We went for a visit to two of the Cottage Industries that produced materials for the Sri Lanka bedkits. Being unfamiliar with the term “Cottage Industry”, we were fascinated to see that it was not a large scale factory, but a much smaller scale business run out of a local home.
The first cottage industry we visited was a small home with one large room converted into a sewing room. The company, Lasha, employed 9 people to sew t-shirts and shorts. They said that the work commissioned to them by SCAW to produce 8,000 t-shirts and 4,000 pairs of shorts kept their shop busy for 2 months. The contract with SCAW that has lasted at least 2 years, allowed the shop owner to expand his operation and purchase more sewing machines. It was like a “mom and pop shop” where a husband and wife were the employers to the nine local employees.
The second cottage industry we visited was where our mosquito nets were produced. They were all made in a small room in a home where the woman that sewed all 4,000 nets with one sewing machine. She was able to purchase a Serger (a special sewing machine that finishes and trims the seams). Through SCAW’s commission of her work she was able to purchase the Serger. To sew all 4,000 nets it provided her with over 3 months of work.
It was a wonderful experience to visit these cottage industries to see how the donor’s money also creates meaningful employment for so many local Sri Lankans.
No visit to Sri Lanka would be complete without a ride in a Tuk-Tuk. Before we departed Sri Lanka we knew we needed to have the unique experience of a Tuk Tuk ride. Weaving through the streets of Colombo it was an exhilarating experience!
Six happy travelling volunteers will be heading home shortly with stories of culture and experience…but mostly of the smiles of the children in Sri Lanka.
Team Sri Lanka
