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Creating beauty with waste
- By Rajni Padaruth
- Published 16th May, 2008
- Women's Voice
- Unrated
“Most people are not fully aware of their skills and abilities. One must identify those skills. It's simply a question of changing your passion into your career. This will help you enjoy the work and create success by enhancing those skills,” says Sadhana.
Sadhana was born and brought up in Nairobi and studied in India. There she met Barlen, a Mauritian, and both decided to get married. She came to Mauritius in 1965 and landed a job as science teacher in a private secondary school. She retired in 2004.
She says: “I didn't plan anything for my retirement but I knew that I couldn't stay idle. I had to do something. The National Women Entrepreneur Council (NWEC) approached me with a job as instructor to teach patch work, which was my passion. There was no point thinking; I just accepted the offer.”
There were 15 women at NWEC. Sadhana was asked to offer them a four-month course. “ It was wonderful working with these women. They learnt quickly and did a very good job. They made beautiful quilts, cushion covers, bags and many other things. After completion of the course, a few students wanted to continue and learn more about patchwork, but NWEC did not want to continue. That was very unfortunate.”
Later, in 2005, Sadhana decided to continue teaching patchwork and launched an association known as Magic Fingers Mauritius. Sadhna believes that teaching patchwork at NWEC was keeping her busy and also helped her to enhance her talent.
Her group has already participated in a competition organized by National Productivity
Creativeness Council (NPCC) for the reduction, re-use and recycling of waste. The group has won the second prize. Later, in 2006, she also participated in the Indian Small Business Competitions Development Programme in Delhi.
Sadhana still remembers a few students in her association were very poor; they couldn’t afford to buy the material and were planning to leave. However, she encouraged them not to quit. She turned to a few textile mills and asked them to help the needy in these group with waste fabric. This waste material became the source of living for her people. Her group was doing all the work by hand and they were planning to have equipment but, in the mean time, the Managing Director of New Island Clothing Company saw their work, and was very impressed. He donated a sewing machine to Magic Fingers Group. It was their first machine, and later, the Empowerment Fund also donated some equipment to the association.
Sadhana says: “ I have always been fond of handicraft and patch work. It became a passion for me. In 1994, I went to Chandigarh, India, and saw the Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, built of waste and thrown-away items. This gave me more courage and inspiration to create beauty with waste material.”
According to Sadhana, her work is very helpful in reducing stress and to keep healthy and fit. Working with colours gives happiness and brings joy.
She says: “Above all we must realize that things are changing. Every human has the same intensity of feeling. Remove the walls of difference and you will see each one merging into the other. This lesson of humanity goes very well with our profession such as joining pieces into a beautiful shape.”
Sadhana was born and brought up in Nairobi and studied in India. There she met Barlen, a Mauritian, and both decided to get married. She came to Mauritius in 1965 and landed a job as science teacher in a private secondary school. She retired in 2004.
She says: “I didn't plan anything for my retirement but I knew that I couldn't stay idle. I had to do something. The National Women Entrepreneur Council (NWEC) approached me with a job as instructor to teach patch work, which was my passion. There was no point thinking; I just accepted the offer.”
There were 15 women at NWEC. Sadhana was asked to offer them a four-month course. “ It was wonderful working with these women. They learnt quickly and did a very good job. They made beautiful quilts, cushion covers, bags and many other things. After completion of the course, a few students wanted to continue and learn more about patchwork, but NWEC did not want to continue. That was very unfortunate.”
Later, in 2005, Sadhana decided to continue teaching patchwork and launched an association known as Magic Fingers Mauritius. Sadhna believes that teaching patchwork at NWEC was keeping her busy and also helped her to enhance her talent.
Her group has already participated in a competition organized by National Productivity
Sadhana still remembers a few students in her association were very poor; they couldn’t afford to buy the material and were planning to leave. However, she encouraged them not to quit. She turned to a few textile mills and asked them to help the needy in these group with waste fabric. This waste material became the source of living for her people. Her group was doing all the work by hand and they were planning to have equipment but, in the mean time, the Managing Director of New Island Clothing Company saw their work, and was very impressed. He donated a sewing machine to Magic Fingers Group. It was their first machine, and later, the Empowerment Fund also donated some equipment to the association.
Sadhana says: “ I have always been fond of handicraft and patch work. It became a passion for me. In 1994, I went to Chandigarh, India, and saw the Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, built of waste and thrown-away items. This gave me more courage and inspiration to create beauty with waste material.”
According to Sadhana, her work is very helpful in reducing stress and to keep healthy and fit. Working with colours gives happiness and brings joy.
She says: “Above all we must realize that things are changing. Every human has the same intensity of feeling. Remove the walls of difference and you will see each one merging into the other. This lesson of humanity goes very well with our profession such as joining pieces into a beautiful shape.”
