Report: Anila Naeem and Farida Abdul Ghaffar | Photos Credit: Ayla Hasan and Anila Rahim
A three-day Crafts Development Workshop was organized on 13-15 August 2025 by the Heritage Cell, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University, engaging the women of the Mohanna community who live on the waters of Manchar Lake near Sehwan, Sindh. The workshop was designed not only to revive and build upon traditional skills but also to explore new opportunities for women to generate sustainable livelihoods through craft-based practices.
Manchar Lake hosts the last surviving cluster of 44 houseboats, representing a centuries-old tradition of floating villages. When research was first conducted, these boats were found in a state of severe dilapidation and were at risk of vanishing within 2 to 5 years. This alarming decline led to urgent documentation and a call for their restoration before this unique culture disappeared from the cultural landscape of the Indus River and its tributaries. Funded by the Cultural Protection Fund and led by Prof. Dr. Anila Naeem, under the project “Manchar Lake Mohannas – Safeguarding the Last Surviving Houseboat Village from Extinction”, the HC-DAPNED team successfully repaired and restored all 44 houseboats, giving them a renewed lifespan.
However, the project extended beyond physical restoration. It recognized that for the Mohanna community to survive in the modern era, cultural preservation needed to be paired with capacity-building and economic resilience as they continue their ancestral way of life against all odds.
The ‘Crafts Development Workshop-I for Women’ was a vital step in this direction. It created a space where Mohanna women could connect their inherited creativity with new techniques in crochet, patchwork, and embroidery, guided by skilled trainer Zaibunnisa Khatri from Badin under the mentorship of Amneh Shaikh Farooqui who is the CEO and Co-Founder of Polly and Other Stories, a social enterprise that connects disenfranchised artisans in Pakistan to global markets. Her work focuses on creating opportunities for artisans. The workshop fostered confidence, self-reliance, and pride among participants, while also introducing avenues for potential market linkages for their crafts. Its primary objective was to enable women to produce a variety of craft-based products that build upon their existing skills and can be marketed for the community’s economic uplift.
The workshop, on the newly made houseboats, namely ‘Sohni’ and ‘Laal’, engaged more than twenty enthusiastic participants (age 16-60) and was carefully structured into four progressive sessions designed to build both creative and entrepreneurial skills; 1) Tracing, 2) Embroidery and Crochet, 3) Product Making and 4) Costing and Marketing.
The first session began with a demonstration of tracing skills. Trainer Zaibunnisa Khatri who was assisted by Nida Zaman Khan of Polly and Others Stories, introduced participants to the method of preparing and transferring patterns onto fabric. Using transparent paper, participants were guided to trace traditional motifs and designs, carefully perforating the outlines with a needle. Once prepared, the design was transferred onto fabric by applying a thin paste of blue pigment (neel) mixed with kerosene oil, dabbed gently with cotton to reveal the motif. This exercise not only familiarized the women with a professional technique of design transfer but also instilled confidence in working with precision and accuracy-an essential step in producing high-quality embroidered and craft-based products.
Using colorful booklets, participants were also guided on the essential dos and don’ts of preparing crafts at home. These included practical instructions such as maintaining a clean and well-lit workspace, storing threads and fabrics properly to avoid damage, ensuring neatness and finishing in embroidery, and taking care of tools like needles and scissors and keep them out of reach of children around. This simple yet effective resource served as a handy reference for the women, enabling them to apply workshop learning in their home environment.
On the second day, the workshop began with each participant receiving a stitching box containing essential tools: embroidery needles, crochet hooks, hoops, stitch markers, beads, earring hooks, measuring tape, scissors, thread balls, and more. Shared materials-such as stitched cushion covers with fiber filling, tote bags, and fabric for pillows-were also provided. Participants were then divided into two groups according to their skills in crochet and embroidery and settled separately on the two houseboats, Sohni and Laal. The trainers began by demonstrating, through ready-made samples, how traditional skills could be transformed into products that meet market demand and attract buyers. Examples included crochet jewelry, embroidered cushion covers, and tote bags with crochet-edged details.
Afterward, participants were guided to create their own products: crochet earrings, rings, flowers, and embroidered designs using techniques such as running stitch and chain stitch, along with patchwork on tote bags and cushion covers.
The third session of the workshop focused on reviewing the quality of products being prepared by the participants and guiding them for further improvement. The team of craft trainers also provided guidance on selecting suitable and aesthetically appealing color combinations for different motifs. To support this, participants were given handy, colorful booklets containing shade cards and examples of motifs presented in various color schemes.
The workshop concluded with its fourth and final session, where participants proudly displayed the products, they had created. The atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm and a strong sense of accomplishment as the women showcased their embroidered and crocheted items. A one-on-one feedback session was conducted by the trainers, who carefully reviewed each product, pointing out areas for improvement and offering practical suggestions to enhance finishing, durability, and design appeal.
Following this, Amneh Shaikh Farooqui engaged the participants in a discussion on product costing and marketing. She emphasized the importance of calculating material expenses, factoring in the time invested, and understanding the value of their labor to set fair and competitive prices. Various avenues for marketing were explored, including selling at small shops near the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, participating in the annual mela of Shaikh Dhaman, and utilizing makeshift markets around Manchar Lake.
To formally acknowledge their efforts, all products on display were documented by the project team as part of workshop records. The event concluded with a certificate and souvenir distribution ceremony, celebrating the dedication of the participants and expressing appreciation for the trainers who generously shared their skills and time to ensure the success of the workshop. Prof. Dr. Anila Naeem, Project Lead, also acknowledged the dedicated efforts of the Project Team-Farida Abdul Ghaffar, Abdul Salam, Faraz Ahmed, Ayla Hasan, Safeer Ahmed, and Anila Rahim-for meticulously organizing the workshop with great attention to detail. She also expressed gratitude to community members Zahid Ali Mallah and Muhammad Afzal Mallah for their valuable support and facilitation in organizing the workshop on houseboats.
