“I’m proud to be part of the ITWWS family, working here fills me with joy and hope for the future.” The hum of machines emanating from deep within the ITWWS campus comes from a team of skilled craftswomen working in the Handicrafts Production Unit (HPU). The HPU comprises of 15 Irula women who are fully employed to use machinery for cutting, shaping and finishing wooden articles. Throughout their lives the HPU team have lived in Irula communities experiencing discrimination and disregard from a caste dominated Indian society. They have also never had the opportunity of formal education and a place of belonging within the working citizens of India. To be functioning individuals, and able craftswomen, gives them a sense of empowerment and pride they had never experience before.
Initially the HPU was specifically set up to provide containers for the herbal medicinal products made at ITWWS. The department is currently headed by an Irula woman named Rani who is not only skilled with machinery, but also a magnificent singer and majestic dancer. Rani recalls, “The government suggested completing a training course in design and technology so we could use machinery to make wooden boxes for herbal products. No Irula women were formally educated or knew anything about machinery or crafting.” 10 women were trained and received 5 machines through government sponsorship to develop their self-help group (SHG). They were supplied with 1 polishing machine, 2 cutting machines (one electric, one manually powered), 1 printing machine, and 1 for heating plastic.
The current working team is a group of very friendly, positive and energetic women. Rani tells me, “there are now 15 Irula women working here. Everyone is fully trained. We initially trained 20 women from 9 districts, then 41 other women from the town of Dhramapuri. We started a separate SHG named “Irula Women Handicraft Production” and now save Rs.50 every month.” Through this saving they were able to open a bank account and take full control of the HPU finances.
The wood used to make the handicrafts and containers comes from the packaging of overseas cargo. After it is dissembled in shops near Chennai port it’s then bought by ITWWS and ready for use. The products which are constructed include containers for the herbal medicines, education materials, desk-top items, mobile phone holders, waste paper bins, jewellery boxes and stationary holders. From November, 2004, ITWWS funding of Rs.50,000 for cutting and polishing apparatus has allowed the production of complex shapes such as hexagonal boxes and tea-cup coasters.
All finished articles have Irula logos and signs printed on them to represent the origin and identity of the workers. They sell their products at conferences, meetings, festivals, to the ITWWS herbal department, and to individuals visiting the campus. The team is also working to establish a new market for their products, and expand production. “We’re aiming to get a bank loan to establish a production unit separate from ITWWS so we can completely stand on our own feet and rely on the skills and knowledge we now have.”
Rani tells me, “the options for employment before ITWWS lay in unstable agricultural work or in a nearby prawn exporting company. Through the packaging unit I’ve learnt how to communicate professionally, deal with government officials, write documents, and use machines. I hope our experience will be replicated in other parts of Tamil Nadu”. The interior of the packaging department has pictures depicting traditional Irula ways of forest life. The last picture features working members of the HPU itself, showing a sign of different times ahead."
