Jamdani: Visiting a Weaving Village

Yes, Bangladesh is known as major exporter of cheap, poor quality chlothes, produced under exploitative labour conditions, at the cost of worker's health, and sometimes lives.
But it is also home to Jamdani, a weaving tradition considered Cultural Heritage by Unesco. 

Thanks to one of my colleagues at ICCCAD, I got the chance to meet some weavers in Rupganj, south of Dhaka.

Noah and his wife are awaiting us with a huge table full of local, seasonal fruits. I finally get to try jackfruit, the national fruit.

Jamdani textiles are mainly used for Sarees. The fabric is very light and thin, and has to be washed in a special procedure, called Kata.

Many people are weaving autonomously, with the loom taking up most of the room in their little hut. This women told me she started weaving when she was eight, learning from her parents. She knows all the different Jamdani designs by heart. 
This piece will probably cost about 6000 Taka (70 Euro). When I ask if she ever made a Jamdani for herself, she laughs at me, telling that she can only afford Sarees for about 500 Taka on the local market.

In the small factories, weaving is also done by hand mainly - which takes a lot of skills, concentration, and time. The guy sitting at the right side of the loom is the main weaver: He has to remember the desing of the Jamdani, and count the stitches. They tell me that only the main weaver gets a salary, from which he then pays his helper.

The only way for weavers to assure a regular payment is to sell their Jamdanis with the "help" of local business men, called Mahajan.
They provide a small weakly payment for the weavers, and know how to attract customers. In consequence, most of the sales price will go into their pockets.
The Mahajan of the village we visit owns the building in the back of this picture. His workers are living in tin huts.

The Shitalakshya river next to the village is comparatively clean, providing - the only - washing opportunity. Electricity officially exists, but black outs are rather the norm than the exception.

By boat, you can reach the char, an island formed by sedimentation from the river.
With habitat becoming increasingly scarce in highly-populated Bangladesh, people often build their homes on chars, despite the risk of flooding and erosion.

This very small char is only used to grow vegetables. From what I understood, this is actually supported by the government.
Admittedly, what the man is harvesting here does look like cow food a bit - but when cooked, these jute plants taste very nice: much like spinach.