The Lace Lady
Weligama is known for its lacework. Before the tsunami, tourists used to line up outside Leela Lace, on the main coastal road, to buy delicately woven tablecloths and napkins. A full-size tablecloth could take up to six months to weave, and would sell for up to $500.
The owner of Leela Lace, K.B. Leelaseeli, had a thriving business prior to the tsunami. A dozen or so lacemakers worked with her in her seafront store, while others worked on contract in their own homes. It was low-paying work -- just $1 a day -- but it kept the women of Weligama occupied, and supplemented the income of their fishermen husbands.
Leela, as Leelaseeli likes to be known, lost her 63-year-old husband during the tsunami. He was standing outside the house when the wave came and was carried away by the water. Leela herself was swept inside the house, but managed to survive by grabbing hold of a window frame.
The tsunami pretty much wiped out Leela's business. Not only did she lose a large stock of lacework, tourists stopped visiting the southern Sri Lankan coast. And Leela is so worried by the possibility of another tsunami that she now works close to the door of her shop, just in case she has to run for her life.
Even if the tourists return, Leela says, she will probably move her store away from the ocean. "I'm afraid for my children to live here," she says.
-- Michael Dobbs
By washingtonpost.com |
February 23, 2005; 12:24 PM ET
| Category:
K.B. Leelaseeli
,
Michael Dobbs
Previous: Complaints |
Next: Kicked Off the Island
Posted by: Beth | September 16, 2005 02:07 PM
If it was up to me I would not leave that paradise of a home. Leela, be brave and stay where you are. Tsunamis do not happen everyday.
Posted by: Vijay | December 27, 2005 06:43 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I came looking at this blog today because I am a lacemaker and I remember seeing a bobbin lace maker on the front page of the washingtonpost.com related to the Tsunami. I've been looking for that picture ever since because my lace teacher uses pics like this in her lace history classes. However I've never found it. Thanks for the update.