In spotlight: Workshops that inspire sustainable livelihood

Their first project which came to light last year was mobilising students of architecture to set up a learning and activity centre for the kids of the fishing hamlet, Urur-Olcott Kuppam. Since then, the foundation caters to three objectives: design and architecture projects, upholding the heritage of the city, and thirdly, working with school children and conducting workshops towards selfsustenance of schools and colleges. 

Their most recent project conducted this week was aimed at spreading awareness on the upcycling of paper — to reduce the increased felling of trees used for paper manufacturing — and a site visit to Puducherry to take a look at how handmade paper is made. 

“Every workshop has a different theme – we have had ones on fabric and cloth, and how to follow an eco-friendly lifestyle,” said Deepa Lakshmi, who founded Akarmaa along with Kaushik and Arunima. 

“Participants reflected on their consumption practices and patterns, and then took a trip to Malaikottai to look at the weaving process. These sessions happen every third Saturday of the month. 

The latest one on paper recycling was also an interactive session, and hopefully motivated people to be more mindful on paper usage henceforth,” she said. Lakshmi added, “Our project at Urur-Olcott Kuppam has been really successful. 

During weekdays, the space is planned to be used as an ‘after school’ centre with the help of NGOs.” “These monthly workshops are for people of all ages, we really want to connect with more government schools and educate kids on being sustainable with day-to-day activities, learn self-sustenance techniques via which they can better their schools’ functionality,” she said.