Liya Abhiman - Empowering women a grand success:

New era dawns on Gampaha

by Dharman WICKREMARATNE

Gampaha district belongs to the ancient Maya Rata - one of Sri Lanka’s four provinces in pre-colonial times. Gampaha’s northern boundary is Maha Oya, southern the Kelani River and western the Indian Ocean. The district’s eastern boundary is the 1,000 feet-long contour. To the north of Gampaha are the Puttalam and Kurunegala districts and to the south is the Colombo district. To the east is Kegalle district.

The extent of the Gampaha district is 1,386 square kilometres. According to its geological features this district belongs to the coastal plain. Its highest point is the 272 metre-high Walbotale mountain. The district’s four Korales are Siyaney, Aluthkooru, Southern and Northern Hapitigam. The area has 12 electorates including the Dompe seat. It was at Dompe that we met Mangala Kumari, a 41-year-old mother of two.

Flamingo Flower

Today, she earns about Rs. 3,000 per week by selling anthurium flowers which she grows in her home garden. Not only Mangala, but also many other women in the area are looking forward to growing this income generating plant as a means of self-employment.

Anthurium - also called “Flamingo Flower” - is a large genus of about nearly 1,000 species, belonging to the Araceae family, which is a native of the wet tropical mountain forests of Central and South America. A plant yields about seven flowers a year. They can be long preserved and packing them is easy. This attractive flower is widely used for decorating venues of festive events.

The climate in Gampaha and eight other districts are well suited for growing anthurium which is a foreign-exchange earner. The main markets for anthurium are Singapore, Netherlands, Malaysia, Japan and Thailand. Today it is a source of income for hundreds of women in the Gampaha district.

We met many of them, including Mangala Kumari at women’s empowerment workshop at the Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens, Gampaha on July 11. A program titled Gampaha Liya Abhiman is now under way to train jobless women in the district and direct them towards self-employment.

The Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority is directing the educational and training program on the advice of Attorney Pushpa Rjapaksa, according to a concept of Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa.

The program’s long-term objective is to help every woman in Gampaha district to raise their economic well-being through self-employment. Under this women-helping-women program the participants will receive training, funding and get access to proper markets for their products.

The self-employment opportunities are in the areas of clothing manufacture, agriculture and livestock management in a home-based setting.

A large number of women is expected to benefit from Gampaha Liya Abhiman and the majority of them are housewives and mothers. Among them is Sriyawathie, a mother of four.

Having earlier engaged in agriculture with her husband she is today a beneficiary of this training program. A very courageous and persevering woman, her one aim is to educate her children well and make them good citizens. Today Liya Abhiman is leading the Gampaha district’s march towards progress.

Growing flowers, bee-keeping, tailoring, cultivating mushrooms, dairy farming and the export of Visithuru Pathra are among the areas in which the women are trained. After they are rained Samurdhi banks provide them with loans to start their own businesses. Seventy percent of the members of Samurdhi Bank Associations are women.

A workshop presided over by Attorney Pushpa Rajapaksa was also held to train Samurdhi officials. According to her the program’s main objective is to eradicate poverty in the district by empowering women.

It commenced from the Dompe electorate focusing on nine sectors. From Dompe alone 212 women have applied for training in sewing. Now they are being trained in batches of 30 using 10 sewing machines. A plan has been drawn up to sell their other products to holiday resorts run by the public and private sectors.

Already a number of applications has been received in this connection. Gampaha district’s total population is 2.1 million (512,368 families). Twenty eight percent (143,925) of these families are Samurdhi recipients. Fifty two percent (1,101,173) of the entire population of the district are women. The ratio of unemployment in the area, according to the census of 2007 is 4.7 percent.

Under the Liya Abhiman program steps are also being taken to eliminate malnutrition in families. This has resulted in the reduction of alcohol consumption in the Dompe-Tungalla sector.

Seventeen percent of Sri Lankan women between the ages of 15 and 49 suffer from malnutrition which has posed a major challenge to society. Under Liya Abhiman women are taught the importance of balanced diets. The program has strengthened the resolve of these women to become flexible like bamboos when facing storms in life.

Over 50 persons participated in a training program on growing anthurium conducted by agricultural instructress Anusha Siriwardena. They were extremely keen on learning new methods and techniques that would help them towards self-employment. With this training each participant hopes to earn Rs. 2,500 per week from growing anthurium.

The average selling price of an anthurium flower is around Rs. 30. It is hoped to expand the Liya Abhiman program throughout the Western Province. It includes feedback on the progress so far made.

Busy as a beehive

When we visited the Mirigama Youth Centre in the evening of June 13 we found the place busy as a beehive. Hundreds of enthusiastic and excited young people were attending an awards presentation ceremony.

About 150 recipients had completed training courses in dress making, bridal dressing and cake making among others to start their own businesses. Five sewing machines will be presented on completion of each of the next training courses under the Liya Abhiman program.

The Mirigama Regional Youth Social Federation has been highly commended as one of the country’s most active youth organisations, according to Chaminda Pathirana, Treasurer of the Mirigama Youth Educational Centre.

Mirigama Youth Services Officer, Vilasini Ratnayake expressed her appreciation of the assistance given by Liya Abhiman to encourage young women towards self-employment. She said each young woman trained under this program earns around Rs. 15,000 per month.

The greatest challenge facing mankind today is poverty. Its main victims are the unemployed. The women of Gampaha have decided to take up this challenge under the Liya Abhiman program with its broad objectives. Their resolve to stand on their own feet deserves our well-wishes.

The writer is an environmental journalist who can be reached at [email protected]