KOCHI: Strong and determined, Dr Lalitha Reji makes a difference in whatever she does. Lalitha who won the Vanitha Woman of the Year Award in 2008 for her exemplary contribution in the field of education, health care and social service, is in the city as part of the Alamkrita exhibition at Lotus Club. The Porgai Producer Group run by 60 members headed by Dr Lalitha has done a lot to revive the vanishing Lambadi hand embroidery. Porgai means ‘pride’ in the Lambadi dialect.
“We work for the revival of Lambadi traditional craft and our aim is to make every Porgai product a masterpiece. Their culture always sought pride in the colours of life and in the numerous designs created and adorned by them,” says Dr Lalitha who has exhibited a variety of products made by the tribals. There are readymade tops, skirts, saris, hand bags, valets, pouches, and more with Lambadi embroidery. This is the first time Dr Lalitha is conducting an exhibition in Ernakulam.
The traditional dress and the tradition of intricate embroidery of the Lambadi tribal community at Sittilingi in Tamil Nadu was revived by Dr Lalitha through the Tribal Craft Initiative (TCI) programme.
“One of my most rewarding experiences has been unlearning all the knowledge that my education and upbringing had taught me and learning the ancient tribal wisdom from these simple village folk with an open heart and mind,” says Dr Lalitha. The Porgai Producers Group trains the younger generation in the intricate art thus endowing them with the skills through which they are able to earn a livelihood. “Through the tribal craft initiative Porgai, women started getting fair wages. This helped them to work from home instead of working in the fields,” says Dr Lalitha.
She also acts as the coordinator for Tribal Health Initiative project. Dr Lalitha, a gynaecologist, was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and the vision of health for all. The project started off as a mud and brick hut from where Dr Lalitha and her husband Dr Reji ran an outpatient clinic in the mornings. The hut doubled up as a labour room or emergency room when required. A few years later Action Aid funded the construction of a hospital building consisting of an operation theatre, labour room and inpatient ward. The hospital set up as part of the project offers a wide range of facilities.
Dr Lalitha has been playing the Good Samaritan among the indigenous people of one of the most backward areas of Tamil Nadu for the last 16 years, literally transforming their lives and destiny. From a mud-thatched OPD-cum-labour room, the Tribal Health Initiative is now boosted as a full-fledged hospital with the latest amenities through the contributions by Dr Lalitha and her husband. In 1996, they started training local tribal girls as health workers who currently form the backbone of the hospital.
They are able to diagnose and treat common problems, assist in the operating theatre, conduct deliveries, care for inpatients and go out to the villages for ante-natal and child health checkups. In 2000, following an internal review, they decided to further its vision of health, to encompass areas such as education, livelihoods and basic community needs. Over the last few years new initiatives have emerged such as the Organic Farming Initiative and the Tribal Craft Initiative. The exhibition Dr Lalitha is holding in the city is an extension of the Tribal Craft Initiative.
