Enab Baladi Issue # 92 – Sun, Nov. 24, 2013

Mohammad Husam Helmi – Enab Baladi

In an attempt to recover production’s operations and encourage families to work at homes, an initiative named ”hand-made rug’ was held by a group of young men and women in Altall city two months ago. This initiative was meant to recruit the unemployed in a safe environment, and invest their wasted time due to the serious security conditions.

This project is mainly about recycling the used and the unusable cloths. This innovative idea is an attempt to overcome the shortage of raw materials, and so depend on hand-making rugs that work as a substitute for imported carpets and rugs, since the price of the latter keeps increasing due to the changing variance of the exchange rate.

The process of this project is being operationalised in two phases; at first, a number of the participants collect the used cloths and prepare it to be knitted in a very simple way. Thereafter, the second phase can take place where a number of participants distribute the products to shops that are willing to help. Theses shops display the hand-made rugs for free and encourage other families to participate and support this productive project.

It is worth noting that the coordination of Syrian revolution at Altal city supported this project and contributed to its success. When asked about the amount of production that comes out of this project, one of the coordination’s members said; “the amount of production is still limited and the project is still in its infancy”. He however, added that the products displayed in carpets shops and boutiques are being remarkably seen.

A campaign was also run where all people and families of the city were recalled and invited to donate used clothes and old pieces of cloths for recycling.  It was also meant to encourage people of the city to purchase the locally- produced rugs.

The value of this idea lies behind setting the basis for the culture of local production to rise and spread. There where the unemployed families turn to be members in productive teams and so they become less dependent on the food and humanitarian aids, especially at these villages and cities under siege. This kind of projects falls within a number of investments and developmental projects to which the country is in a desperate need. The expansion of such projects across both the besieged and liberated areas will allow self-sufficiency to rise and so reduce the dependence on highly-priced, ready-made goods, as well as eradicate merchants’ monopoly.