15,000 Naogaon women now self-reliant making caps

NAOGAON, May 26 (UNB): Sitting together on a mat, the casual conversation among groups of women in a mango orchard is going on amid sewing and weaving white pieces of cloth which will be turned into tupis (caps).

Such sights are similar in Khosalpur, Kunjaban, Khajur, Ranail, Valain and 30 other villages in Mahadebpur upazila where women have become self-reliant sewing and weaving prayer caps.

This prayer cap has helped the women of the district to become financially sound, as it is now exported to the Middle East, fetching huge foreign currency.

Speaking to several such weavers and traders, it is found that at least 15,000 women are involved in the production of prayer caps, who produce them on the basis of their foreign clients' requirements with relevant threads and designs.

Their payment is given on the basis of the time they give in designing those and their efforts. The price ranges from as low as Tk 20 to Tk 25 to expensive ones such as Tk 600 to Tk 700.

A woman weaver usually earns Tk 3,000 to Tk 4,000 a month making prayer caps.

Rabeya Khatun, a weaver from Khosalpur village, said she was in great financial crisis since her marriage 15 years back. After coming to Mahadebpur upazila 10 years ago, she was motivated by a neighbour to take up prayer cap weaving, and she never had to look back since then.

Years of hard work has led her to acquire a pucca house on 300 decimals of land.