Linley Hatiah - Young Pacific Change Maker, Solomon Islands

Keeping the art of traditional weaving alive in Solomon Islands for the next generation.
Young Pacific Change Makers:
   • Young Pacific Change Makers  

Art and craft, you don't see a lot of young people with an interest in it. As a young person, I am in to art and craft. I feel the need to continue carrying it forward because over time, if the young generation has no interest in it, we will lose it.

My name is Linley Hatiah. I am from Renbel Province. I represent Strivers. We do contemporary art and craft. Strivers started in 2017. We saw our women, especially from Renbel, would sit at their stalls, hoping that someone would buy their baskets. It's a common thing that our women do to help their family to buy food. It helps to pay school fees and bus fares for their children to go to school.

We wanted to find ways to support them, especially in terms of marketing their products. Not everyone is interested in baskets and mats, so we came up with the idea to do contemporary art. Phone covers, photo frames, we also do earrings. We have a Facebook page that we use to advertise the things that we create. The more we have people placing orders, the more we go back to our weavers to buy their baskets.

What motivates us in Strivers is that we want to help our weavers because most of our weavers are mothers and this is their everyday job, selling baskets. Whatever their takings for the day is what they'll use to buy food for their families.

Their stories, their struggles, are the reason we don't want to give up. I mean we want to help them, to keep coming back to them. So they know when weaving their baskets that someone is ready to buy them. Sometimes we have them calling us, asking if I'm able to buy their baskets. I love that they reach out to me for help because that's the main idea, to help them.

Many in our generation aren't interested in weaving. We want to be able to do trainings to bring together our young girls to ensure we continue with this skill because otherwise the coming generations may not know how to weave and this art dies out.

As a Solomon Islander, I would say I am proud that Solomon Islands gets recognition and our products are exported overseas. Solomon Islanders are very creative in a lot of things. Nothing is impossible. Don't start something and then give up. Any comments, any person who wants to make you feel discouraged about what you think you can do to help your community, don't give up, don't let those things stop you from achieving your goals.

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The Young Pacific Change Makers project celebrates and supports Pacific Islanders aged 18 to 30 who are making a difference in their communities, helping to amplify their voices through media and develop their skills as leaders.

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