Amrapari uses Katha craft to help Char women stitch together stories of economic independence

Moyjaan Khatun (30), a resident of Rupakuchi village of Barpeta district in Assam had to leave school due to economic hardship. She was then married to a boatman at the age of 15. She lost her first child at the age of two. Her third child, a girl was suffering from heart diseases. Due to acute economic crisis, lack of nutrition, and lack of healthcare infrastructure in the area the poor child too, died subsequently.

Her condition further worsened when her husband suddenly became jobless due to imposition of countrywide lockdown during first wave of covid-19 pandemic in 2020. She was at loss and could not find anything to meet both ends, till Aamrapari-a non government organisation came forward to help her. The NGO engaged her in traditional Katha (traditional quilt) stitching work to produce wide-ranging hand-embroidery work, so that she could earn something. In this traditional handicraft, stacks of old clothes are stitched together to make a single piece of thick cloth on which hand embroidery work is done.

Photo-- Bonya Baruah

Narjina Khatun, (19) in Gagalmari village of the district is studying in class 12. Her father is a cycle mechanic. She too had to face severe hardship as her father became jobless during lock down. It became difficult for her father to manage Rs.1500/ college admission fee. Amrapari came forward to help her get admission into college. She is now engaged in traditional Katha-stitching work--an economic activity initiated by the organisation to help poor women living in Char areas so that they can earn some money through different income generating activities, while continuing her studies simultaneously.

Stories of Moyjan Khatun and Narjina Khautun represent hundreds of women belonging to religious minority community of Rupakuchi and Gagalmari villages, who have been engaged in traditional Katha embroidery stitching--a unique embroidery art-work of the community, initiated by Amrapari. Womenfolk of this community traditionally have unique expertise in Katha stitch embroidery work, and they make traditional quilts with the stitch to use at home. Amrapari came forward to engage them in making wide-ranging products upgrading their traditional skill and subsequently linked them to the market to sell their finished products.

Photo-- Bonya Baruah

“Amrapari- is a unique concept to provide a platform to initiate income generating activities among women of this community. I have been working in Char areas for over a period under the platforms of different non government organisations. During my years long experiences, I have realised that to improve economic condition of downtrodden families living in chars, one must have to engage char women in different income generating activities. It is Anjuman Ara Begum, a human right activist, who also came forward to guide me. We initiated rounds of discussions among these women in January 2020. During our discussions they told us that they would love to engage in some economic activities as work from home model. Thus the idea of engaging these women in Katha-stitching work came to our mind, as they have unique expertise in this artwork”, says Manjuwara Molla, the founder of Amrapari, which is also working for women emancipation and gender equality”, she adds.

Chars are small isles created by the river Brahmaputra in its course. Assam has over 2500 char villages. Over 2.5 million, most of them belonging to religious minorities, live in these chars. Char areas are fragile and often prone to erosion forcing people to shift frequently in search of new settlements, whenever erosion takes place. Uncertainty of life due to frequent displacement, economic hardship, loss of livelihood, lack of infrastructure including health, education, electricity in char areas have made their life miserable. Women are the worst sufferers of all the odds.

The Codid-19 pandemic made lives of these downtrodden women more vulnerable. Manjuwara Molla says during initial period of the lockdown, many of these women came to them seeking financial help, as they instantly lost their daily wage earning jobs due to pandemic induced lockdown. Through Amrapari, they tried to provide some amount of financial assistance. However, the monsoon flood made their life even more difficult. Floodwater entered into their houses forcing them to settle on highlands. Some of them even lost their children. The male members who work as migrant worker outside could not came home due to imposition of lockdown.

“These flood victims took shelter in a highland. We found around 700 people with their livestock took shelter in a plot of land of around 2 bighas (around 7 bighas constitute a hectare). During lockdown I tried my hands making a traditional Katha. While I visited the site, the idea suddenly came to my mind that making different items with Katha-stitch embroidery work can be a viable option for their earning. I took the decision, procured some bedspread, needle, colourful threads and distributed them to make beautiful embroidery designs on it. That was the beginning of Amrapari story” she says.

Manjuwara says the result was amazing. These women have their unique expertise in Katha stitch work. Usually they used to stitch quilts out of old clothes to use at home. Now, they have been trained to upgrade their skills, and to produce wide-ranging products including bedspreads, coushion cover, pillow covers, decorative bags, etc., she adds.

Both Rupakuchi and Gagalmari villages are located near Beki and Saulkhowa Rivers, around 7 kilometres away from Barpeta town. The residents have to shift every after one or two years due to constant erosion of their settlement. This has severe impact on education of children. Child-marriage is a common phenomenon owing to issues of economic hardship and lack of infrastructure for higher education. Most of the women earn as daily wage earner. Some of them engage in making fishing-net. Many of these women migrate to brick kiln industries during winter. They earn very little and cannot provide quality education to their children which is a major reason of child labour. The male-folk migrate to different areas in search of jobs. At times when they cannot send money to their families, female members have to bear all the hardship and penuries of making both ends.

With realistic intervention of Amrapari--a woman run cooperative organisation, life is changing gradually. The earning is distributed equally among the women. Till now it has reached to 30 women of both the villages. They work in groups with 4-5 members. Initially the products were sold through Facebook page of Amrapari. Now Amrapari has its own website www.amrapari.org. Products are also sold through Flipkart and Amazon. Thus, with Katha stitch work, they are now capable of earning modest income sitting at home. So far, they have been investing their own resources to procure raw materials. A portion of money that comes from products selling is kept for purchasing raw materials and another 15 per cent is kept as emergency fund. The rest is distributed equally among the women members.

Photo-- Bonya Baruah

“During my childhood making a quilt with Katha stitch was a fascination. Now I have upgraded the skill to make wide ranging designs. I am happy that my childhood fascination has turned into a unique opportunity to empower women financially who really need money to improve family income” says Chabera Khatun, the field assistant of Amrapari, who help these women to make wide-ranging products.

Prior to Amrapari’s intervention, these women who were engaged in different daily wage earning jobs had to face gender-based discrimination at workplace. They were paid less than their male counterparts for the same type of work. Amrapari is a platform that provides them the opportunity to earn a modest income in an environment that is free from gender based discrimination.

Bonya Baruah

(Bonya Baruah is a freelance journalist and can be reached reached at [email protected])