Karachi: Shoppers visiting an upmarket shopping mall in Karachi recently had the opportunity to buy handicrafts produced by over 1,000 rural women artisans from underprivileged areas of Sindh that were devastated by floods last year.
The non-profit Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) in partnership with stakeholders of the provincial government organised the three-day exhibition displaying handicrafts made by underprivileged rural women of the province. The SRSO has been organising such events for the past 11 years to encourage female artisans of Sindh.
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, daughter of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, inaugurated the exhibition. Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Local Government Minister, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, and other officials of the provincial government were also present.
The exhibition was attended by a large number of women from the posh Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, and adjoining areas of the city. Textile products, jewellery, embroidered clothes, shawls, traditional baskets, and other handicrafts were displayed at the exhibition.
Aseefa appreciated the efforts of the SRSO for the uplift of the underprivileged rural women in Sindh.
She hoped that the SRSO would continue with its mission to act as a bridge between rural female artisans and prospective customers of their products in urban areas to increase the value of Sindh’s handicrafts.
While interacting with women artisans, she appreciated the fact that skilful rural women continued to produce handicrafts despite facing massive destruction caused by floods in their native areas.
Aseefa took a keen interest in handicrafts and purchased a few of them.
SRSO CEO, Muhammad Dittal Kalhoro, said that his organisation stood for producing sustainable income generation activities for the underprivileged rural women in the province.
He said the SRSO had so far undertaken training of over 10,000 rural women belonging to the backward areas of Jacoabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Qamabar Shahdadkot, Khairpur, Sukkur, and other districts of Sindh.
He said the training sessions and other events organised by SRSO stood for ensuring the provision of maximum monetary benefits to skillful rural women.
He told the audience that the exhibition showcased products belonging to 95 business development groups of 12 districts of Sindh.
