ISLAMABAD: In a corner of classy outlets and next to the Mondrian restaurant in the posh Jinnah Super Market vicinity is a versatile shop with a heavy wooden entrance bearing pretty traditional carving.

Inside the serene shop done in typical village style, wares, mostly hand-made apparels are elegantly displayed for sale with an entirely different objective.

The Sungi Development Foundation’s Craft Shop in Trade Centre of the F-7 Markaz, is a commercial-cum-charity venture aimed at helping poor women of the remote and neglected areas of Hazara Division, specifically the earthquake-hit areas.

The outlet is a superb facility for sale and promotion of crafts designed and produced by needy rural women. These include beaded jewelry, hammocks, glass covers, key chains, embroidered Kurtas and Kurtee, waistcoats, mobile covers, door bells, bookmarks, friendship bands, woven bags, necklaces and picture frames etc.

“The quake-hit areas wherefrom different products are brought here for sale include Garhi Habibullah, Shinkiari, Siran Valley, and Karlal in the Mansehra district,” says Nuzhat Tabassum, programme coordinator of the Sungi’s enterprise development programme.

She added that glass covers, cushions, mobile covers and short Kurtees are prepared by the poor women quake victims of Garhi Habibullah, while money bags, cosmetics bags, handbags and compacts are designed and produced by the victim in Biali.

“The pouches, crochet works and knitting are mostly prepared by the needy women of the Shinkiari area,” she continued. Tabassum further said that these women have been trained by Sungi with a vision to make them stand on their own feet.

Other distant villages from where the crafts are ferried to the Jinnah Super outlet include Noordi, Peerkot, Bhuttri, Darrunian, Ding, Jama, Takyah, Katbah, Dhak in the Haripur district. These villages fall into two union councils of the district -- Rehana and Bareela.

“Sungi not only promotes the sale of these handcrafts but directly purchases items designated as ‘fine quality’ by the organization’s trained quality controllers on the spot,” says Mohammad Javed who runs the shop for the last seven years.

He said that in case of personal products displayed at the shop, Sungi returns 70% of the price to the owners while retaining the rest, 25% for shop outlays.

“Our another outlet at Lok Virsa is for promotional purpose,” says Asma Ravji, the manager of Sungi’s enterprise development program. She added the Jinnah Super outlet is frequently visited by foreigners and Pakistanis. “The entire effort is to help and encourage poor and needy womenfolk.”

Categorization of products takes place at the village as well as at the Sungi office in the capital. “The office collects and register the products in its inventory, before dispatching them to our shops at Jinnah Supper, Lok Virsa and Zamzama in Karachi, Javed explained.

About sales, he said that cotton Kurtas and short Kurtees with embroidery are in great demand. Other small items, he said, often bought by foreigners and locals include mobile covers, key chains, friendship bands, door bells and bookmarks, he maintained.

Prominent among the products displayed in the rear of the shop is a big cotton-corded hammock that costs Rs 1500. It can be fixed with strong tree branches, roofs or anywhere else.

Fetching an embroidered Kurta with a tag showing the name of the manufacturer as Gulshan Bibi form village Noordi in Haripur, Javed said that such items take lot of time to finalize. He added the women have to do embroidery by counting each and every thread of the apparel.

Kurtas at the shop are mostly from Khud Kafalat Group - a body that represents five or six women of the village, led by Gulshan Bibi. The groups are formed to collect and handover crafts to Sungi at the village level.