| put all pictures into basket. | slideview | tableview | listview |
Women Rebuilding Asia after the Tsunami by Agostino Pacciani
After the tsunami the rapid reaction capacity of women has been stunning. They were involved in all sort of activities ranging from emergency and first aid centres, small shops, schools to more challenging sectors such as construction and fisheries, which are traditionally reserved to men. In this extremely precarious situation women were driven by survival instinct and overwhelming energy. Mala et Magret, two sisters of the Sri Lanka are a two concrete examples of it. They have taken up the activity their father had developed around the manufacturing of ropes using the fibre of coconut (so-called coir). Before the tsunami they owned a solid enterprise which gave jobs to 300 employees but since the beginning of 2005 they have had to start from zero. Engaging a loan of 15 million rupies (92.000 €) Mala and Magret have launched their activity again. Today Magret provides incomes to women in the South of the island, particularly to the poorest of the poor; In Colombo, the capital city, Mala directly handles the contracts with the harbour authorities. Conscious of the competition they have to face, the two sisters try to promote their product and, in order to competitive, manufacture large size ropes (diameter of 36cm) for the big ships. Unlike the ropes of plastic and of synthetic materials, coconut fibre doesn't pollute and the two sisters enhance the use of natural material and of the local handicraft abilities. In addition, as the oil price constantly increases, it is all of its by-products risk to increase their cost of production.
