Women Transform Ceylon Villages

Te Ao Hou, August 1957, Page 61

Women Transform Ceylon Villages by Chitra M. Fernando Ceylon is a typical country of village dwellers, 85% of its population living in rural areas where the monthly income is as low as 25 rupees (£2) per head. In this country much use has been made of the experience and energies of a voluntary movement for the advancement of village womanhood rather similar in many respects to the M. W.W.L. The Lanka Mahila Samiti (Association of Women's Institutes) as this organization is called, was founded 24 years ago to encourage village women to plan and work for their own educational, economic and cultural progress. The women formed themselves into groups of “Samiti” and today these groups number nearly 700, with a membership of 40,000. District and provincial committees of the movement are guided by the Central Board in Colombo, the capital, on which, besides the elected women members, there are representatives of such government ministries and departments as agriculture, health, education, rural development and industries. A voluntary organization, the Lanka Mahila Samiti depends for most of its income on subscriptions and donations, the organization of carnivals and exhibitions, and the sales of handicrafts produced by its members. Its activities cover a wide variety of fields, one of the most important of which is health. Here, malnutrition is a major problem and Samiti workers also often find that villagers are completely ignorant of such fundamental laws of health and hygiene as, for example, the provision of pure water and proper sanitation. The success of the health knowledge campaign carried out by the women workers, however, has been seen in the eradication of malaria and hookworm, a decrease in infant and maternal mortality and the opening of many new clinics, dispensaries and milk-feeding centres. Valuable work has also been done in the field of agriculture and food production, and each Samiti member is encouraged to have her own home garden. Guidance is given on the dietary values of vegetables and the rearing of cows and goats, poultry breeding and the bottling and preservation of fruits is encouraged and aided. Wastelands are used for co-operative cultivation—a familiar feature in the ancient agricultural system of Ceylon—and, indeed, co-operative enterprise is encouraged in every aspect of the Samitya's work. As a result, many villages have become self-supporting and some have surplus food to sell. Communities are also becoming self-supporting through a revival of the handicrafts for which Ceylon was once famous. Cottage industries established in every Samitya include needlework, textiles, mat-weaving, lace-making and lacquer work while the villagers also make bags, toys and household articles. Thus, while developing their creative