularly within the last holiday season there were good sales and the producers were very happy about it,” National Crafts Council Director C S Poolokasingham said.Since December on an average basis the village receives 50 people for day.

The stalls are open Saturday and Sundays from 10 am to 7pm and this also facilitates a lot of people to come here. The council is also in the process of campaigning and canvassing with the main hotels in the city, to give information to the tourists and bring them here.

“There is one crafts village in Sigiriya opened sometime back. Here in Jana Kala Kendraya we have a separate stall – a sales centre that buys from the craftsmen.

The purchases are sold and whatever comes out of the profit, is put to a fund called the welfare fund and through the welfare fund we are assisting the craftsmen on a donation scheme.

Sometimes at an elderly age or when they are sick and are unable to work, we give them a monthly installment for their future,” added Poolokasingham.

The Indian High Commissioner has agreed that India will assist Sri Lanka under the special development project.

There are plans to open another two marketing village in Hambantota and Jaffna. For Hambantota - a two acre land has been allocated and identified.

Jaffna has not been identified or allocated yet. These two crafts villages will be established before December this year. There are also plans on moving to the East in Batticaloa and Trincomalee as well as Kandy. “When we say craftsman - it is not an individual doing the craft work, sometimes the entire family is involved.

They don’t have a specific time. They do it in the morning or evening, when children go to school, and then the children come and help them after school. For some particular products the entire village gets involved,” elaborated Poolokasingham.

Sadly not much is known about the Shilpa Craft Marketing Village. “I think it is a good place and they are doing a great job for us by coming up with their own creations.

There are so many creations. Here they helped us out a lot to do our own things. Still you can’t say there is a big sale here we have just started this, so I think we need another three or six months.

These are all t-shirts and I do cushions as well. I saw some foreigners come in but not the way we expect,” said another stall owner, Dimali Siriwardena.

Suffice to say that we may expect great things from the Craft Marketing village. It is relatively new and will have to make its name. But nevertheless it will be interesting to see how it progresses.