One cannot fail to notice the cream and golden bags slung around the shoulders of boys and girls taking part in the Mambazhakkalam summer camp under way at the Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan here.
The bags, done in cloth, have two golden kasavu strips perpendicular to each other. On the bag is printed a mango in orange colour and inside it are printed the details of the week-long camp. A button with a loop completes the look.
The bags are an initiative of a Kudumbasree self-help group at Kalliyur, near Vellayani. The group, which started off with 20 members, has been manufacturing files, folders, and bags since 2006.
Today, the group has 14 members in the age group of 35 to 55, says A. Mini, its president. The unit functions from a two-room building handed over by the panchayat for free. The panchayat also contributed Rs.50,000 that was used by the women to buy nine sewing machines and furniture such as racks and cupboards. The training was provided by the District Kudumbasree Mission.
The material for the cloth bags is procured by the unit from a society near Balaramapuram. Once the bags are stitched, these are screen printed. The expense for the screens which keep on changing does not amount to much, Mini says.
The group launched its activities with paper bags. Before long they realised that the demand for paper bags was poor and profits would be slim.
Tourism factor
So, they moved on to making folders too. While orders for seminars, training programmes, and for political parties keep coming, it is the Tourism Department that is the mainstay of the group’s business. There are enough orders and the group members are busy. With decent profits, there are no plans at present to expand their activities into other areas, Mini says. The group’s efforts seem to be paying off, for this is the fourth or fifth successive year that they have been supplying the eco-friendly bags for Mambazhakkalam.
