Umme Habiba

Saleha Akter Urmi; [Facilitator]

Hand fan project

Fultola (embroidery)

Embroidery (EMB)

Decorative

As a ten-year-old, Umme Habiba planted a pori ful gaas in front of her house, which she nurtured and grew. She embroidered the pori ful because she misses it and it reminds her of her childhood.

Gardens in Myanmar were filled with a wide variety of flowers. Drawing inspiration from these flowers, Rohingya women would embroider them on hand fans which were later used to fan guests or sold for 500 kyat thus allowing them to have an income of their own. It is also tradition for parents to present hand fans to their newly wed daughters. Rohingya women wanted to recreate the hand-fans because they want to have a reminder of the possessions they owned in Myanmar.