More than 50 women labourers from Jia Bagga are visiting Lahore for the first time to receive training in making handicrafts at the All Pakistan Women’s Association’s premises.
The month-long skill development course, with three classes a week, designed by the APWA and the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan, began on February 13. The participants are being taught to make table mats, foot mats, foot rugs, and decorated hangers using macramé threads, beads, strings, and jute.
APWA Punjab Chairperson Ruhi Sayid said, “We want to raise awareness and share knowledge so that these women can become productive members of the economy.”
Sumeera Rabnawaz, one of the labourers, said, “This programme will help me pay back the loans we took from brick kiln owners to purchase medicines and my sister’s dowry.” She said these skills would also help her continue working during the monsoons “when we can’t make bricks”.
Mumtaz Bibi, one of the labourers, said, “We get Rs740 rupees for 1,000 bricks…we can barely make 500 bricks a day. We manage to earn Rs370 per day on average, around Rs150 out of that is deducted as loan reimbursement.” Mumtaz Bibi, however, did not seem very enthused by the course, “They tell us that this will improve our lives but we know that we have to return to the same circumstances.”
Warda Amjad, a designer and trainer for the course, said these women would be able to earn up to Rs1,500 from daily selling their handicrafts.
Ghulam Fatima, another labourer, said, “We don’t want to take our kids to work at the brick kilns, but there is always one loan or the other to pay back that forces us to make our children work.” She said that she hoped the training would help improve their financial situation so they could send them to school.
Naveeza Iqbal, another labourer, said, “We aren’t working at the kilns by choice, I hope this programme will help us start our own business.”
Warda Amjad told The Express Tribune that the women had put great effort into learning the skills. “Making bricks is their ancestral profession, not their choice. I am trying to impart the best training to them so they can earn more and pay off their debts.”
She said the women’s interest in the training had increased by the day. “They never ask for a break and continue working during class timings. The real accomplishment for me is seeing them learn and make beautiful goods…my efforts are paid off,” she said. “I am happy to be able to help them and thank the APWA for providing me this platform.”
APWA Programme Manager Dure Shawar said there were obstacles to the eradication of bonded labour.
“We believe the system persists due to poverty, absence of alternative credit and resources. We hope this skill development training will be a stepping stone toward avoiding debt bondage,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2014.