Wednesday, June 16 2010

Following the success of the First Batik Workshop in May 2009 and the positive feedback from the participants, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with University of Namibia will again hold another Batik Workshop this year.

Batik making has gradually gained popularity in Namibia. Batik as Indonesian art heritage can serve as a means to bring Namibians and Indonesians from all walks of life closer to each other, especially after UNESCO labeled it as the world cultural heritage in 2009.

The workshop were presented by Mrs. Venny Afwany Alamsyah from Batik House Indonesia. She is a batik expert from Indonesia who already shared with Namibians her knowledge about batik and also techniques of making batik in Batik Workshop 2009. It is hoped that apart from introducing Indonesia, the workshop can also provide great opportunities for participants, especially women who wish to develop their own batik designs and use them as a means of making business. In other words, Batik can serve as a tool for self- empowerment.

The Batik Workshop 2010 is a more in depth course where participant will learn an advance technique on making Batik on cloth and on wood in two days. Apart from the aforementioned batik workshop, there was an additional batik workshop for one day where participant will be introduced to the basic batik making technique which was held at Wisma Duta, Ambassador’s Residence on 10 June 2010.

Participants of this interesting and valuable workshops were from Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare of Namibia, academic fields (University of Namibia and Polytechnic of Namibia), arts students (College of Arts), Women Empowerment Organization (OEWONA and PENDUKA), and Namibian general public.

During the official opening of the Workshop, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia handed out packages containing batik equipments to Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare of Namibia, Penduka, OEWONA, University of Namibia and College of the Arts.