With environmentally friendly natural products, “Lola Lahham”, a daughter of Sohag governorate, was able to impress the COP27 climate summit that was held in Sharm El-Sheikh during the past weeks, as she mastered the hand weaving craft of Upper Egypt women.
Lola Lahham, representative of the Upper Egypt Association for Education and Development at the Climate Summit, said that the association participated in handicraft products made of natural materials, for the first time in the Ministry of Culture’s pavilion, which was praised by many visitors.
She explained that the association possesses a historical craft, which is the hand-weaving located in the city of Akhmim in Sohag Governorate, which has been famous since the era of the Pharaohs for hand-weaving and embroidery, as nobles and nobles used to make their clothes in the city and embroider them with threads of silk, silver and gold. Akhmim has preserved that profession for thousands of years.
She emphasized that the members of the foundation are very happy because they show a culture and method of manufacture, and the matter is not limited to selling a craft only, noting that the association includes 150 women and girls who make things that no one knew, such as designing artistic paintings as a kind of plastic arts made of colored silk on colored fabric. They take pictures and snapshots of the nature in which they live, and then seek to make them colorful as a substitute for a feather.
She added that the Egyptian culture is the soft power of the country, and we must focus on it, as individuals come at the right and preferred time for them to watch and enjoy the crafts that the association makes and buy what they want, in addition to explaining the crafts and their history, which is no less important than their final sales number. The exterior is just as important as achieving a good sales figure.
Hand weaving craft need natural cotton
She pointed out that the association was one of its dreams and interests to participate in the climate conference cop 27, because the craft of hand weaving needs natural cotton that was not found, and if it is found, it is very expensive, in addition to the suffering of 150 women and girls who work at a temperature exceeding 50 degrees Celsius in the summer. Sohag Governorate.
She added that the solution lies in providing an electric machine that manufactures textiles in only half an hour, instead of girls and women spending 8 and 7 hours in the industry, which gives them the same income if the electric machine is used.
She emphasized that the Ministry of Culture team, led by Minister Nevine Al-Kilani and Dr. Al-Kilani, is one of the most prestigious teams present at the Climate Summit, as the officials used to extend a helping hand and encourage them to work a lot, as they understand and realize the meaning of crafts and the culture related to them and their presence in the Ministry of Culture pavilion.
