In an effort to teach women to become self-sufficient and independent, the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will soon engage them in bamboo craft workshops.

Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa said that women will soon be learning bamboo crafts from experts in China.

In an interview with the Fiji Sun during the second Anniversary Celebration of the China Cultural Centre (CCC) in Fiji at Ganilau House on Friday, Ms Vuniwaqa said there were a lot of bamboos in the country, but it was not properly utilised to generate revenue.

She said the Permanent Secretary of her ministry Josefa Koroivueta was currently in Indonesia to study bamboos as a report had said that bamboos in Fiji were similar to the ones in Indonesia.

Some women in Fiji had learned to make crafts like lamp stands, photo frames, cutlery holders, flower vases, wall hangings and lamp shades made from coconut shells and bamboos.

Speaker of Parliament Dr Jiko Luveni, had said that the trainings by Indonesian experts aimed to empower women and youths to use local resources and venture into income-generating projects.

Ms Vuniwaqa said bamboo had manifold uses and had a low cost of production, making it the primary material for products of everyday use such as stools, mats, baskets, traps as well as decorative items.

“There are also many crafts that you can do out of a bamboo tree,” she said.

Bamboo she said was a very easy material to be processed and created into unique crafts that were interesting and different, because of its flexibility and strong.

“If you are proficient in processing it, various forms of craft you can produce, even to make money.”

Ms Vuniwaqa said now with the offer made by the China Cultural Centre in Fiji to teach local women on bamboo craft, they should make good use of it.

Edited by Caroline Ratucadra

Feedback:  maikab@fijisun.com.fj