Women at Their Best

Work Land Capital

2012-02-20T09:42:00.000+05:00

Greatest European thinkers and a large number of scientists and authors have expressed the opinion, and it has been generally deemed to be correct, that Work-Capital-Land are the three determining factors of our system, and that it is considered to be a European-north American system. It cannot be another system for the simple reason that there is no other system and this is believed also by those people, who really have nothing to do with the system because they are culturally differently organized.

Unluckily, due to centuries old political practices, other cultures can hardly or not at all identify or adopt even comparable concepts. One may see this as an example of their inferiority, but also as an example of erroneous basis research, indeed long overdue and still missing proper direction of the basis research.

For this reason such a discussion is not possible at this stage. So let us confine ourselves to discussing the ABK-model, which is well known in economic circles and also generally cited in politics, even if very basic matters remain unresolved, e.g. the strength or power of a political something, which can actually hardly be considered isolated from the economics (A-B-K). The same is valid for the knowledge, which is not of economic nature at all and has to be derived from social backgrounds. It is not static in nature!!

One could give long philosophical explanations about for example the contents of the term Land, namely the climatic geographical resources of an area.

In the European way of thinking, one is more inclined to splitting up problems and also their summing up, which is very helpful for understanding them and to process them, however appropriate recourse should always be possible to the starting point. This refers to the awareness and consciousness, the actual reason for which one has split or summed up in the first place. If one ignores this fact and is pleased about only the new knowledge gained, one is being led into making a grandiose error.

In short, in order to correct the direction and gain control of general problems, it is very important to recognize the basic flaw of the ABK-System, namely that factors Information and the Power are missing! It therefore appears more appropriate to name our system KABIP (in German = Kapital-Arbeit-Boden-Information-Power) or Capital-Work-Land-Information-Power, which determine the happening. Economics-Society-Resources (=natural factors) -Knowledge (Education)-Politics (worldly as well as religious), they determine the strength of a culture, which is not identical with the ability to cope with the future.

Two examples should make these considerations more clear:

The young USA reached the top position, because the problem Land acquisition did not exist and the power was available to materialize a certain policy and it was possible to increase the value of the work.
The Peoples Republic of China will achieve a top position, because the society as well as the politics favors mass production.

In the following considerations, we will try to explain these assertions however without going into detailed proofs.

Ethnic Doll

2012-02-17T09:43:00.000+05:00

One Baby One Tree

2012-02-15T16:49:00.000+05:00

Readers here at Thatta Kedona are familiar with beautiful tradition of one child one tree being practice here since a decade. AFA presents one fruit tree on the birth of a baby and one flower tree on a wedding. Results: almost every household in Thatta Kedona has a fruit and flower tree in their yards. And it looks so good.

This year the ceremony of handing over trees was held in BHU. Here are some of the images of the event.

Valentine Google Doodle

2012-02-15T11:07:00.001+05:00

Thatta Kedona Pottery and Ceramic Workshop

2012-02-14T11:05:00.000+05:00

Monika Kuppler conducted Pottery and Ceramic Workshop in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka. Pictures of the event are in Photo Stream.

Top bloggers

2012-02-10T13:30:00.000+05:00

From here

Cultural Traditions

2012-02-06T10:12:00.000+05:00

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch

History

The most important factors for the current development were laid in the 19th century. The rejection of thinking and acting as a community meant for the technology an enormous increase in the industrial production because the division of work led to higher productivity and new professions and it appeared on the face of it to increase the standard of living in western cultures (for example the Taylorism as introduced in Ford automobile factories etc.)

Analysis of the society by political and economic thinkers led to development theories, which could not foresee the effects of these policies as evidenced today. The cardinal error by these theorists was the euro-centristic model, i.e. nobody took the happenings in other cultures into consideration.

In Smith's economic system, the free market functioned globally, as long as global meant regionally and maximum on a national level.

In Marx's political system the democracy functions internationally, as long as the power base is centrally located. This concept is also found in antique Greek city-state models on a local basis.

In both cases, there appears to be consensus on one point, i.e. that "multiple behavioral models (Artenvielfalt)" are not acceptable in these theories. But this is probably precisely the decisive error.

With this sketch, we would now like to analyze the present situation.

Present situation

It is the market factors in a democratically functioning society, which determines the general welfare of the people.

Since the market -in the traditional sense- neither takes into consideration the environment nor the traditional cultures, which are present in rural areas and production of goods leads to certain uniformity because of cost-reduction methods. Every effort must be undertaken, so that the (B.E.P.) does not fall short of targets under any circumstances. The multi-national concerns attempt by adding more products to their production programs to offer a variety of models: since all parties participating in the market work in similar way, but the demand in the market is relatively fixed and not able to be increased arbitrarily, it is clear where the wastage of resources is taking place.

The winner is the one, who has the largest potential of human resources as long as these can be controlled politically.

The intentions and the wishes of so-called democratic countries are understandable, if they exert all possible pressure on others to accept their form of governance.

If this effort does not succeed, their system -let us call it "western system"- would collapse together with all parties involved in it.

There are incredible factors, which remain unconsidered by the members of the City-Culture, they being the innovators and carriers of the enormous misunderstandings and the cardinal errors:

a) There are very different cultures

b) These cultures have developed over a long period of time in inter-action with the climate and the environment.

c) Each culture has its own set of rights and should be the subject of research to shed light on this enormous richness.

Of course much of the matter has been lost due to the way of thinking and the actions undertaken up till now, but exactly this is the task before us; to track down these materials.

Misuse of environment and resources are hardly a subject of discussion in economic appraisals. Similarly, the richness of traditional cultures, which still exist at least in part in the rural areas, which are typically described as "under-developed" is not mentioned in these appraisals. There is no code or value allocated to them. Only when the value has been destroyed, the damage becomes visible. The extent of destroyed traditional cultures is quite evident in the number of museums, i.e. as soon as the traditional cultures began to be considered as money making measures for the institutions, they received recognition as a valid market factor, but in effect became still more unstable.

As the international flow of money is not directed towards local industry and national states, there is a trend towards uniformity through optimization and standardization. This uniformity can be concealed through various designs and requires increased consumption of goods. In order to increase the consumption, the consumers (all consumers of the world unite!!) require financial means, which are actually not available to the majority of population.

Outlook

A special sort of market is created at the place where traditional cultures are promoted. Members of the community have a chance to participate, if they consider it a possibility to maintain their basic requirements, i.e. a form of satisfaction of most basic material needs must remain intact.

Author Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, Voluntary Director, TTTC TGD can be approached here: pdp33@hotmail.com

Housing Philosophy

2012-02-04T10:52:00.001+05:00

Dr. Norbert Pintsch

We have already discussed and illustrated Technology and Economy in connection with extreme housing in in parts 1 and 2. Here we discuss the area of Philosophy and the Religion in order to complete the whole picture.

First of all a note on, perhaps surprising, aspects of Religion:

The basis of thinking of believers as well as non-believers is identical. If non-believers are of the opinion, they are free of religious limitations and think clearly on scientific lines, so this shows actually their incapacity to admit the influence of religion on our way of thinking.
One should accept this fact in order to understand the errors in the usual way of thinking, giving a shocking dimension to the usual concepts of finding problem solutions.
In western systems, one is inclined in religious matters to make a comparison between bananas and Neem-tree, i.e. one compares, what is actually incomparable, e.g. a religion with a total life system. One can only compare in order to recognize the differences and after that again separate, because the incomparability becomes apparent,- a continuously changing process which should be quite clear.

The deficient knowledge in the totality approach and the appropriate actions lead to enormous deficits, which are completely covered up in consumption oriented and resource squandering actions. This situation leads to a fascinating situation, which fades away the sense of error.

In spiritual area, the co-called Knowledge of the Time in the internet is actually misunderstood as knowledge itself, even though experts have called it Pseudo-Knowledge,- the strenuous work of the real search must still be done. In material area, the selection of menu in a fast food restaurant is actually understood as general reality! Especially the field of designing helps towards increased consumption, without questioning usefulness of the products at all.

Especially in technology and research-oriented areas, the increasing exploration attempts are mostly considered in themselves as development.

Illlustration 1 shows the various systems ôf the methods in which we proceed: We try to bring order to chaos and begin to recognize the matter, we try to incorporate the gained knowledge into a pattern, the pattern becomes a reality on which new theories are constructed. In this way the distance to reality keeps getting larger and larger and with that also the quantity of the basic fault, which is to be seen in the context of a fiction-reality comparison.

But the reality is actually different and the correct way would be to move away from the effort to bring order and move towards the reality and then again create a new order. This organizing and re-organizing is a permanent process which should be done deliberately.

Would the system “Life” function like the industrial, research and economic systems, one would need “the whole surface of Asia for an amoeba”!

The understanding of known and above all unknown senses is defeated due to erroneous total understanding and can only be compared with the often quoted spiritual dullness of the middle ages in Europe

The enormous discrepancies between the claim and the reality, whereby we are aware of the error multiplications of the previous generations, can be clearly seen in a production comparison between human and machines:

In the first case, production is carried out in a compact and integrated manner.

In the second case the work process reminds of the sorting efforts of early childhood: everything which doesn’t match a toy is put away separately. The development of Extreme Housing does not make such a development unnecessary, rather senseless; this aspect shows the real position of the so-called development.

Loss of knowledge or ignorance, the problems between belief and thinking as well as between thinking and knowledge may be largely seen as intellectual trickery and of absolute uselessness, however they have still not lost their importance. The only thing lost appears to be the importance of the necessity to look into the matter more deeply.

It is not new in the history of mankind to attribute all things improper not on natural factors or their personifications but rather on to an unknown, indescribable single power. One has always tried to focus on a single point even before the start of the civic calendar. If one keeps following this method consequently, the way of thinking internalizes to such an extent, that the secondary and tertiary users of the method become incapable of realizing the reality.

As a consequence of this knowledge, a pseudo-reality is created, which due to the monotheistic influence, leads to thinking and acting in a manner, which is characterized today as success and problem-oriented approach, without actually regulating anything! This is because the capability to manage something is connected to the ability to perceive something. Only that exists, which can also be proved,- what cannot be proved, doesn’t exist at all.

Paradox are scientific claims, which cannot prove their subject.

The conflict potential in the cultural system is expressed in technology, in economy, etc. but the basic problem lies in the one-sidedness, one-level of thinking, in the loss of cultural identity, in the loss of values in general. If the distance between technology and economy to philosophy and religion becomes larger (see illustration 2), this leads inevitably to conflicts.

War & Peace,- Facility Management* and similar terms as income generating concepts and more

The desire for peace is an ancient dream of humankind. To be silent and to have peace appears to be much sought, although silence is not the same thing as peace. There is the socalled silence before the storm and we have also heard of the silence of the grave.

War is something inhuman, it is said. At the same time we know, that wars can sometimes be necessary in order to maintain peace. Through wars, such elements which are detrimental to peace are atlast removed after a long process of trying to come to a peaceful solution. War and peace are not limited to economic or scientific factors but they take place almost in all areas of the western and west-oriented world. In the field of philosophy and religion, this is not noticed due to lack of information and in the field of technology and economy, one is unaware of its potential ! By pushing the problems to the consumer level, to which also sport belongs, and the fad of terms like smartest, best, strongest, a war loses its impression of cruelty.

Peace is only possible, if a basis for understanding is available, a platform from which one can argument. This basis is provided generally by theory. As in case of individuals, where one party is never totally innocent and rather both parties carry a part of the blame, so is it also valid for large organizations.

If it comes to intentional war-like situation between large organizations with loss of lives, it affects the individual person much more than the anonymous mass of the large organization.

It should not come to war if human beings actually possess the much praised capacity to understand other viewpoints, generally considered as the most important criteria of differentiation between humans and other living beings, without knowing, how other organisms behave. The distribution of insects in a field can mean the beauty of flower fields for the short-term understanding of the human being, whereas it means the ultimate for the micro-organism.

The path of conflicts can mean for some people new work opportunities and incomes*, whereas one does not really recognize a danger in it, that ist until one suddenly finds himself in the middle of the war, which one did not want at all.

We had called intellect as a medium of communication. The intellect does not function like a machine, but is rather hormone controlled. Although there are a number of diverse scientific theories and function models about the causes of conflicts, these can normally be explained quite clearly afterwards as to what has led to the conflict, between individuals or between large organizations, -but at that point it is normally too late: the problems are already created and they are compounded in different forms and at different levels.

In times of general confusion, such conflicts can take place so subtly, that the involved parties do not even realize that they are part of the conflict; because destruction does not necessarily occur through brutal force, but also through negative influence on a value system, which leads to reactions from opposite sides. In this manner apparently beneficial development as understood by one person can create feelings of fear and with that aggression in the other person, without both of them actually understanding the real cause.

Conflicts do not emerge out of nothing; they are either automatic or cultural additions to the human orientation system; if the system is influenced through pseudo- theories, the basis of understanding with the other party is lost, a further input to the existing confusion!

Due to this pro or anti position, the conflict moves from one level into another, sometimes coming to agreement, but reaching another level again and again, till it comes to conflict one day (see illustration 3). That is why we often hear, that conflicts occur between individuals due to their inability to speak to one another. An anecdote makes clear such situation, which may also apply to organizations: in the first marriage year the man speaks and the woman listens, in the second marriage year, the woman speaks and the man listens, in the third marriage year the neighbors listen,- in case of large organizations, we can add the factors of self interest, wishes and aims of auxiliary organizations too.

In a phase of escalation, the physical force is not the only measure, against it, but even together with it, psychological force can also be applied, -in both cases, one is far away from creating an understanding, although the intellect has been used with all its possibilities. In such conflicts, there is an end to the relevant system (the death), a change to the relevant system till agreement, but never can we speak of resolved conflicts, even though it may look like that. This leads us to the knowledge, that development cannot take place, if there is only silence and peace and there is no war, which creates fear and leads to readjustment.

The changes to the relevant system refer to very different factors, which take many forms of influence: general disturbance, misuse of rules, demonizing the other side, etc.

The changes and the partly sub-conscious factors of influence take place in current times more and more on a technological level. To these belong not only discussions about human rights, where one party insists they are present and must be valid all over the world and the other party does not share this opinion because of cultural differences. Complex applications in security area also belong to it, so that in case of a conflict, which –it is stressed- nobody wants, what one achieves for its own side, keeping human lives intact. This argument is sold quite well at least to its own people. Even if the described situation appears to be a distant possibility, a civil application of the Facility Management (see illustration 4) is nothing more than a shifting of values, of the influence, of the opposite effects of income generating measures and of the loss of incomes from work. Thanks to, or should one say, due to missing knowledge and the time to reflect, we arrive in current times to the mentioned forms of confusions. For this reason we should utilize, at least from time to time, the possibility to balance out the fundamental deficits, this requires however an appropriate realization. If this realization is not there, it must lead to conflicts, at the end of which a little understanding, a spark, –like a wonder- finds its way into the human understanding.

Sometimes this spark even helps the human generation develop further,- if there are more -one can assume that there is nothing for free-, the peace is obtained on the shoulders of other unlucky people of other regions. If one would attempt to verbalize this tragedy, it would mean the end of comfortableness for the peace preachers. Strangely, there is something old enough from the middle ages, which represents an important factor to promote peace on an individual level: the love; in large organizations, the only possibility to avoid conflict is permanent dialogue, which should take place even if unresolvable limitations stand in the way. This is because the other option to the desire for a certain social order is the reality of chaos (see illustration 5).

* The considerations are based upon a model of CULTURE, in which although discussed in different dimensions from various authors, it still holds, that different cultures still have certain commonalities like a written or verbal form of dealing with each other, some sort of method for material exchanges, some form of activity to pull out of the daily routines, etc.

** As a precaution, we may point out that there are cultural systems, which have a total approach to their subjects but they are often misunderstood from outsiders as religion,- this is an important cause for many misunderstandings. There is a difference whether we consider the founder of a religion as a rhetoric personality or as a communal politician, who carries the responsibility of creating order among the chaos of human inter-action.

Technology and economic-oriented persons can gain knowledge about spiritual problems by the following authors:

Paton:Ueber Nicht-Wissen
Skrates:Ueber Un-Wissenheit zu spielen, um beim Gespraechspartner die Vernunft ans Tageslicht zu bringen (Maeautik)
Drewermann: Ueber Glauben & Denken, Denken & Wissen

Celebrating traditions

2012-02-04T10:21:00.000+05:00

I am glad to be a small part of beautiful tradition of one child one tree being practices by Thatta Kedona in remote Punjab village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (aka Dolls' Village) located at the bank of River Ravi near Gogera. The NGO AFA presents one fruit tree on the birth of a baby and one flower tree on a wedding. Results: almost every household in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka has a fruit and flower tree in their yards (in addition to their own kitchen garden). And it looks so good; refreshing.

This year the beautiful ceremony of handing over fruit and flower trees and celebration of 18 years of tradition was held in BHU on March 25, 2011. Here are some of the images of the event. Everyone missed Dr. Senta Siller, the originator of the tradition, who could come due to her engagements in Germany. Thanks to Dr. Norbert Pintsch who is still carrying on the work and traditions in the village.[X-posted from Light Within]

Related: One Bay one tree 2010

Ramla in Thatta Ghulam Ka Dheroka

2012-02-02T11:30:00.000+05:00

Ramla Akhtar

The lives of the residents of this village changed 15 years when a German art teacher took up her student Amjad's invite and visited his village: Thatta Ghulam Ka Dheroka.

An enterprising spirit, she asked the villagers about their craft. The women showed her hand-made rag dolls. The art teacher, Dr Senta Siller, told the villagers she could teach them to make refined hand-made dolls.

Thus spun off a social enterprise in this 200-house strong village that has changed the way of life and living here. Women have a school. The village has a road. They experimented with alternative energy very early on, and now are undertaking community energy & food projects.

The women from this conservative village now go on study tours with the Germans. The villagers have learned about sanitation, childcare, and eco-friendly living. Cleanliness is rewarded here.

Above all, these changes were brought within the system, without breaking down the structure violently.

The whole village participates in the making of the dolls, which represent the four provinces of Pakistan. The original doll is called, "Churail."

This is my peek into their lives. More here!

Life as it is

2012-02-01T12:50:00.000+05:00

Dawn.com

Appropriate Technology start in the past

2012-02-01T08:52:00.000+05:00

Marriage

2012-01-27T11:39:00.002+05:00

On Culture

2012-01-24T09:40:00.002+05:00

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch

The culture, the traditional rural culture and the industrial city culture, the contents, the characteristics, changes are more or less the topics of discussion in various considerations on the subject. It may not be clear to many where the problem really is, or why the restlessness, why the discussion?

The term Culture is gladly used in these times. To be lacking in culture or be devoid of culture, no please! It does not surprise when one talks of eating, sleeping and drinking cultures. Educated people have the reading culture. Many are members of special cultures like leisure activities. One is sure to maintain high standard in body culture, which is by the way synonymous with the intensive use of perfumes. It underlines the positive image towards outside.

All these consumption-oriented cultures please the producers the most. They help to obtain satisfaction in the life, with appropriate message to other population groups; for example, people in the rural areas want to follow suit without thinking or any other consideration.

As an example for the short-sightedness, we may refer to Thornbury’s LIVING CULTURE (Random House Business Books, London 2000), who would surely not be happy on his being quoted in actually the opposite sense; a world-wide operating consultant company mentioned by him has described the performance as expected from managers, to achieve what they should do. It is assumed that the desired culture is already known and nothing more is required.

Who should they have the time to ponder upon the meaning of culture and to follow the connection to commercial enterprises? The direction of expected results here is rather clear: the industrially produced products are considered as guiding line and there are only minimal deviations, for example the argument of fantastic possibilities of informing oneself in a world over-flooded with information. This reminds of the satisfaction of bodily desires in a Fast-Food-Restaurant, where one can select between number of dressings for the salads.

The scope of the keywords used to search the Internet gets narrowed down. This leads to lesser and lesser words actually written, which does not matter at all if it is not so evident and one gets used to it.

The influence on the traditional city culture is clearly recognizable in literature, which reflects the social situation. The process of democratization is supposed to improve the general quality of life. The followers of this line of thinking refer to antique Greek city-states where, on a small scale, good results were achieved by segregating the social status of groups of populations. Even then, the greatest Greek thinker was passing the argument that democracy probably functions best on empty land. Let us not get into that because a lot has been written on it and democracy has spread ‘industrially’. An interesting side effect is the slimming of the depth and intensity of feelings: the fact that antique feelings, like literary portrayal of feelings of love, the subtle overcoming of authoritarian power structures are rather more spread in accordance with western standards. The consumption-oriented behavior is strongly on the advance specially in the conurbations.

As in a bow, we again get to the point where we began, namely the conflict between urban and rural culture. The unconcerned enjoyers and shortsighted beneficiaries do not recognize the loss of their non-material values. The rather live unrestricted in their state of euphoria, whereby abandonment and self-limitation are more sought after.

The attentive non-political and religious fellow human being suspects in this environment that there must be something to the socialism thinking, as also in the representation of gluttony in the Old Testament and the dancing about the golden calf.

They must, in order not to be left out of the dance, decide and rapidly transform themselves into a consumer, which is to be honest the easiest and the best way because it causes no headaches and one is also not limited in any way. Arguments like what should the individual otherwise do very helpful and useful here. Life must be financed: the family, the children, the house, the whole living standard should be taken care.

In the other case, one may quote a religious saying from the time of the begging monks: monk, monk, you carry a heavy burden. One form of interpretation may be mentioned here. Galileo Galilei said, more or less defiantly... and she is moving, “Even if a wrong is done millions of times that do not make it right.” In democratic terms, one would discuss so long, till the majority deviates bit by bit from its old course. Information deficits must be equalized, one must find compromises, people with other opinion must be better explained; here other unpleasant sayings come to mind, like for example, “after me... the flood, riding the horse to death.”

The modern cynic makes a good profit out of all this and lets himself gladly be invited to television talk shows till he is ridden to death. After all, one must live from something.

Dolls of the World

2012-01-21T18:42:00.002+05:00

Peerzada Cultural Complex AT Workshop

2012-01-17T09:13:00.000+05:00

Children Learn to Protect Environment

September 26-30, 2011

Mud Housing Project started in October 2010 on the premises of Peerzada Cultural Complex (PCC), in which three types of mud houses and use of appropriate technology was introduced to the interested public.

The event followed three objectives:

Examples of mud houses in rural areas and areas affected by the Indus flooding.
Motivation for students of architecture for the purpose of experimentation, measurement and study of concepts in order to develop strategy for helping the affected population of the catastrophe.
Residence for craftsmen, who belong to areas far away from Lahore.

Of course, one of the main objectives was also to motivate the urban population towards construction of more energy efficient houses. With the scarcity of energy in current times, this is an important objective for public as well as private application.

We must provide a platform for the students to start experimenting.

The illustration shows Sohni and Rani, who are explaining the functionality of alternative technology devices to each other.

Our main contribution here is to show the simultaneous use of the construction material mud in harmony with appropriate technology, which will be done in a playful manner in a workshop for children. We connect thereby entertainment and education. To achieve the purpose, among others, alternative energy is used to make cakes and hot chocolate for children.

The AFA (NGO), SPARC (NGO), FPAC, SES Bonn, as well as German Embassy supports the project.

Join Thatta Kedona

2011-09-08T09:12:00.001+05:00

Thatta Kedona Dolls

Thatta Kedona Radio

Marvels of Pottery Workshop with Monika Kuppler

2011-09-06T11:29:00.000+05:00

Celebrating the Rich Culture

2011-08-25T08:17:00.000+05:00

Organised annually, at the start of the winter season in the federal capital by the Ministry of Culture and Lok Virsa, the Lok Virsa Festival provides an opportunity to local and foreign visitors to savour the cultural diversity of Pakistan in all its colourful splendour.

The event is also an endeavour for creating in Pakistanis an understanding and appreciation for cultures and communities that exist in other regions of the country. In this way, this cultural gala also plays a role in forging and fostering national harmony and integration.

Marked by verve and zest, with folk artists and artisans dressed in gay, multi-hued attires, dancers swaying to traditional tunes, musicians singing traditional songs, craftsmen creating and displaying their traditional arts and crafts, one experiences a highly palpable excitement upon visiting the festival. And then there is the rural cuisine which is also a part of this colourful fair.

In addition to providing the general public with entertainment and also the rare opportunity of seeing and enjoying the diverse cultures that dot the landscape of Pakistan, all in one place, this two-week long festival also exposes the artists and artisans to trade and economic transaction as local and foreign businessmen also visit the festival with the view of finding arts, crafts and goods that might be attractive business propositions for them. Thus the festival also has a positive economic purpose.

The holding of this event in Islamabad has a symbolic value since being the capital of Pakistan, it represents the federation and the unity of the federating units. However, it would be a welcome idea if such festivals were also organised in all the four provincial capitals, allowing a greater number of Pakistanis to experience and enjoy the vast cultural vista of Pakistan. {Via Dawn}

Pakistan Truck Art

2011-08-11T10:11:00.000+05:00

Double click to enlarge - Images by Dr. Norbert Pintsch

Electricity by kites

2011-07-21T09:52:00.000+05:00

salaPakistani press publicized in the summer of 2010 that a hobby scientist managed to produce as much as 3 volts direct current by launching a 10 square foot kite.

The young man by the name of Shakeel Amir resides in Shirin Muafi, a village close to the city of Okara. The AFA (NGO) Center of Technology Transfer and Training in the village of Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka plans another experiment using no source of power at all (prior experiments required electricity!) to improve the results.

As with other NGO projects, the results of the latest experiments are supposed to improve the situation in the rural areas where insufficient technical infrastructure leads to various shortcomings. There is a continuous demand for decentralized power supply due to the fact that no help from the city can be expected.

NGO Experience

Since it's foundation in 1993, NGO has tested and implanted innovations prior to any public attention.
1996 first photovoltaic Installation in Punjab in the TGD Women Center
1998 Installation of according technology (Solar hot plates and kitchen modules)
2000 The project is part of Expo 2000 (voted as Asian advanced technology development)
2002 Work involving droplet irrigation for a cucumber project
2003 Joint venture between AFA Pakistan and CAT (Centre for appropriate Technology) / Cameroon
2004 Workshop regarding Appropriate Technology in Adamghot near Karachi
2006 Workshop regarding Appropriate Technology at COMSATS in Abottabad
2008 Preparation for a project regarding passive solar architecture and internet radio to broadcast in rural areas.
2010 Mud Housing Project participation in Lahore with the AT of AFA's (NGO's) TTTC incl. Wind Mill.

Background information regarding the Technology

Internationally scientists continue to create new forms of generating electricity. Up to this day most of the solutions were ground based. Selected scientist are now considering the sky.

The system is rather simple and easy to understand. A kite is launched and the more wind you have the higher the kite will ascend, spooling a chord off from a reel driving a generator.

Once the kite has reached it's final altitude, it is drawn back by an electric motor that uses less energy than the kite produced during flight. The entire act is computer controlled.

A 64-year old Professor Ockels is the head of the Institute For Sustainable Engineering and Technology at the Technical University in Delft, Netherlands. He is a physicist and has been an astronaut on a space mission in the mid eighties. He has been dreaming about kites generating energy for a long time and believes in the sky as a future power supply.

Ockels and his team have conducted experiments with 100 square feet kites producing as much as 10kW electrical power. Enough to supply 10 households. The scientists believe that high flying kites linked with each other can drive generators producing as much as 100 MW to serve 100.000 households. Ockels envisions 50 or more kites as big as soccer fields flying as high as 3.000 feet.

In other parts of the world scientists are also planning kite projects to produce electrical power. Some of them hope to produce a hundredfold of the global demand.

In 2007 an American company by the name of Makani invested 15 million US dollars to produce energy with flying kites. Makani is a subsidiary of the internet search engine Google. The Italy based company Kitegen plans to launch a number of kites to produce as much as 1 GW of electrical power. The amount of power an average coal-fired power plant would produce.

Pottery Workshop with Monika Kuppler

2011-07-16T12:45:00.000+05:00

See the pottery samples here.

World environment day in Bamenda Cameroon

2011-07-13T18:57:00.000+05:00

Aaron Kaah

The center for appropriate technology steals the show on world environment day in Bamenda Cameroon.

Activities marking the world environment day took place in Bamenda Cameroon on June 6 th 2011 at the Bamenda commercial avenue ground stand with the north west governor Abakat Ahamat calling on the environmental stakeholders to give the environment and forest maximum protection and sustainability. The state man said a healthy environment was a prerequisite for a healthy community. The governor charged the environmental regional delegates present at the event to give the theme Forest: Nature at your service mportance by preaching the importance by checking excess human activities on the environment. He explained that the best tool against the adverse effect of climate change was to keep the environment safe by planting trees and flowers.

In an exhibition on the alternative ways of protecting the forest and environment, the center for appropriate technology under the Director Njini Victor exhibited a bio gas facility sourced by pig droppings as a cheap means of providing energy for cooking and domestic usage in the rural communities where dependence on the environment and forest was dominate Mr. Njini stole the day as he also exhibited a solar parabolic cooker that absorbed energy from the sun for the cooking of rice and mushroom during the event to the amazement of all and sundry. Mr. Njini called upon the government services to make good use of the technology which according to him was cheap and affordable and the best efficient way of energy management. Whileanswering questions from the press and the public, the Director of the center for appropriate technology (CAT) explained that h is dreams were to link the rural communities in Cameroon with this simple but powerful tool that could energize the protection of the forest and environment. He said the task of CAT was to link the theme of the event to the practical solutions of environmental sustainability. Other exhibitors showcase the importance of grafted economic trees as other ways of protecting the environment and forest. A match past by environmental associations and a musical concert on the theme ““One more tree now” also spiced the event. The United Nations has declared 2011 as the international year of the forest to shine the light on the significance of protecting the environment and forest.

Product Impex Industrieal Garments

2011-07-13T13:07:00.000+05:00

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How to Start and Manage Non-Governmental Organizations

2011-07-07T13:27:00.000+05:00

How to Start and Manage Non-Governmental Organizations

Dolls from Greenland

2011-07-01T07:12:00.000+05:00

The idea for the project originated in the year 2002 and is based on the location of the west to east greenland. At first there were various contacts between Narsalik and Qaqortoq and in 2006 a meeting with the director of the group in greenland was held. The meeting took place in the south of the island.

The pre-conditions for the project were good due to the parallels in the locations as well as the income generating factors sheep breeding and tourism.

After the activities came to a standstill and difficulties regarding deadlines and financing emerged but also as first orders for the Inuit-Dolls were received, the project was revived by arranging the finance and a visit to Kulusuk was undertaken in September 2007.

Complete manufacturing of the Inuit-Dolls is also not feasible here as the manufacturing of the naked doll would be too expensive here. For this purpose the doll bodies from Pakistan are used here. However, the hair and skin type as well as the face form correspond to the Greenland.

Rural Culture

2011-06-27T09:17:00.000+05:00

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch

History

The most important factors for the current development were laid in the 19th century. The rejection of thinking and acting as a community meant for the technology an enormous increase in the industrial production because the division of work led to higher productivity and new professions and it appeared on the face of it to increase the standard of living in western cultures (for example the Taylorism as introduced in Ford automobile factories etc.)

Analysis of the society by political and economic thinkers led to development theories, which could not foresee the effects of these policies as evidenced today. The cardinal error by these theorists was the euro-centristic model, i.e. nobody took the happenings in other cultures into consideration.

In Smith's economic system, the free market functioned globally, as long as global meant regionally and maximum on a national level.

In Marx's political system the democracy functions internationally, as long as the power base is centrally located. This concept is also found in antique Greek city-state models on a local basis.

In both cases, there appears to be consensus on one point, i.e. that "multiple behavioral models (Artenvielfalt)" are not acceptable in these theories. But this is probably precisely the decisive error.

With this sketch, we would now like to analyze the present situation.

Present situation

It is the market factors in a democratically functioning society, which determines the general welfare of the people.

Since the market -in the traditional sense- neither takes into consideration the environment nor the traditional cultures, which are present in rural areas and production of goods leads to certain uniformity because of cost-reduction methods. Every effort must be undertaken, so that the (B.E.P.) does not fall short of targets under any circumstances. The multi-national concerns attempt by adding more products to their production programs to offer a variety of models: since all parties participating in the market work in similar way, but the demand in the market is relatively fixed and not able to be increased arbitrarily, it is clear where the wastage of resources is taking place.

The winner is the one, who has the largest potential of human resources as long as these can be controlled politically.

The intentions and the wishes of so-called democratic countries are understandable, if they exert all possible pressure on others to accept their form of governance.

If this effort does not succeed, their system -let us call it "western system"- would collapse together with all parties involved in it.

There are incredible factors, which remain unconsidered by the members of the City-Culture, they being the innovators and carriers of the enormous misunderstandings and the cardinal errors:

a) There are very different cultures

b) These cultures have developed over a long period of time in inter-action with the climate and the environment.

c) Each culture has its own set of rights and should be the subject of research to shed light on this enormous richness.

Of course much of the matter has been lost due to the way of thinking and the actions undertaken up till now, but exactly this is the task before us; to track down these materials.

Misuse of environment and resources are hardly a subject of discussion in economic appraisals. Similarly, the richness of traditional cultures, which still exist at least in part in the rural areas, which are typically described as "under-developed" is not mentioned in these appraisals. There is no code or value allocated to them. Only when the value has been destroyed, the damage becomes visible. The extent of destroyed traditional cultures is quite evident in the number of museums, i.e. as soon as the traditional cultures began to be considered as money making measures for the institutions, they received recognition as a valid market factor, but in effect became still more unstable.

As the international flow of money is not directed towards local industry and national states, there is a trend towards uniformity through optimization and standardization. This uniformity can be concealed through various designs and requires increased consumption of goods. In order to increase the consumption, the consumers (all consumers of the world unite!!) require financial means, which are actually not available to the majority of population.

Outlook

A special sort of market is created at the place where traditional cultures are promoted. Members of the community have a chance to participate, if they consider it a possibility to maintain their basic requirements, i.e. a form of satisfaction of most basic material needs must remain intact.

Author Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, Voluntary Director, TTTC TGD can be approached here: pdp33@hotmail.com

With love from Kasur

2011-06-24T10:20:00.000+05:00

A stall in the outer courtyard of Bulleh Shah’s shrine with sacred ritual items like mannat ke karay (ritual wish bracelets) rings and pamplets with Bulleh Shah's poetry. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, and Shah Sharaf. Dawn

CAT Cameroon trains teachers in ICT’S

2011-06-18T10:03:00.000+05:00

Aaron Kaah

Some 9 teachers from some secondary schools in Nkum sub division of Bui division in the North West region of Cameroon are undergoing a computer soft and hard ware course as well as a pedagogy mentoring during this summer holidays organized by the center for appropriate technology in Bamenda Cameroon. The course which started on 14th May 2011 is aimed at expanding the learning of ICT’s in some rural communities in Cameroon through the class room.

According to the Director of CAT Cameroon Njini Victor, computer learning and knowledge is alien to most schools and colleges in Cameroon and the need to link up these kids to the outside world and their kind in the cities is necessary. These 9teachers from the Nkum Sub division have been selected to lead the pilot phase of this project which according to CAT will run up to 2025. After the training the ear marked schools and colleges will be supplied refurbished computers to institute the actual learning and teaching of the course to the pupils and students.

CAT also intends to supply these schools and colleges which are mostly in Cameroon suburbs with solar electricity systems, so that the beneficiaries can access these computers. Due to bad roads and poverty, the Nkum community in Bui Division of Cameroon had being enclave. It is in this back drop that (CAT) center for appropriate technology thought it wise to envisage this project. The 9 teachers enjoying this largess have only paid a token participatory fee 23% as CAT has shouldered the funding of the project. These teachers come from the following schools:

GHS Nse

GTC Nseh

Islamic secondary school

GSS Kuflu

GSS NgendzenGHS Dzeng

GSS Dzevru

GTC Mbiin.

The center of appropriate technology is depending on SES BONN ‐ Germany under the patronage of Norbert Pintsch to afford computers to these schools and colleges. The teachers are mentored by Tafon Joel and Director of CAT Njini Victor with moral support from Dr Kenneth Lukong of the University of Bamenda Cameroon.

More Visitors in the Dolls and Toys Village

2011-06-16T11:03:00.000+05:00

Dolls Shop

2011-06-15T09:51:00.000+05:00

For Questions contact Dr. Norbert Pintsch and for appointment at Lahore Show Room, Call Ilyas (0301-8456986)

With love from Projekt Landgut Bosig

2011-06-06T22:06:00.000+05:00

Cultura Project gets dolls' naked bodies from village Thatta Kedona, TGD

Before opening ceremony of the library

Guests in the open workshop for women

Appropriate Technology

2011-06-05T12:57:00.002+05:00

Center for Appropriate Technology (CAT), is NGO based in Bamenda, Capital of North West Region in the Republic of Cameroon.

Vision of the NGO, founded in 2001, is development, presentation on exhibitions and promoting of appropriate technology. For men, do-it-yourself usage of appropriate technology gives a hope of independence from central technical infrastructure. And for women handmade dolls, dressed in traditional attires from the different provinces is a means of additional income generation in rural areas. CAT also involves children in different initiatives through Youngsters Club.

CAT has develop active cooperation with foreign NGOs like Technology Transfer and Training Centre in Pakistan, Institute for Planning and Consulting, German Society for the Development of Culture (DGFK) and Bamenda University of Science and Technology (B.U.S.T).

This blog, in addition to useful information about Cameroon (one of the most diverse African countries that is called Africa in Miniature) and its culture and people, will covers CAT initiatives and projects.

Mr Njini Victor is Programme Director and Sobe Manasse, Programme Coordinator and Assistant at CAT..

Related: Snail Farming in Cameroon

Mud House Owners in Rural Areas

2011-06-01T12:15:00.000+05:00

When you have more snow in Calargy

2011-05-28T12:12:00.000+05:00

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Village Museum

2011-05-24T09:56:00.000+05:00

Stars of Thatta Kedona

2011-05-20T14:55:00.000+05:00

The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (aka dolls village) looks like a typical Pakistani village about 80 kilometres away from Lahore and 40 kilometres from Indus civilization ruins in Harappa. There is no gas or telephone in the village. No asphalt roads lead to it. Yet it is different, the beautiful dolls and other handicrafts made by the village folks are collectors' delight all over the world. Influencers from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by the German volunteers can be seen in the village together.

The dolls made in the village are on display in international doll museum in Iceland, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. TGD village doll project was one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. Earlier, the dolls from Pakistan participated in international toy fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

Thatta Kedona is a project, first of its kind, in rural area where handmade quality dolls and toys are crafted using all indigenous material and traditional designs based on cultural and folklore themes. The workmanship of the dolls and toys has acclaimed international recognition and clientele through their participation in numerous international events, exhibitions, fairs and display at International Doll Museum Iceland and Deutsche Gesellschafr zur Foerderung der Kultar, Germany. These toys are the embodiment of dreams, hopes and most of all self-reliance of the hands, which breathe a part of the soul into them.

How all this started? A Pakistan studying in Germany, Amjad Ali who is a native of village TGD invited his German teachers Dr. Senta Siller to visit his village back home. Dr. Senta Siller along with Dr. Norbert Pinstch came to the village where they were presented a doll made by a local woman. Dr. Senta Siller was impressed by the doll and liked the natural and simple village life. She decided to work for the village; established NGO Anjumane-e-Falah-e-Aama and started community based Woman Art Centre in TGD in 1992. The aim of this centre is to involve local womenfolk in productive, creative and healthy income generating activities. For men Dr. Norbert Pintsch established Technology Transfer and Training Centre (TTTC). This created awareness and built confidence among the village folks and they started making dolls and toys on self-help biases that are marketed all over the world. The village and its residents are benefiting in the process.

This is a holistic project. Handicraft is in the spot on the stage but the project has a cultural philosophy. Education, science, agriculture, hydrogeology (drinking water project), appropriate technology, public health, economy (marketing, distribution), tourism and communication, are all in practice.

TTTC is concentrating on improved agricultural techniques and other suitable jobs for men. Also, carpenters, blacksmiths and tailors in the village are profitably involved in production for the TTTC for men. On Dr. Norbert Pintsch's arrival in Pakistan this time (November 2007), Nation took a chance to ask him about goals, the motives and motivations.

"The goals of the project are self-help activities at a grass roots levels, holistic village development, empowerment of women, income generation, and literacy and vocational training, says Dr. Norbert Pintsch. The philosophy working behind this selfless work is "preservation of cultural heritage, reduction of migration to cities by creating additional income in the village and future is in the rural areas," he added.

Dolls from Pakistan in authentic attires of the specific tribes, communities and areas and thematic toys tempt tourists and diplomats. They collect these dolls as a souvenir of the time they spent in Pakistan. "During last seven years, the Pakistani dolls have travelled in suitcases of our client to 40 different countries. They (dolls) sit in the ambassadors' residences not only in Islamabad, but accompany them to the next and second next posting. I have met TGD dolls in the Japanese ambassador's home in Jakarta and also in the German embassy in Damascus," tells Dr. Norbert Pintsch with pride and pleasure. "Part of the artists go where ever the dolls go," says a young artist. Each doll has a small plate attached carrying the name of the doll maker.

Doll making is one of the oldest and popular folk art in Pakistan. Simple stuffed dolls are made for children particularly in rural areas where people are still striving for the attainment of basic needs. The main difference of previous doll making and the modern techniques taught by Dr. Senta is that she has introduced variety in size and shapes and dresses them in colourful costumes with attentions to details. This has resulted in high quality soft toys to cater to demands of the gift market.

Work of Dr. Norbert Pintsch and Dr. Senta Siller has not only moved the people of area but also raised a spacious and simple building for the Women Art Centre and TTTC with the help of different donors. Now there are as many as 120 women from the age of 24 to 40 working in both the centres making dolls dressed in regional (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Balochi, Kashmiri and Kalash) embroider costumes, miniatures, hand knitted shawls tin rickshaws and other toys and earning their living. They are making their own lives better and strengthening their families. "They (the women) are moving towards true equality and independence" says a doll maker who has twelve year of schooling, is married in this village and working in the Centre.

Village TGD is changing. The relative prosperity has beginning to show. Villagers are putting their children, particularly the girls in school. The Woman Art Centre is also playing a part in the well being of the villagers. The Centre has provided furniture and other equipment to the primary school in village and opened a well equipped health care centre. An annual quality of life competition is held in the village when best houses are selected in three different categories.

This seems to be one of the unique and best self help project anywhere in Pakistan.

Painting Workshop in Women Art Center TGD

2011-05-20T10:40:00.000+05:00

Lok Virsa Award for Dr Senta Siller

2011-05-20T10:36:00.000+05:00

Technology Transfer and Training Centre

2011-05-19T20:05:00.000+05:00

Message from the Mother of the Dolls

2011-05-15T21:42:00.000+05:00

Dear Friends!

I started in 1993 to make handicraft dolls in the village of TGD together with the village girls. The effort was based upon available resources and a respect for the local tradition. Especially the hand-made dolls representing the dresses of the different provinces and minorities became very popular.

Only scarce information was available at that time about these groups and their dresses and obtaining the relevant materials was also a problem. Detailed field studies were needed to obtain and organize the required information, which was quite expensive.

It was very important for the project, which was initially supposed to be only a women’s project, to feel and sense the local peculiarities, abilities and skills.

I lived between 1993 and 1998 on invitation of the village elders in the village and trained about 120 women, who practically started to earn some income right from the start through increasing sale of their products in the provincial capitals. But never were and are the NGO-Members dependent upon the project, as only additional income is generated. The village women already have a house for residence and agricultural land, so that the additional income enables them and their families to remain in the village and not move to cities, where life continues to become more expensive and paid work keeps shrinking.

This project is meant to provide for income of women in the rural areas. The daughters have grown up in the meanwhile and since 1998 also young men from the village are integrated into the project and are engaged –among others- with the use of appropriate technology.

The products have been regularly developed further with the help of volunteers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. The NGO Members on the other hand have participated in Workshops in Dubai, Germany and Iceland and contributed in this way to the aims and objects of the effort.

Changes in political situation have necessitated a flexible approach: Nuclear tests, economic changes and local disputes have led to a decrease in sales, which has affected the locals as well as foreigners. The number of Melas has also decreased due to well known reasons. It is necessary to react quickly to changes, so that products were also offered to collectors and other customers, even if the number of orders were small and meant for customers in Japan, Australia, North America and Europe.

The success of the dolls project led to invitations in other countries, so that today women in Cameroon (since 1998) Columbia (since 1999), Iceland, Greece and Germany are also making dolls. The undressed dolls for Europe are made in our village in Pakistan.

With the help of volunteers we were also able to support the project by selling various dolls to ethnological museums in Europe.

I often receive letters and calls and my well-wishers ask me about my whereabouts. Dear Friends, customers and collectors, of course I have not forgotten you. The current intensive but very interesting work in the German project reminds me of the years between 1993 and 1998, which were not possible without the support and help of local and foreign volunteers.

The technological advances of today make many things easier, so that time zones are bridged and you can easily reach me by eMail and Skype and information can be broadcast through the Internet Radio of TGD, as well as the Thatta Kedona blog.

In the hope to be together with you and wishing all success to our village women through you purchases and interest in the project, I look forward to seeing you again, - in Pakistan or in Germany, in reality or virtually !

We try to sense future developments in our projects, including ground-breaking concepts to conserve energy. The motto here remains: Words must be followed by actions, so that active environmental protection can be carried out !!

I greet you heartily once again and remain

Heartily yours,

Dr Senta Siller

Thatta Kedona Products

2011-05-07T11:06:00.000+05:00

Thatta Kedona Education Project from 1999 till date

2011-05-06T08:44:00.001+05:00

Thatta Kedona Architecture Competition in the past

2011-05-06T08:00:00.003+05:00

Dr. Senta Siller Calling

2011-04-29T10:21:00.001+05:00

Double click to enlarge.

Thatta Kedona Overview

2011-04-14T09:58:00.000+05:00

Click here to Enlarge

Extreme Housing and Economy

2011-04-13T21:52:00.000+05:00

Dr Norbert Pintsch

The question is not, what is technologically and scientifically possible, but what is reasonable and sensible from a social point of view.

In the previous article Extreme Housing (Technobiz Dec 2006) already a comparison ha been made between the traditional culture, the current situation and the future developments. The global situation require a completely new approach, because the housing of the future, including the necessary construction structures, will not take place at the current level.

The biggest brake for the future developments is the economy itself, which is today considered to be a solution for all problems and which is characterized by utopian construction models, which are far apart from the expected changes of the future.

New production locations, increasing infra-structure costs in the suburban areas, increasing unproductive sector, increasing productivity of the individual work place.

Limitations created through titles of land and property, the necessity to establish integrated production facilities and so on are indications of the lower structure as described in this contribution.

If we follow the economic-scientific works of current times, we find it clear development of moving the production to these areas where the cost of production is the lowest. Uneconomical entities are closed down, the fusion of entities is a logical result of decision, because the Market determines the happenings. Thanks to todays communication and information systems, quick decisions can be taken to produce and to market more cost-effectively. Under the term Market one understands all possible things and refrains from defining the same. The Market is supposed to react , and so it will be in future and so it is at present, because sufficient number of theoreticians have engaged with the practical aspects. And that development is taking place in the prescribed manner is absolutely undisputed, because: it is the opinion of all the competent leaders.

Complex happenings are explained with the help of mathematical models. If there were a God of Mathematics, it would probably offer thunder and lightning to quickly clean the theory-pollution taking place!

To verify the assumptions and to compare with the realities. But what if the assumption and the reality are the same? A clear case for correcting, which is however the greatest danger, because exactly the correcting here is the error, which is not recognized. In this way we proceed in a manner, which is wrong but which we assume to be connect.

We refrain in the following examples intentionally to indicate names. Critical readers will anyway understand, what and who is meant:

Thanks to higher productivity of machines combined with advertising measures, an automobile manufacturer can offer higher quality and larger quantities accordingly with enormous price reductions.
Higher mobility requires wider roads, new bridges, infra-struc income generating measures in order to finance the new investments: hospitals, schools, museums, etc. Are necessary but can also be established privately.
Increasing education promotes degree holders, who due to disintegration of the traditional system- look for employment opportunities.
Private and government jobs are necessary in order to promote the prosperity.
Higher productivity in other countries puts the local markets under pressure,- Jobs are lost as the cost of production is high. At the same time capabilities and talent is lost, as a rule for always.
Missing jobs mean falling incomes and lower purchasing power. Higher productivity sinks the prices, increasing uniformity with higher quality enables the prices to be reduced.

Concluding, we allow yourselves to refer to a communist leader in XX. century, who, unfortunately, promoted an economic system, which can be seen as a twin brother of the capitalist system. It recommended the theoreticians unlimited field work and other practical work,- historically we speak of the cultural revolution, a measure, which is today’s western oriented system could have interesting consequences!

Pakistan Mobile Modes

2011-04-12T10:10:00.003+05:00

Double click to enlarge - Images by Dr. Norbert Pintsch

Students from LUMS in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka

2011-04-11T10:36:00.001+05:00

Thatta Kedona Education Project

2011-04-11T10:24:00.001+05:00

Since Senta Siller conceived and implemented the idea of giving free books to the students of two government schools in Thatta Kedona Ghulamka Dheroka - the Dolls and Toy Village to promote education in rural community – in 1994, free books and stationary are distributed at the start of academic session every year. This year Aamir Rafique (FPAC) from Lahore was the chief guest on the eve of books distribution.

Spring Stars of Thatta Kedona

2011-04-08T09:29:00.000+05:00

Two German volunteers {Therapist Gundula (left) and Porter Monika Kuppler (right)} are working in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (the Dolls Village) this spring and making a difference in their own ways.

This is Pakistan - Slide Show

2011-04-03T14:00:00.001+05:00

Pakistan Slide Show

Tags: Pakistan, Travel, Heritage, Culture

Spring and vlunteers come to together

2011-03-28T08:52:00.000+05:00

With Monika Kuppler in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka busy with series of her pottery workshops and Dr. Norbert Pintsch also in the village, Thatta Kedona spring activities are picking up.

Work is in progress at different projects in addition to electricity by kites project. Thekedar Iqbal from Harappa is busy in various the repair work, a group of students from Women College University is expected to come and spend a day in the village. Flowers and decorative trees will be handed over to residents under ‘one boy one tree’ program.

While this is happening in the village, dolls and toys from Thatta Kedona are on display at Alhamra Art Gallery with the collaboration of Daachi-Foundation. Large number of friends of dolls came to visit Thatta Kedona stall at Alhamra Art Gallery.

Daachi Foundation mela has a message to create an atmosphere of harmony, tolerance, unity among the nation by establishing a peaceful society and promotion of traditional art and crafts. The mela not only entertained the masses but also provided an opportunity to know about the traditional arts and crafts and to bring them closed the real culture of this land. A large number of Lahorites along with their families visited the festival with full zeal.

Thatta Kedona Stall at Alhamra Art Gallery

2011-03-22T08:40:00.000+05:00

Doll Makers

2011-03-18T10:23:00.001+05:00

The idea behind the Dolls of the World took birth in Pakistan when Thatta Kedona - a self help project - started in small Punjab village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka in Pakistan and NGO Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama (AeFeA) was registered in 1999. The rest is history as they say.

AeFeA has grown multidimensional over time. Now AeFeA cooperates with six local NGOs all over Pakistan from Karachi to Hunza and in many countries around the globe. In Pakistan, the project also enjoys cooperation of prestigious educational institutions – Bahaud Din Zakriya University Multan, Indus Valley School for Art and Architecture, Karachi, School of Visual Art, Lahore, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi – interested in heritage, culture and or agriculture.
Women from other countries heard about the success of the project in Pakistan through DGFK newsletters and other media channels as well as through word of mouth (mostly from diplomatic corps housewives) and invited Dr. Senta Siller - Mother of Dolls - to start similar projects in their countries. In Cameroon, three independent NGOs -- Akwatinnighah (1998), Akaanhong (2002) and Center of Appropriate Technology in (2001) are working where over 90 persons are involved in handicrafts and appropriate technology with support from Bamenda University of Science Technology, Bamenda.

Tanto Mejor Por La Paz, Saboya is working in Colombia in cooperation with four independent local NGOs or similar organizations since 1999. Over 60 persons are busy in handicraft with collaboration from Dept of Environment Technology National University in Bogate and AeFeA.
Besides, AeFeA has networked with International Dolls Museum Flateyri and University of Reykjavik in Iceland and Benaki Museum Greece. In UAE-Dubai, AeFeA is participating in Global Village Expo every year since 2001. In Germany, besides most German senior experts coming to Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, Dolls of the World project has support from Institute for Planning and Consulting, Potsdam.

This international community of like minded people has come a long way. Sky is their limit.

Tags: Networking, Doll Makers, Thatta Kedona, Dr. Senta Siller

Fine Art of Flooring

2011-03-18T10:18:00.000+05:00

Maintaining a floor is a fine art. One needs to use right products and need to know how floor will look while in place before starting. Flooring can be done with carpeting, tile, laminate, granite, ceramic and or vinyl. Neatly done, flooring changes the look of any living space.

Thanks to Sears – a leading Floor company - that they offer a great range of flooring options. What is more, they offer the best prices (also flexible financing) and quality. Engage them and you will have guaranteed satisfaction. Visit their gallery and you will find out how best flooring they can do. Best thing is that they are offering 20 % off on flooring and installation. Explore their neatly laid out site and see what they are offering and how. Better still, make a choice and change the look of your home.

University of Gujrat Second Convocation 2011

2011-03-17T12:53:00.000+05:00

The University of Gujrat Second Convocation 2011

The University of Gujrat Second Convocation 2010

Thatta Kedona Internet Radio

2011-03-11T11:02:00.000+05:00

Internet radio is essentially the same as regularly broadcast radio, with a few distinguishing characteristics. Whereas there is a minimal lag time with regular radio because it broadcasts through the air, Internet radio has a lag time of 2.5 to 10 seconds or so, depending on the server. Internet radio is streamed, and so does not involve downloading. You simply log on to the particular site and in it comes.

Receiving the stream is much like listening to your MP3 player, as the format is the same. Several formats are on offer, but the MP3 and ACC formats are currently the most frequently used. As the medium continues to find its footing, there will likely be modifications, which are difficult to predict today.

Coming to village Thatta Ghulamka Ghulamka Dheroka known as dolls village, Internet Radio will empower the rural community in the rustic village and also offer them information on the subjects of their interests. Stay tuned, the regular broadcost is scheduled to start here soon.

Thatta Kedona Success Story 1990-2010

2011-03-10T11:55:00.000+05:00

TGD Success Story-Dolls of the World-International NGO project

Income Generation for Women and Men in Rural Araes

Handicraft-AppropriateTechnology-CT&IT

AWARDS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
1990 First contact with TGD
1991 Movie Production
1992 Start of a small and private Basic Health Service
1993 Start of Women Art Centre
1996 First Award from Lok Virsa, Islamabad, Pakistan
1996/7 Grant from Japanes Government for Solar Power Unit in Village
1997 50 years of Pakistan, Exhibition in “House of the Cultures of the World” Berlin,
Germany
1998 Export Promotion Buereau Karachi & Pakistan Embassy in Bonn, Germany:
Handicraft Exhibition: 12 NGOs from Pakistan, Bonn, Germany
1999 Export Promotion Bueraeu Karachi: International Toys Fair in Nurenberg,
Germany
2000 Expo 2000, Award Best Worldwide Project from Asia, Hanover, Germany
2001 Consul General and Commercial Counselor in Dubai: Sponsored Project on
Pakistan Pavilion in Global Village / Dubai Shopping Festival, UAE
2002 Export Promotion Bureau Karachi:
Handicraft Exhibition: 6 NGOs from Pakistan, Import Shop Berlin, Germany
2004 Olympic Games-Dolls from Pakistan: Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2004 UN-IWSA, Silver Award, Izmir, Turkey
2005 Expo 2005, Pakistan Pavilion, Aichi, Japan
2007 UNESCO Award: Seal of Excellence, Islamabad, Pakistan
2008-2010 PakDolls in MuseumsShop of Gandahra-Exposition in Bonn-Berlin-Zuerich

COOPERATIONS
Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama,-
The Mother from 8 Daughters:
Presentations, Participations
1993 Start in TGD, Pakistan LokVirsa Museum Islamabad
1998 Cameroon Museum Mont Febe, Yaounde
1999 Colombia Museo Nacional, Bogota
2000 Iceland National Museum, Reykjavik
International Dolls Museum, Flateyri
2001 UAE-Dubai
2002 Greece Benaki-Museum, Athen
2003 Negev/Israel
2004 Greenland National Museum, Copenhagen
2005 Germany Ethnological Museums Cologne, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin

NETWORKING
TGD and 6 villages around TGD, 6 NGOs in Pakistan, Cooperation with the daughter-projects…
Clients in Pakistan (between 12 and 16)
Clients Abroad in Canada/USA, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Japan

Special Clients: Collectors and Ethnological Museum, Cabbies Collectors Club for Certification of Origin

LINKS
www.thattakedona.blogspot.com
www.archive.com: Thatta Kedona
www.fronzeck-multimedia.de/dgfk/interviews
www.deutsch-pakistanisches-forum.org
google: thatta kedona, senta siller, norbert pintsch

UAE Dolls

2011-03-10T09:19:00.000+05:00

A possibility for the participation of a Pakistani NGO at the Global Village of the Dubai Shopping Festival for exhibiting and offering its outstanding handicrafts products emerged in 2000 on the invitation of the consulate general of Pakistan in Dubai.

The first participation in the fair followed in 2001 and was quite successful right from the start, -reports of the local media also confirmed the success of advertising and media attention.

The stand in the Pakistan Pavilion through the courtesy of the Pakistani commercial counselor however required careful organization, transport, resolution of visa matters and schooling of the the village NGO staff as well as locating cheap accommodation in Dubai.

Two young women as well young men from the village NGO have participated in the festival up till now. A German volunteer was also found as a temporary arrangement to bridge the staff requirement at the stand. Additionally, we also succeeded in winning a permanent customer for the products at this temporary forum so that it became possible to sell the products over the whole year.

An Arabic pair of dolls was specially developed by the Pakistani NGO for the Arabian market, which can be purchased on the spot as well as orders cab also be placed. Local volunteers are also helpful in the order processing and they have also participated in village project in Pakistan.

NGO

2011-03-05T14:35:00.000+05:00

Even if generally and in the meanwhile the term NGO has degraded into Sham-NGO, an effort is made to describe the most important functions of such an entity.

Contrary to a GO (Government Organization) and a Firm (prive or public limited company, etc.) the offices of management in an NGO are honorary positions, i.e. the president, treasurer etc. do not receive any remuneration for their work. The members of the NGO are not salaried employees, rather they work according to their own possibilities and necessities of the NGO, because contrary to the above mentioned entities, the NGO posesses neither the annual budget nor can it operate in a perspective.

An NGO should not be the extended arm of a political, religious, scientific or any other entity, thereby appearing as an institution, which is intended to be an income generating measure for its workers, because -as mentioned above-, there should supposedly be no employees in the NGO.

If this description appears to be unreal, then only because the NGO in the meanwhile is seen as a milkable cow, which is to be milked until it dries out. An NGO should also not function as a charity organization, which gives financial or material aid without the receiving party contributing anything in return. And there is also no back door (see above); - which would enable influence through the purchase of shares !

Also the tasks should be defined in such a way that, that new problem factors are not created through the work of the NGO. This means that the organization of the NGO should be horizontal in nature and it should consider its surrounding environment.

In order to achieve a certain level of independence, it is important for an NGO in urban as well as rural areas to collect and concentrate the forces at its disposal. This is infact the basic idea of an NGO - to convert an idea into reality. Administering with charity in the foreground would actually mean that instead of being strengthened, the forces are actually being weakened through the acts of charity. International charity organizations do this for the sole purpose, because they are themselves income generating measures, - Providing help as profession is as reprehensible as providing help for image reasons !

These limitations, which reflect on how an NGO should actually be, again give rise to the question, whether there exists any institution at all, which fulfills all the classical requirements. The simple answer is: yes and one may point to AFA project in the TGD village, which is working on these principles since 1992.

Self Help Project

2011-03-03T10:12:00.000+05:00

The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (TGD) looks like a typical Pakistani village about 80 kilometres away from Lahore and 40 kilometres from Indus civilization ruins in Harappa. There is no gas or telephone in the village. No asphalt roads lead to it. Yet it is different, the beautiful dolls and other handicrafts made by the village folks are collectors' delight all over the world. Influencers from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by the German volunteers can be seen in the village together.

The dolls made in the village are on display in international doll museum in Iceland, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. TGD village doll project was one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. Earlier, the dolls from Pakistan participated in international toy fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

Thatta Kedona is a project, first of its kind, in rural area where handmade quality dolls and toys are crafted using all indigenous material and traditional designs based on cultural and folklore themes. The workmanship of the dolls and toys has acclaimed international recognition and clientele through their participation in numerous international events, exhibitions, fairs and display at International Doll Museum Iceland and Deutsche Gesellschafr zur Foerderung der Kultar, Germany. These toys are the embodiment of dreams, hopes and most of all self-reliance of the hands, which breathe a part of the soul into them.

How all this started? A Pakistan studying in Germany, Amjad Ali who is a native of village TGD invited his German teachers Dr. Senta Siller to visit his village back home. Dr. Senta Siller along with Dr. Norbert Pinstch came to the village where they were presented a doll made by a local woman. Dr. Senta Siller was impressed by the doll and liked the natural and simple village life. She decided to work for the village; established NGO Anjumane-e-Falah-e-Aama and started community based Woman Art Centre in TGD in 1992. The aim of this centre is to involve local womenfolk in productive, creative and healthy income generating activities. For men Dr. Norbert Pintsch established Technology Transfer and Training Centre (TTTC). This created awareness and built confidence among the village folks and they started making dolls and toys on self-help biases that are marketed all over the world. The village and its residents are benefiting in the process.

This is a holistic project. Handicraft is in the spot on the stage but the project has a cultural philosophy. Education, science, agriculture, hydrogeology (drinking water project), appropriate technology, public health, economy (marketing, distribution), tourism and communication, are all in practice.

TTTC is concentrating on improved agricultural techniques and other suitable jobs for men. Also, carpenters, blacksmiths and tailors in the village are profitably involved in production for the TTTC for men. On Dr. Norbert Pintsch's arrival in Pakistan this time (November 2007), Nation took a chance to ask him about goals, the motives and motivations.

"The goals of the project are self-help activities at a grass roots levels, holistic village development, empowerment of women, income generation, and literacy and vocational training, says Dr. Norbert Pintsch. The philosophy working behind this selfless work is "preservation of cultural heritage, reduction of migration to cities by creating additional income in the village and future is in the rural areas," he added.

Dolls from Pakistan in authentic attires of the specific tribes, communities and areas and thematic toys tempt tourists and diplomats. They collect these dolls as a souvenir of the time they spent in Pakistan. "During last seven years, the Pakistani dolls have travelled in suitcases of our client to 40 different countries. They (dolls) sit in the ambassadors' residences not only in Islamabad, but accompany them to the next and second next posting. I have met TGD dolls in the Japanese ambassador's home in Jakarta and also in the German embassy in Damascus," tells Dr. Norbert Pintsch with pride and pleasure. "Part of the artists go where ever the dolls go," says a young artist. Each doll has a small plate attached carrying the name of the doll maker.

Doll making is one of the oldest and popular folk art in Pakistan. Simple stuffed dolls are made for children particularly in rural areas where people are still striving for the attainment of basic needs. The main difference of previous doll making and the modern techniques taught by Dr. Senta is that she has introduced variety in size and shapes and dresses them in colourful costumes with attentions to details. This has resulted in high quality soft toys to cater to demands of the gift market.

Work of Dr. Norbert Pintsch and Dr. Senta Siller has not only moved the people of area but also raised a spacious and simple building for the Women Art Centre and TTTC with the help of different donors. Now there are as many as 120 women from the age of 24 to 40 working in both the centres making dolls dressed in regional (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Balochi, Kashmiri and Kalash) embroider costumes, miniatures, hand knitted shawls tin rickshaws and other toys and earning their living. They are making their own lives better and strengthening their families. "They (the women) are moving towards true equality and independence" says a doll maker who has twelve year of schooling, is married in this village and working in the Centre.

Village TGD is changing. The relative prosperity has beginning to show. Villagers are putting their children, particularly the girls in school. The Woman Art Centre is also playing a part in the well being of the villagers. The Centre has provided furniture and other equipment to the primary school in village and opened a well equipped health care centre. An annual quality of life competition is held in the village when best houses are selected in three different categories.

This seems to be one of the unique and best self help project anywhere in Pakistan.

Preservation of Cultural Heritage

2011-03-03T09:52:00.000+05:00

Every year AeFeA holds a competition for Preservation of Cultural Heritage - beautiful tradition that is being carried forward by SPARC and DGFK since 2000.

In the process Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka – Village of Dolls – have changed. Now it gives a clean and nifty new look every time you go there. People decorate their homes (interior as well exterior) with conventional designs and colours.

Pottery and Handicraft Workshops by Monika Kuppler

2011-03-02T08:57:00.000+05:00

Monika kuppler – a veteran volunteer – is arriving in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka in March 2011. This is her ninth time for NGO work in TGD again. She teachers pottery and handicraft in the Women Art Centre. Village women are already waiting for her.Spring is always a very productive season in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka.

Dhol Tamasha

2011-03-01T08:22:00.000+05:00

From ATP

Ar global village

2011-02-28T21:49:00.002+05:00

A possibility for the participation of a Pakistani NGO at the Global Village of the Dubai Shopping Festival for exhibiting and offering its outstanding handicrafts products emerged in 2000 on the invitation of the consulate general of Pakistan in Dubai.

The first participation in the fair followed in 2001 and was quite successful right from the start, -reports of the local media also confirmed the success of advertising and media attention.

The stand in the Pakistan Pavillion through the courtesy of the pakistani commercial counsellor however required careful organization, transport, resolution of visa matters and schooling of the the village NGO staff as well as locating cheap accomodation in Dubai.

Two young women as well young men from the village NGO have participated in the festival uptill now. A german volunteer was also found as a temporary arrangement to bridge the staff requirement at the stand. Additionally, we also succeeded in winning a permanent customer for the products at this temporary forum so that it became possible to sell the products over the whole year.

An arabic pair of dolls was specially developed by the pakistani NGO for the arabian market, which can be purchased on the spot as well as orders cab also be placed. Local volunteers are also helpful in the order processing and they have also participated in village project in Pakistan.

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch

2011-02-26T12:58:00.006+05:00

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been working tirelessly on Appropriate Technology in Cameroon, Pakistan and elsewhere.

I have the fortune to be familiar with Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch’s work in Technical Transfer and Training Center (TTTC) for Men in remoe Pakistani Village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka , Mud Project at Lahore and also what he has been doing to promote African energy through the use of solar energy with the meaningful and active coopration with Senior Expect Service (SES) Bonn-Germany and Society for the Advancement of Culture (DGFK) Berlin Germany as solutions to Climate Change and adaptation.

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has experience with no less than 133 projects since 1976 and each one of them has made a visible difference in more than one ways.

To recognize the work of Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, the Senate of the Bamenda University of Science and Technology (BUST) on the Nomination of Board of Governors of Industrial and Educational Development Company (INDECO) Ltd have conferred upon Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch the Honorary Title of Doctor of Science with all the Rights and Previleges Thereto Pertaining in Recognation of his tangible Services to the Cause of Appropriate Technology on Feb 19, 2011.

Big congratulations Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch.

Also at Logic is Variable, Doodh Patti and Light Within

An Overview

2011-02-18T14:24:00.000+05:00

Click here to Enlarge

TGD Architectural Ornaments

2011-02-15T19:33:00.002+05:00

Chauvinism, Feminism or Familyism?

2011-02-15T11:15:00.000+05:00

Chauvinism evolved out of nature and history with a logic that adapted slowly over time to recognize more equality with women. As chauvinism evolved, it was aspiring toward a society in which men and women were relatively equal but had different roles. The care of children and families was held in high regard by Chauvinism. Men did more work outside the home and women did more work inside the home, but Chauvinism included a sense of honor in which biological fathers were responsible for helping to raise children.

Chauvinism guided American culture in 1955, and 99% of the children in America grew up in homes with both biological parents.Feminism was more of a revolution than an evolution. Feminism aspired toward a society in which men and women have equal opportunities and little or no difference in their roles. Feminism elevated career fulfillment above the care of children and families in the lives of women and everyone else.

Biological mothers still had a sense of honor about child-raising in Feminist practice, but fathers were freed from their traditional role by a culture that was cheerleading for single motherhood and recreational sex. Feminist culture guides America today, and intentionally or otherwise promotes the self-fulfillment of women through careers, divorce, recreational sex, and single motherhood. 50% of the children in America now live with only one biological parent.Do you agree with what Peter Slovenski writes? What would you chose: Chauvinism, Feminism or Familyism?

Sustainability Vertically Impossible - Horizontally a Chance?

2011-02-12T23:40:00.002+05:00

Abstract from paper by Professor Norbert Pintsch (Institute for Planning and Consulting, Germany-USA). Paper was presented in Second International COMSAT Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development that was held in Abbotabad from Aug 26-27, 2007.

This article discusses the basic concept of sustainability and its dependencies in cultural contexts. This corelation has hardly been considered from the technology oriented side and lesser and lesser in general scientific circles. This is by no means a sign of superiority but more a sign of philosophical poverty and one sidedness, which is contra-productive, without the concerned and interested parties being even aware of it. The following contribution compares the concept of Vertical Sustainability to the Horizontal Sustainability, while making it clear that the latter is not suitable for income generating measures in urban areas.

The scientific community agrees that the Earth’s climate is changing and severe impacts are inevitable. Global warming leads to the melting of both Artic and Antarctic polar ice sheets. Such melting is bound to change the ecological conditions and may cause a break in food chain of living organisms. Under the prevailing conditions, the scientific community of the twenty-first century both anticipates and fears the challenges that are presented. Humanity has reached a “defining moment” in our dominion over the planet and our ability to sustain or destroy it depends on our forthcoming behaviour and actions.

As custodians of our planet we should do more to counter the dangers posed by climate change, “destroying” the biosphere. Achieving environmental sustainability requires managing and protecting ecosystems, maintaining the diversity of life in both human- managed and natural systems and protecting the environment from pollution to maintain the quality of land, air and water.

The ESDev-2007 Conference has brought together hundreds of professionals from academia, industries, local enterprises and agencies to translate ideas, success stories, case histories, current trends, and technologies into solutions for environmental protection and enhancement. The proceedings hold about 150 technical and research papers and review articles covering almost every aspect related to environment. Over 70 papers were presented in two parallel sessions and the remaining papers were displayed in poster form. The papers presented at ESDev-2007 cover topics related to local, regional and global environmental and development issues. These topics are merged into eight main themes and each section of the proceedings is marked with the title of the topics. The content pages and the author index in all volumes are identical. The author index includes the co-authors as well.

The number of themes and unequal distribution of the papers under these themes represents particularly the academic response to the call for papers. Issues of local concern and expertise are particularly well represented. Perhaps in future years it would be appropriate to encourage participation from a wider environmental perspective.

The ESDev-2007 Conference has initiated a dialogue among all the stakeholders in an area of immense importance which must result in specific actions, to craft suitable policies and to take the necessary action to protect and sustain the environment. We hope research papers and technical work presented in the ESDev-2007 proceedings will evoke interest and subsequent discussion and practical implementation not only by the delegate attending the conference, but also by others involved in environment related activities like research and teaching institutions, NGOs and individuals working in private and public sector.

About Culture in Particular

2011-02-10T08:00:00.001+05:00

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch

Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka (TGD), District Okara

2011-02-09T11:00:00.000+05:00

Located on the offside, between Okara and Faisalabad, 45 Minutes eastward of Harappa.

100 % EXPERIENCE OF RURAL LIFE IN THE PUNJAB,- A PROGRAMME OF ABSOLUTE CONTRASTS !

NO Swimming Pool - NO Alcohol - NO Buffet - NO Bus - N O ...!

Pre-condition for Participation: Covered skin, Respect for the traditional culture !

- Last war of freedom in the Punjab in 1857, Murder of Lord Berkeley by
the Kharel tribe of TGD
- Region of the best buffaloes of the world as well as cattle thieves;
- AFA / TGD at the EXPO 2000 in Hannover and EXPO 2005 in Aichi
- AFA / TGD silver medal for the dolls project IWSA/UNESCO 2004
- “TV-Programme”: channel ONE-sunset, channel TWO-moonshine and stars

Handicraft production of dolls in traditional dresses of provinces and minorities at the Women Centre

Models of Rickshaws and other metal toys at the Men Centre.

Best time for visits: March and October (as there is no air-conditioner in summer and no heating in winter)

Local Boarding and Lodging is available for visitors @ Pak. Rs. 250 per person per day.

Registration for Transport Lahore - Village:

M.Ilyas, AFA, Showroom Lahore, 0303-7 35 69 86

Registration for Self-Transport: Mr Farooq Ahmad, AFA, Man. Director Men Centre 0300-417 43 60

Mrs Farzana Zahoor, AFA, Man. Director Women Centre 0321-697 21 05

Other Information here and in this site

Problems Facing Projects is Less-Developed Countries

2011-02-05T08:53:00.000+05:00

By Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch

Who could have imagined during the Cold War how wonderful new socialism would be (Fast Food Spray 2002).

Problems facing projects is less-developed countries

One feature of the general approach in development co-operation that is not discussed much is misunderstandings between urban and rural cultures. The diversity between the cultures is ignored -- differences between the urban and rural culture of a country as well as between different cultures, between western and western-orientated cultures.

As a consequence of misunderstandings, processes are augmented, multiplied, compounded by use of scientific and industrial methods to assess the consequences of technology.

When such projects are installed, it is more a question of concealed job creation measures with short-term economic thinking; any kind of "social efficiency is ignored and or is not recognized.

Consequently, project management of the kind taking place at TGD is unknown or at least beyond the realms of conventional thinking in terms of efficiency. Yet, it is precisely this kind of project management that offers opportunities that are interesting in the long term.

The prerequisite for this is cautious approach; the much cited concept of sustainability requires different time parameters!

Integrated approach and diversity of topics

When adopting an integrated approach to a project in a rural area, an outsider is initially beset by a certain feeling of helplessness, an ever growing number of questions arises and the search for answers is dependent on relying on one’s own ideas, openness towards the local population and, in turn, on their willingness to exchange ideas, and on the general environment.

The number and diversity of possibilities in connection with the questions that arise is astounding. This explains the following list and diversity of topics in the TGD project:

Doll making
Education
Tourism
Public health
Preservation of cultural heritage
Ecotechnology
Agriculture, hydrotechnology
Infrastructure
Building and materials
Marketing and distribution
Documentation
Networking
Communication and information

Project description

Activities in and in connection with Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka can best be described as a Pakistani NGO located there and working with other NGOs and institutions in Pakistan and, in addition, co-operating with NGOs at an international level. The results of ethnological research serve as means to achieve improvement of women’s income in rural areas by enabling them to make handicraft products. Training and processing are always linked with marketing -- income depends on products being sold!

Projects and reality

Management of NGO projects can be entirely out of its depth in business terms. To put it in another way, it reflects a completely different culture. Features of these differences are:

Producing goods that no-one has ordered

Selling without any limitations like (a) prices for producers go down to a rock-bottom level, (b) increase in income according to the principle -- who knows how long it will last, so act now, (c) connections between production and sales are not clear in a Western sense i.e. relative lack of balance in so-called budgeting, (d) a complete lack of structures exists in transactions between the cultures, based on lack of experience and knowledge of markets in industrialized countries and (e) while dependence on the extended family provides a framework for business activities, it can also have a negative influence and lead to unwise withdrawals of money particularly when, for example, a marriage is in the offing.

Handicrafts – ecotechnology - CIT

A departure from the across-the-board approach: The Western way of thinking is dominated by an approach that seemingly fundamental solutions have to be implemented as a whole. This can be described as compelling, but also as blinkered, well-worn and insular. What is surprising in South Asia is the meeting of the first, second, third, and fourth worlds; economic developments, social movements, scientific insights, religious interpretations are not seen in terms of fixed parameters:

Environmentally friendly (environmental protection has special significance in places where air pollution is at a high level due to rapid increases in production).
Social (protection provided by families means that large organizations do not have to invest in care facilities).
Greater balance in technological and economic terms (it is less a question of what is feasible from the technological, scientific or economic point of view and more what makes sense from the overall point of view).

Elements of sustainable project development in rural areas

The pillars of a project in a rural space:

Family
Work in the fields
Project work

Family and work in the fields are to be seen as wealth; work in connection with a project as no more than a source of extra income. This means that dependence is limited and traditional values are not destroyed. A negative example would be the carpet knotting that takes place in urban centers with the resulting child labor, exploitation by city dwellers, neglect of family and work in the fields.

Further development in rural areas on the basis of careful and circumspect management

Handicrafts
Ecotechnology
CIT

In the context of the project, handicrafts, ecotechnology, and communication and information technology seem to be particularly important in rural areas -- a further tripartite model.

In contrast with urban culture, which trains its next generation in industrial design with the result that the West tends to serve as a role model, handicrafts represent the wealth of a region. Providing that Western methods of production are avoided, there are good future prospects on a Western market that is saturated with industrial design.

The means of ecotechnology enable the rural population to become independent of city-dwellers while also making it possible for them to benefit from technological developments, for example, by using e-mails or a mobile telephone to execute orders beyond village level.

Ecotechnology (solar cooker, solar cooler, windmills, solar collectors, photovoltaic, etc.) is of significance as its use diminishes dependence on urban culture. Development of infrastructure in the cities that is often called for is based on obsolete models. These are preferred as they provide producers with a wide distribution network with good economic opportunities, but do nothing to help the masses living in the countryside.

Information and communication technology in rural areas may appear to be completely absurd, but this is the very factor that enables people in such areas to participate in major markets, even if this has cost the time of millions of developers and billions of investment dollars in Western countries.

Domestic co-operation with

Other NGOs
Institutions such as universities
Customers and bazaars

A tendency towards a certain isolation does not only exist in Western civilization but also in traditional cultures. Knowledge of the wider world is not necessarily compatible with what is experienced in the microcosm. Nevertheless, it is a question of combining both aspects in a way that makes sense. An attempt to achieve this is being made in Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka (TGD) in the form of invitations to professors and students to visit the village.

In the context of making handicraft products, collaboration with other NGOs is necessary, without space being given to fears about losing existing assets: traditional culture is rich in comparison with industrial culture.

Work at an NGO has nothing to do with charity but Ð it could almost be said Ð demands a greater sense of business acumen. It is a question of prevailing against the mass-produced articles of industry, which has comparatively vast amounts of money at its disposal.

Overseas co-operation with

Other NGOs
Institutions such as universities
Customers and bazaars

The technological resources of the industrialized countries mean that for the first time it is possible for insignificant NGOs to communicate and co-operate with each other without having to have certificates from training institutions. As far as the NGO of TGD is concerned, first steps towards co-operating with other NGOs have been made, e.g. in the form of exchange of materials.

Networking with projects abroad

Cameroon
Colombia
Iceland, Dubai, etc.

The participation of volunteers from abroad has proved to be beneficial with the result that staff of the local NGO participates in events abroad such as the International Dubai Festival, the International Workshop in Iceland, at import fairs in Berlin, etc. In the meantime, the volunteers have gathered experience that is beginning to make an impact in the networked projects.

Summary

In times of sweeping changes the "half life” of pilot projects has been greatly reduced. Although, despite this, project pilots are realized and emulated and the error rate is rising at a phenomenal speed, it is necessary to confine oneself to what is special. The abilities and skills - which are strongly traditional - of people in rural areas constitute the wealth of a region, which need to be recorded as if in a living laboratory.

Author Prof. Dr Norbert. Pintsch, Voluntary Director, TTTC TGD can be approached here: pdp33@hotmail.com

Aid for Development

2011-02-03T14:20:00.001+05:00

The amounts allocated in the federal budget for development aid say it all, namely that too much is being done and too little at the same time. How can that be, -only one thing can be true? And still, both are correct because for one it is too much and for the other too little.

Now, how does it look for the actively engaged people in development aid? They are mostly not thoroughly acquainted with the problems of the developing countries because they constantly make comparisons between their home and the project country und therefore very quickly develop a certain way of thinking, namely to develop themselves so much in the normally three years of participation in an overseas project, that they can build a small house of their own at home.

To these actively engaged persons also belong the diplomats, who –given the bad experiences- have to posess certain qualities, namely: be gladly in the home country and be in a position to use the German language in the foreign country. Now what does that mean? – foreign languages are learnt only later during the training process for the official post. Those posted in the foreign countries appear to hate their mother countries and therefore wake up early in the morning. Since they love security and safety of their official premises, they leave these only on arrival and departure and otherwise they are too busy in the table work or are participating in enormously important conferences and are therefore totally overloaded to even think of taking out time for not so important matters. To these not so important matters also belong the development aid projects. Their activity is mostly limited to finding paragraphs which speak against a project and to ensure employment at the base station for processing the incoming project proposals.

A pleasant side-effect is the official therapy. At home subjected to otherwise long and tedious therapy, these officials obtain official and free psychological treatment in which they are required to look after the visitors and applicants in a friendly manner and thereby ascertain their importance, which can be summed up to be zero. This strengthens the officer and makes him resistant to inter human contact.

The projects most successful are the ones in which the families involved in the project are well looked after; that’s also a sort of development aid.

Employees of the population and immigration offices are called human smugglers. They have improved their image in the meanwhile quite a lot and now offer complete immigration packages. The concerned family has to pay a certain amount of money and with that it gets a guarantee that one person from the family will get an entry visa to the desired country even without any knowledge of the language of the host country. A lot of advertisement is done in this context; the diplomatic representation or the embassy on its part does not keep one eye closed here. On the contrary, they keep their eyes wide open on their work tables and avoid in case travel in such a dangerous country.

In short: how bad it would be if these officials of the foreign ministry and the ministry for development aid were not there? - The country would have additional unemployed persons, not much but still. Moreover, the expensive therapy costs are saved by way of the residence in the foreign country, where aggressions and humanly mistakes can be let out without anyone making a fuss!

Related: With love from Cameroon

The Dolls Project in UAE

2011-02-02T08:32:00.002+05:00

A possibility for the participation of a Pakistani NGO at the Global Village of the Dubai Shopping Festival for exhibiting and offering its outstanding handicrafts products emerged in 2000 on the invitation of the consulate general of Pakistan in Dubai.

The first participation in the fair followed in 2001 and was quite successful right from the start, -reports of the local media also confirmed the success of advertising and media attention.

The stand in the Pakistan Pavillion through the courtesy of the Pakistani commercial counsellor however required careful organization, transport, resolution of visa matters and schooling of the the village NGO staff as well as locating cheap accommodation in Dubai.

Two young women as well young men from the dolls village NGO have participated in the festival uptill now. A German volunteer was also found as a temporary arrangement to bridge the staff requirement at the stand. Additionally, we also succeeded in winning a permanent customer for the products at this temporary forum so that it became possible to sell the products over the whole year.

An arabic pair of dolls was specially developed by the Pakistani NGO for the Arabian market, which can be purchased on the spot as well as orders cab also be placed. Local volunteers are also helpful in the order processing and they have also participated in village project in Pakistan.

Travelers’ View of the Area

2011-02-01T09:57:00.000+05:00

One of the first places I came to know after settling down is a village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka near Okara. The unique claim of the village to international fame is the dolls and toys made by village women that are collectors delight all over the world. Dolls made in the village have travelled to International Dolls Museum in Amsterdam and also have been put on display in the "Themepark" at EXPO 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as one of the 767 worldwide projects - an example of thinking for 21st century. Earlier, the dolls participated in International Toy Fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

The murals are painted on the parameter mud walls in the village where doll collectors and people interested in sustainable development and rural heritage from different initiative groups come and stay as paying guests. The village folks still consider cooing crows as symbol of the arrival of the guests. Architectural competitions are held annually when best mud house is selected. The Chief Harappan Explorer Dr. Mark Kenoyer had the place on the jury in competition held last July. Two full time German volunteers, Dr Norbert Pintsch and Dr Senta Siller, and village people are working together to change the life and out look in this peaceful hamlet. Whenever I visited the village, I saw something new, something different, which the villagers do to make difference in a place where they belong.

Creating Dolls

2011-01-28T08:30:00.001+05:00

Dolls Project in Greenland

2011-01-27T15:30:00.000+05:00

TGD Life

2011-01-27T08:00:00.000+05:00

Up-charging: Is your PR or advertising agency overcharging you?

2011-01-25T23:13:00.000+05:00

There was recently an article in a well-known agency industry trade journal in which the writer uses the verb “to up-charge” so casually that the reader immediately realizes how prevalent this is in the industry. The journalist, an ad agency insider, states something that not all companies are aware aware of and something that should not be an accepted part of the advertising agency experience. This practice of up-charging unfortunately occurs throughout every area of the marketing industry, from high tech PR firms, to social media agencies, to healthcare pr agencies.

To up-charge or up-sell is to pad a client’s bill by convincing them they need a new service or product, or instead, the agency overcharges for a service. Once approved, the agency simply pads your bill. It is theft when you really think about it. The article states that “many agencies” make money from “…exploiting a client’s ignorance” and “…if clients knew better” they could buy the services or products more cheaply.

When interviewing prospective PR and ad agencies, if they use the term “up-charge,” it is advisable to end the conversation immediately. Do not work with agencies that up-charge or up-sell. When an honest business hears these terms it is enraging. It’s like waving a red cape in front of an angry bull.

This is also one of the reasons why ad agency search specialists are becoming increasingly popular. They monitor accounts and act as the go-between should there be any questionable conduct on the agency side. So we leave you with this final question: Do you know if your agency is up-charging you?

New Design of Women Art Center

2011-01-25T14:16:00.001+05:00

Dolls of the World

2011-01-25T11:47:00.001+05:00

Douala - Gateway to Cameroon

2011-01-24T11:49:00.001+05:00

Douala is the capital of Cameroon’s Littoral Province and the largest city of the country. Most people know Cameroon, by Douala, in other words it is the identity of the country. Besides that, Douala also has another significant importance in the region as it is home to Cameroon’s largest port and its major international airport “Douala Airport”. Both airport and the “port” serve as gateway to not only Cameroon but also a connecting point for neighboring countries such as central Africa, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

In 1986, Douala became a Sister City of Philadelphia and Akhisar, Turkey mainly because it is the largest port in West Africa and the unofficial economic capital of the Cameroon. The richly diverse population that represents more than 130 ethnic groups in Douala was last estimated 1,448,300. The name “Douala” has its origin from early 17th century and it is believed that it was actually named after a tribe that settled in the coastal area of Cameroon.

Being the biggest port in the region, Douala serves as commercial capital of the country. Consequently, it handles most of the country’s major exports, such as oil, cocoa and coffee, timber, metals and fruits. This also makes Douala the richest city in the whole CEMAC region (Communauté Economique et Monetaire de l’Afrique Centrale), consisting of 11 African countries. Other countries, member of CEMAC are Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Republic of Congo. On an overall basis, the CEMAC region is rich in mineral resources, with oil and gas exports accounting for almost 80 per cent of the West African region’s total exports, however, despite the abundance of natural resources, the majority of the population in the member states still lives in a below poverty line conditions. The key institutional bodies of CEMAC, such as the Conference of Heads of State, the Council of Ministers and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) are also based in Cameroon.

For a tourist, Douala is an excellent location situated on an estuary of the River Wouri that represents a delightful mosaic of colorful markets, historic churches and museums unfolding vibrant and rich African history. Also one prominent attraction is the equatorial forest on Douala’s outskirts that serves as a sanctuary for dozens of species of birds, animals and plants. X-posted from CAT

Engraved Woodwork

2011-01-21T23:41:00.001+05:00

Engraved woodwork - the name is enough to collectors, travellers and cautiously curious dreaming. Antiquity is the first message of the ancient art. And, woodwork executed in villages of Pakistan is a collector's delight that needs to be preserved.

During the Mughal era, Pakistan produced many intelligent personalities and talented artisans who occupied positions in the Mughal courts. Artisans of Pakistan have instinctive good taste and they have achieved a distinctive excellence in woodwork. They are said to have been employed during the construction of Taj Mahal at Agra and Golden Temple at Amritsar. Special types of furniture and decorative items with brightly lacquered woodcarvings and coloured woodwork are still made here and famous all over the world. Gujrat, Chaniot and Multan are particularly famous for woodwork.

What this internationally acclaimed craft of the country needs is an institutional patronization and extensive efforts for preservation. Made in Pakistan wood items are found at different antique shops and but this art seem to be fading away in the face of the factory made items. It can be a potent source of earning for village artisans if attention is paid to and earnest efforts are made. Sadly, the trained incompetents responsible for export promotion of art and culture do not see this and the unique potentials and its cultural importance yet.

Thatta Kedona Activities

2011-01-20T15:50:00.000+05:00

Projects line Thatta Kedona require specific efforts and public relations. Unlike projects in highly populated areas or in cities, they are constantly in danger of being suppressed or ignored by the townsfolk. Therefore the village development project Thatta Kedona is keeping intense contacts with customers, other NGOs and colleges and involves NGO members in more than one ways including sending the NGO members abroad. Here are the statistics for three years:

2001

Dubai Shopping Festival with Mr. Muhammad Ilyas, Ms Ruksana under the supervision of a Senior Expert Service voluntary worker.

Summer academy with English crash course for seven village women under the supervision of an Australian voluntary worker.

2002

Dubai Shopping Festival with Ms Kanem, Ms Ruksana, Q-Damm Mile Berlin with Mrs Farzana.

International Workshop Island with Mrs Farzana under the supervision of a volunteer.

In port shop and market of the continents with Mr Ansar Ali under the supervision of two volunteers.

2003

Internship at the 'Deutsche Welle' with Farooq Ahmed.

Dubai Shopping Festival with Mr Ansar Ali.

The on-site support was made possible through the SES, which covers flight costs for experts, provided that the local contracting body can prove an economic interest and document it with an audited accountancy. The organization has to commit to providing local transport, accommodation and food for the experts. This autumn there are five experts of the SES in TGD, where the original arts and crafts project has in the meantime developed into twelve different projects:

Tourism

Accommodation for visitors and tourists are existing in the Village. Village Museum as tourists’ attraction is under preparation.

Computer

Installation of a teaching facility

Ecotechnology

Development of prototypes for electricity and hot water supplies. Preparations are in hand for training and sales.

Recycling

Collection of plastics waste

Building and Architecture

Fourth award for the preservation of Cultural Heritage (best mud house, best brick house, best detail).

Music and Education

Training for young village boys in traditional music

Agriculture and Water

A water project –- small experimental plot -- will be financed by a service club. Planting of 'kitchen gardens' is extensively encouraged.

Handicraft

Development of new products

Public Health

Improvement of the local health service

Communication and Information

Preparations for a radio channel for the district

Marketing

Packaging and improvement of national and international sales

A Women Art Center, a 'Technology Transfer and Training Center and a Basic Health Unit in the village as well as a showroom in Lahore are functioning. All volunteers from abroad are either seniors (former general managers, directors, professors), juniors (students, beginners) or people in middle life who work and learn with the villagers, who so far had visitors and guests from over 40 countries.

Workshop on Renewable Energy and Sanitation

2011-01-20T06:31:00.000+05:00

Rural Heritage

2011-01-18T19:04:00.000+05:00

Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka - The Toy Village - is the name of the village in Punjab, about which a lot has been written, about its unique and special concept, Thatta Kedona is the name under which the handicraft products of the village and institutions connected to it within and outside the country are marketed.

“Thatta Kedona” is quite different in nature as compared to other NGO's or similar institutions: Help and support is provided to the people within the countryside, because “if the villagers earn some money, they are not forced to move to the cities, which are already overburdened with many problems”.

The agricultural activity in the village is not sufficient and therefore it is necessary to provide opportunities for additional income in the villages. This can be done by promoting the traditional culture and its conversion into handicrafts. The approach must always be understood in its totality and implemented properly.

The income generated through agriculture may be minimal, it may infact be just sufficient to meets the needs of basic food and simple shelter, but the cost of living in the village is definitely cheaper than the city; the push into the cities enables only the least of the migrants the promised benefits. The steadily increasing productivity of the urban industrial work place ruins not only the rural work place, but specially the life in the city; industrial production and global economics require increase in consumer base and destruction of resources, - in totality therefore not a great concept for the future.

“Thatta Kedona” propagates instead of a a mild effort rather Help Towards Self-Help, “Thatta Kedona” is not an instrument for development and financing of individual family interests nor is it an attempt at religious, political or educational infiltration !

“Thatta Kedona” does not exist with the help of donations or charity of the city dwellers, who may derive satisfaction from a good deed, -this is not compatible with the concept of Help Towards Self-Help: Donations and Alms help only superficially and encourage dependence, -a danger, which was already recognized by the founder of Pakistan and who warned against it.

In the so often propagated Global World, it is of much importance within a state to support Self-Help efforts on one hand to direct the population according to the available resources. If this does not happen, the increasing consumer behaviour kills the initiatives, which becomes known not in the beginning but at a much later stage, when reforms become impossible to implement.

The city culture is international and the problems in the cities worldwide similar, the traditional culture of diverse regions is something special and needs to be protected and supported, - Thatta Kedona is a metaphore for a change in the way of thinking: The future lies in the countryside !

TTTC Products

2011-01-17T09:25:00.004+05:00

Volunteer Zephanja Arzt is working on a new product at TTTC in TGD. The images show various steps of the product development process.

Those Who Make it Happen

2011-01-16T09:28:00.001+05:00

Nadine Jaeger in TGD

2011-01-15T10:47:00.000+05:00

Mela Wekhan Ayan Guddiya Pakistan Diyan

2011-01-15T10:27:00.000+05:00

And in Europe, the Dolls of the World by Thatta Kedona are on display in bazaar being held in Ethnological Museum in Berlin. In addition to Dr. Senta Siller and Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch, the bazaar will be conducted by Sabine Piltz, Gertrud Baier (who has been to TGD Pakistan), Renate Perner (who was in TGD Pakistan twice), Renate Katz.

Mela Wekhan Ayan Guddiya Pakistan Diyan means "Dolls from Pakistan are here to see the festival."

DUKKER PROJEKT

2011-01-15T08:20:00.000+05:00

6Alverdens dukker - Dukker fra hele verden.

Man har altid haft dukker. Der er fundet dukker i udgravninger i Sydamerika, Japan, Italien, Grækenland og mange andre steder i hele verden. De er lavet af så forskellige materialer træ, voks, ler og stof, og de var ikke kun legetøj, de blev ofte brugt som religiøse symboler i form af små mennesker. Endnu i dag bliver de af mange folkeslag brugt som feticher. Eksperterne er ikke enige om, hvad det oprindelige formål med dukkerne var. Var de legetøj, der udviklede sig til kultgenstande eller var de kultgenstande, der blev til legetøj?

Udover at være legetøj med pædagogisk formål er dukker en realistisk dokumentation for, hvordan man til forskellige tider og på forskellige steder har anskuet verden. Dukkerne er en vigtig kilde til vores viden om, hvordan man har levet og arbejdet, leget og handlet og er dermed vigtige kulturbærere.

Dr Senta Siller har startet dukkeprojekter i blandt andet Pakistan, Cameroun og Columbia. Disse projekter har sat en selvforstærkende udvikling i gang ved at give kvinderne mulighed for at tjene penge på deres håndarbejder, et lille men væsentligt bidrag til at udvikle landområderne og standse udvandringen til de store byer. Dukkerne er håndlavede og deres tøj og andet tilbehør er kopier af egnens originale dragter og brugsgenstande. De gamle mønstre og moder får på denne måde nyt liv og en vigtig plads i hverdagen.

Dukker fra Pakistan

Kvindeprojektet i landsbyen Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka i den pakistanske provins Punjab blev startet af Senta Siller i 1993 og giver 120 kvinder et indkomstgivende arbejde. Det er hen ad vejen suppleret med et tilsvarende projekt for mænd. Kvinderne arbejder ikke 8 timer dagligt i dukkeprojektet; de har stadig tid til at passe deres egen familie og husholdning samt varetage de gøremål i landsbyen, som kvinderne traditionelt tager sig af. Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka har cirka 1200 indbyggere. De stiftede i 1991 kooperativet Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama, som samarbejder med Deutsche Gesellschaft zu Förderung der Kultur (DGFK). Anjuman samarbejder med yderligere 6 projekter i Pakistan.

Dukker fra Cameroun

Siden 1998 er der startet 3 kooperativer (Akwatinuigha, Akaankang og HandiCraft CAT) i Bamenda, hovedstaden i Nordvestprovinsen i Cameroun, som ligger tæt på grænsen til Nigeria. Disse kooperativer samarbejder også med DGFK. Bamenda har omkring 6000 indbyggere, som bor på 7 høje og taler 8 forskellige sprog. Udover de mænd, der arbejder i HandiCraft CAT projektet, er mere end 100 kvinder engageret i fremstilling af forskellige kunsthåndværksprodukter.

Dukker fra Columbia

Kooperativet Tanto Mejor blev startet i 1999 i Saboya og samarbejder med 3 andre projekter. Saboya er en landsby med cirka 6000 indbyggere i nærheden af Chiquinquira, hovedstaden i departementet Boyaca nord for Bogota. DGFK samarbejder også med dette kooperativ, der beskæftiger mere end 100 kvinder med fremstilling af forskelligt kunsthåndværk.

Urbanization

2011-01-14T11:22:00.000+05:00

By Brad Knickerbocker (The Christian Science Monitor)

For the first time in human history, the world's population is about to become mostly urban.

Citing population growth rates and migration patterns, United Nations researchers and other experts predict that some time in 2008 more people will live in cities than in rural areas.

This demographic shift is mostly taking place in Africa and Asia, largely in low-income settlements in developing countries - much of it in the 22 "megacities" whose populations will exceed 10 million and in some cases grow to more than 20 million by 2015.

The environmental, economic, and social ramifications of such trends are enormous, according to the Worldwatch Institute's annual "State of the World" report released Tuesday. Among the major challenges are the mundane features of daily living: clean water and air, sanitary waste facilities, the cost of food, and the availability of shelter and transportation.

Unplanned and chaotic urbanization is taking a huge toll on human health and the quality of the environment, contributing to social, ecological, and economic instability in many countries," warns the report, which is written by demographers, international program officials, and other experts from the United States and other countries.

But the news is not all bad. Researchers find examples of cities from Karachi, Pakistan to Freetown, Sierra Leone to Bogotá, Colombia with projects aimed at improving the lives of urban dwellers while reducing the environmental impact of concentrated populations. These include urban farming plots, solar water heaters, economic cooperatives, improved sewer facilities, and upgraded transportation systems.

"The task of saving the world's modern cities might seem hopeless - except that it is already happening," says Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin. "Necessities from food to energy are increasingly being produced by urban pioneers inside city limits."

Still, the challenges and the probable costs of addressing them remain daunting. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are on or near earthquake faults. Some two-thirds of the cities projected to exceed 8 million residents by 2015 are in coastal areas where sea levels may rise as a result of climate change.

But the human need is more immediate. Of the 3 billion people who live in cities today, about 1 billion are in slums without clean water, adequate toilet facilities, or durable housing. Some 1.6 million urban dwellers - many if not most of them children - die each year due to causes associated with the lack of clean water and sanitation.

"For a child living in a slum, disease and violence are daily threats, while education and healthcare are often a distant hope," says Molly O'Meara Sheehan, project director of Worldwatch's 2007 report, a collection of articles and graphics produced annually since 1984.

This argues for a reassessment of global development priorities, advocates say, particularly the allocation of national and international aid. According to the Commission for Africa, launched by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, problems associated with urbanization are second only to HIV/AIDS on the world's most rapidly urbanizing continent.

Yet from 1970 to 2000, aid designated for cities in developing areas was just 4 percent of total development assistance worldwide. This was the period when many countries in Africa were transitioning politically and economically from European colonialism to independence.

"Too many of us were ill prepared for our urban future," notes Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing universal adequate shelter.

"The promise of independence has given way to the harsh realities of urban living," writes Dr. Tibaijuka, an agricultural economist and native of Tanzania, in the report's foreword.

By 2015, there are likely to be 59 African cities with populations between 1 million and 5 million, 65 such cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 253 in Asia.

"Urban centers are hubs simultaneously of breathtaking artistic innovation and some of the world's most abject and disgraceful poverty," writes Mr. Flavin. "They are the dynamos of the world economy but also the breeding grounds for alienation, religious extremism, and other sources of local and global insecurity."

Cities also exemplify the challenges and promises of sustainability. China, for example, has 16 of the world's most polluted cities. But on an island in the Yangtze River near Shanghai, China this year plans to break ground on the Dongtan ecocity project designed to be nearly self-sufficient in food, water, energy, and waste disposal for its projected 500,000 residents.

Thatta Kedona Summer Camp in Hunza

2011-01-13T19:55:00.001+05:00

AeFeA - Overview

2011-01-13T12:12:00.001+05:00

Click here to Enlarge

Dolls of the World

2011-01-12T09:40:00.000+05:00

Zephanja Arzt in TGD

2011-01-11T11:11:00.000+05:00

New volunteer Zephanja Arzt is in Thatta Ghlamka Dheroka. The young volunteer is busy in product development at TTTC for men. He is working on Ice Fix equipment that can produce ice, in small quantities in 5 minutes, without using gas and electricity. Zephanja Arzt will also spend time teaching English conversation to the students in Government Primary School.

Education Project

2011-01-11T08:00:00.000+05:00

Like all volunteers who visit Dolls Village, Zephanja Arzt also spent time with students of Government Boys School Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka. Here he is giving lessons to the students of Government Boys School.

Dolls of the World

2011-01-10T12:51:00.000+05:00

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