Kanniya Centre
The Kanniya Centre is producing eco-items made from the most ordinary natural material you can find in Sri Lanka. We mainly use coconuts, palm tree branches and ordinary branches. We have improved our know-how to produce small buttons using coconut shells. The process is complex, from drying coconut shells, cutting the buttons and polishing them. Those buttons are extremely resistant and aesthetically beautiful. They are used by our sewing centres to make eco-fashionbags. In May, a lady is going to help us make those buttons. In Sri Lanka, women are usually excluded from woodwork, so we are quite proud in LCEJ to break that taboo and give equal opportunities to men and women. We go on making soap and sponge holders using coconut material and the base of palm tree branches. The Kanniya Centre also make towel hangers and curtain rails from palm tree branches.
Since January we are also working on items to protect the health of low income families. We are dealing with the problem generated by mosquitoes in general and the dengue fever in particular. Using palm tree branches and an iron mesh we have developed frames to put on windows reducing the presence of mosquitoes in the house up to 95%. We have used the ground floor of LCEJ centre to experiment and improve our techniques. We are now entering the next stage and use our window frames for low-income families housing.
