Roshida Begum; [Author]

Shwettaj Jahan Tithi; [Facilitator]

Me in the mirror (embroidery)

Fultola (embroidery)

Embroidery (EMB)

Decorative

Roshida likes applying saánahá (thanaka), the cosmetic paste from the bark of the thanaka tree, in front of the mirror. After becoming skinny, she no longer enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. Now she cannot even find the time to look at the mirror because she is too busy taking care of her children.

The art facilitator faced difficulty at first to make the women understand how to embroider this project, but they quickly created it once they understood. Single women often spend more time looking in the mirror and talking to themselves compared with married women, who are too occupied with work and children to find any time for themselves. The ones who do, feel upset that mirrors in the camp are much smaller than the ones in Myanmar. Most of these women avoid mirrors when they are upset or lose weight, but all are grateful for the invention of mirrors because, without them, they would be unable to see their reflection.