IDUKKI: Many tribal hamlets in Idukki still follow the primitive practice of secluding menstruating girls and women for up to a week in special huts called ‘valaimapura’. At the Chinnaparakudy settlement in Adimaly panchayat, however, the ‘menstrual hut’ has been converted into a hub of creativity, one that offers a livelihood for women.
Earlier, like in other hamlets, girls and women in Chinnaparakudy were forced to remain cut off from the community during their periods. Village elders would send them food, but no other interaction was allowed. Today, the same women who once dreaded the ‘valaimapura’ eagerly head to the hut to make handicrafts. They earn Rs 300-600 a day.
And children play gleefully around the hut as the women engage in craft-making, thanks to Fibrent, a Thiruvananthapuram-based company that works for the uplift of marginalised sections of society. The women work in groups at the ‘valaimapura’ through the day, and transform bamboo into lifestyle products and home accessories that are sold online or in markets.
“Many women, especially widows and those abandoned by their husbands, take care of their families with the income from the initiative,” says Latha Anil, a 30-year-old from the settlement. The one-month bamboo handicraft training programme, launched as part of an effort to provide sustainable livelihood options to tribal women post the 2018 flood, proved a life-changing initiative, Latha points out. Over the past three years, she has been earning a steady income along with 19 other women from her settlement.
“We get Rs 300 for a single piece of sun-weaving bamboo lampshade. An expert weaver can make at least two lampshades a day. The company takes care of procuring raw materials, equipment and sales. It’s such a relief that we get to earn without stepping out of the settlement,” she says.
Most importantly, financial independence has empowered women like Latha. No more banishing during periods, they proclaim.