Stitching

Bangladeshi women create embroidery and art to rekindle their lives

By Market Forces

December 5^th, 2023

In the south-eastern coastal area of Matarbari, Bangladesh, a massive new coal power plant looms over the families displaced by its construction.

Jannatul Naim Jhuma’s family used to have three houses where the coal power plant now sits. One belonged to her father and two to her brothers.

When construction started, they were forced to leave their homes and relocate to concrete houses right beside the facility, with the coal plant belching black smoke overhead.

“They did not pay a single penny of compensation.”

“They were supposed to give us rations for six months; we didn’t get them. They gave us the houses to live in, but these are not registered under our names,” says Jannatul. “We always live with the constant fear of being evicted again.”

Bangladeshi environment groups and local community members are very concerned about the coal power project and how Japanese companies worked with authorities to acquire nearly six square kilometres of land to build the Matarbari 1 coal power plant.

The first phase of the project has been jointly developed by the state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited along with Japanese companies: Sumitomo Corporation, IHI Corporation and Toshiba. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided billions in funding, with Sumitomo Banking Corporation (SMBC) acting as financial advisor.

Japanese companies like JERA (a 50-50 joint venture of TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power), Mitsubishi Corporation, and megabanks SMBC and MUFG are involved in further expansion of fossil fuels in Matarbari.

Local homes have not been the only casualty of this massive coal power plant. Traditional livelihoods like salt and fish farming have also been lost forever due to the plant’s construction. Many families are in crisis.

Fatema is making ends meet for herself and her two children in whatever way she can, relying on family and friends. “Before, my husband used to do salt farming and sell small fish and shrimp. He also used to bring fish from outside and sell them at the local market.”

“Now he is unemployed; sometimes he finds work, sometimes he doesn’t. If he catches crabs or fish we get to eat, otherwise there’s nothing.”

Rohima Begum misses her old home and is doing her best to start a new life.

“Before we were displaced, I was happy, because our lives were prosperous. Now, we have to endure a lot of pain, and we’re struggling to afford school fees for our children,” Rohima says.

Rumana Akhter’s family is trying to re-establish new livelihoods yet it’s not easy in the shadow of the smoke stacks.

They used to have a poultry farm with a small pond for cultivating fish. Their land was taken for the coal plants’ construction, and Rumana’s family have lost their sources of income.

“My father used to earn money by selling fish, and we kept a portion for the family to eat. Now everything is gone. Since the construction of this coal power plant started, we’ve lost all sources of our livelihoods.”

When their land was acquired, the women say authorities promised their families employment through the coal power project.

“It was written in the contract that one permanent job would be given to us, the houses would be registered, the houses would have fences built, and they would build a mosque, a graveyard, and a maktab, a school to educate our children,” says Humaira.

“But the job lasted for only one year, and then everybody was fired as the coal power project was completed.”

“Then when we complained, they rehired some people but after seven to eight months, they fired most of the workers again.”

“The officers would give excuses of the project being closed. My husband has been fired twice. He’s unemployed and has no source of income now.”

Humaira says there was no shortage of work before the coal power project came.

“Earlier, there were a lot of earning sources in this area. We lived amid a commercial space.”

“There were many types of work, like shrimp business, farming, boating, salt cultivation, fishing. Now we have no more work.”

Air pollution in Bangladesh killed over 78,145 people in 2019 alone. Over its lifetime, the Matarbari coal project will continue to worsen the country's critically poor air quality.

Thousands of people are expected to develop fatal health conditions – such as heart disease and lung cancer – among other respiratory illnesses due to the project's emissions, according to a study by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

People in the Chattogram, Matarbari region are also likely to be exposed to excessive mercury due to emissions from the coal plant depositing onto cropland and into waterways, increasing toxic heavy metal concentrations in food.

“When we saw the black smoke rise, we heard loud noises, like an aircraft.”

“I have heard that the smoke from the coal power plants’ chimneys will harm people. People may become ill, or even die,” says Rumana.

Despite the ongoing impacts from the coal power plant, the displaced women are striving to rebuild their lives and find ways of securing an income to provide for their families.

Last year, 30 women came together for embroidery workshops, and to share their stories of loss and resilience.

Through the Stitching project and their art, they have found a voice and a new way of sharing their story with the world.

“We learned how to make quilts, different types of embroidery, and how to make it all look very beautiful, " says Humaira.

“We learned new skills through laughter and jokes,” she says.

Humaira hopes she can use her newly acquired skill to build a new source of income by selling the embroideries.

“It has been 15 days since we ran out of gas for cooking. The price of a gas cylinder is up to 1600 Bangladeshi Taka (AU$22) and we cannot afford it,” says Fatema. “It has been difficult to cook for my children.”

“If we get orders to do more embroidery work, we can manage, alongside our household chores. This will benefit all of us.”

Jannatul says with a broad smile: “If the unemployed women in this area are given the opportunity to learn from the embroiderers, it will benefit them a lot.”

The embroidered pieces created by the women have been on display at the SOWCO Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, in a special exhibition titled Stitching.

The exhibition draws attention to the role Japan-based funding has played in the development of the Matarbari coal power plants, and the destruction of livelihoods and displacement of families in Bangladesh already caused by this project.