By Syeda Sadaf Shahzadi
I belong to district North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. North Waziristan is the next largest among newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is located on Durand Line – having border crossing point at Ghulam Khan. The violence during the recent War on Terror disrupted almost every single local source of economy including local markets, in the district. Apart from it, due to the violence and mass displacement the locals lost their routine life. After return from displacement people of Waziristan faced hardships in connecting themselves in a communal life – where could exhibit their traditional values and conduct under traditional institutions. The economic deprivation had already been caused by the ruined infrastructure. The whole situation was leading to one question for all everyone (locals, intelligentsia, government etc) that was “from where to start”?
During the course my M.Phil Studiesat Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad the mentioned question haunted me too. At Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad –which is also known as mini Pakistan – when I got opportunity to meet with people from across the country with having different cultures and expression of their way of life. I could find out the power of cultural expression for connectivity, harmony, and democratic values. I could find out that sources of cultural expressions including dress, food, and other soft expression like greetings, behavior etc. keep community intact for good reasons. These expressions facilitate people of different cultures to interact with each other comfortably. I thought the soft expressions are more volatile as compared to the hard one – i.e. dress, food, architect etc. So the hard expression should be preserved by connecting with market.
However I launched a brand of traditional and cultural things including dress, decoration items and other things of daily use. For the purpose I started business and open a shop in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. I named my brand as “Samana Art Gallery”.
Samana is a beautiful valley in Orakzai district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides, beautiful scenery the valley is full of cultural display.
There is a humanitarian purpose behind this business. It will help the locals of the far flung areas to have access to the market. This business will provide a market place to the craft persons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with exploring and promoting the cultural horizons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
The importance of handicrafts can be laid back to the ancient civilizations. A civilization is known as an advance form of culture. The preservation of material culture is of paramount importance for a society. The business is not only supporting craft persons but preserving the culture and the folk lore.
The idea came into my mind after going through a vlog on the Doll village of Pakistan: Thatta Gulamka in Punjab. The dolls made by these women are presented in various international cultural festivals and won many prizes. This is a source of income for the women of the area by economically empowering them. Therefore I decided to provide a platform to the craft persons, particularly women of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and newly merged districts by connecting their crafts and products to market. For the purpose I am providing market place to these products.
The products are unique handmade items including embroidery, jute items, dough and gotta jewelry, truck art, wood work, reli work, aplic work, mazari work, pots and decoration pieces. There are items made of shopping bags that are still not being brought to the markets and are used as an environment friendly activity by recycling the materials rather than making them part of the waste.
The two points’ agenda of the business is to support the crafts persons and to promote culture. I wish to have a full fledge gallery, in future to show case the talent of the artisans and craft persons from all over Pakistan particularly the war trodden newly merged areas of Pakistan.