Tsunamika
Tsunamika is a project of Upasana Design Studio in, Auroville, a garment design unit in Auroville, and mobilised in the coastal villages of Auroville’s bioregion.
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The project has the following objectives:
• Post-disaster trauma counselling
• Livelihood generation
• Women’s empowerment
• Medium for education
• Example of how ‘gift economy’ works.
Over a period of 15 years, about six million Tsunamika dolls were made and sent to over 80 countries. The Tsunamika project has been given the ‘Award of Excellence’ by the Government of India and special recognition by UNESCO. The Tsunamika doll has been selected as the mascot for 14th UN Sustainability development goal which is Save the ocean : Life below water. The project has focused on the fisherwomen who were traumatized by the Tsunami disaster. The initial aim of the project was to help the women overcome the trauma they experienced, by getting them involved in some creative handicraft work which could channel their energy in a constructive manner.
For this purpose, 480 ladies from 6 coastal villages were given handicraft training to make a small doll using left-over fabric from Upasana’s products. The project team then bought the completed dolls from the fisherwomen and began distributing them widely as gift items.
The doll, known as Tsunamika, quickly became very popular, and soon helped establish a strong emotional bond and identity among the people who had made her, as well as among those who received her. Soon the project evolved into a livelihood option for nearly 180 ladies, who began receiving income for every doll they made. At the same time, large numbers of people volunteered to distribute Tsunamika worldwide, and the entire project became a demonstration of “gift economy”.
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“The concept is to upcycle waste to hope. From a symbol of hope, Tsunamika has now transformed to be the voice of the ocean, the voice of the coastline spreading the message that oceans are not dumping places for untreated sewage water and other garbage,”
- Uma Prajapati
(founder Upasana)
Little doll was born during the tsunami and got the name Tsunamika , daughter of the ocean. Tsunamika has emerged as an Ocean Goddess, the spirit of the ocean. She, along with one million Tsunamika dolls, is on “Ocean Mission”. She speaks for children and women – two parts of our society who are most vulnerable during calamities. With Tsunamika, they stand up in this journey of the A-Clean Ocean as change makers.
After the whole research and problem statement. I wanted to make a story book and a activity book based on the story for kids aged 4 and above. The story has to be interactive but also giving knowledge about oceans and environment and give a good moral.
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So for the story I came up with few characters which are endangered species and also act as friends of Tsunamika.
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Tsunamika - We are here to help
The characters of the story are
•Tsunamika
• Tini the Turtle
• Wooshy the Whale
• Greg the Gharial
• Pengu the Penguin
• Dobby the Dolphin
Once upon a time, beside a calm seashore were sitting five sea friends - Tini the Turtle, Pengu the Penguin, Dobby the Dolphin, Wooshy the Whale, and Greg the Gharial.
(Enter the scene)
Tini, Pengu, Dobby, Wooshy and Greg were near the shore and enjoying a fun conversation when suddenly, Pengu looks at other side of the shore and says-
Penguin: Wooshy!! So much hustle bustle today!! Why do we have so many people at the beach today? Has anything happened that I missed?
Wooshy: No, Dear, nothing has happened. It's the scorching summer heat that has brought so many people to the beach.
Tini: Yeah! They are coming here more often nowadays. I have seen them collecting things from the water and the beach.
Wooshy: You know, there was a time when people had not discovered this beach and I used to come to the shore every day to bask in the sun. Ah…..It was so peaceful.
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Greg: These humans took away all our peace and have even put us in danger. Remember how a few days ago, Tini got caught up in that Transy monster (polythene bag). He wasn't even able to breathe. Thank goodness I came on time and saved him.
Enters Tsunamika -
Tsunamika: Hey guys !!! What's going on, how have you all been?
Pengu: Hey Tsunamika, I have missed you. Where were you?
Why are you not coming to the seashore anymore? Don't you miss us?
Tsunamika: Aww!! I have missed you guys a lot too. I have been a little busy with my human friends.
Greg: Huh! (Rolling his eyes)
Tsunamika ignores him.
Dobby: So, do you know why these people are all around today?
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Tsunamika: Because people are slowly making themselves aware of protecting our mother nature. They have started stepping towards a co-existence in the world - where we and humans can live peacefully. Therefore,today all these people have gathered here to clean this ocean.
Dobby: Oh wait - CLEAN THE OCEAN!!! Are they going to kill us?
Greg: Of course, as expected, I was afraid this day was near.
Tsunamika: No No No Nooooo !!! You are taking this all wrong, they are here to remove all the trash and waste that has been dumped into the sea.
Tini: Even the Transy monster??
Tsunamika: Yes, even the Transy monster. Those are the polythene bags by the way. They're going to take them all away, along with the other harmful garbage.
Dobby and Tini: Ooh!! That's very nice.
Greg leaves the discussion and goes to a denser and shady part of the shore where a crane piques his attention and he becomes a predator who wants to satisfy his hunger. As said - a time comes when the prey becomes more cunning than a predator and certainly, the Crane uses its wit and flies as fast as it could into the vines. Little did Greg know that Crane’s flying map will make him get trapped in the vines. And here Greg’s hunting skills become bootless as he gets stuck in the vines and gets hurt.
Tsunamika notices Greg's absence and asks her friends " Hey, Where did Greg go? What happened to him? "
Tini: I will go search for him.
Pengu: No,Tini, you're slow, so let me go look for him.
Tsunamika: I will also come along with you.
After searching for a while, Tsunamika notices something big tangled in vines, and then she steps a bit near to it and realizes that it’s Greg lying unconscious and bleeding. Tsunamika shouts out for Pengu and asks him to stay there while she brings people for help.
Tsunamika comes back with the help, and people rescue him and provide him the necessary medication and first aid.
All the people on the shore wait for him to gain consciousness while his friends watch him from afar.
Greg opens up his eyes and sees humans and Tsunamika around him. He finds out that the humans he hated the most were the ones who have rescued him today. He feels grateful and sorry. He acknowledges a different perspective, that everything isn’t always the way you see it. Deep down these generalized views don’t actually hold a meaning. Everything has its own pros and cons. Hence, we should try to give things and people a second chance and know them better.
MORAL - NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER .Forming opinions solely on the basis of seeing the surface is wrong. It is because after taking a deeper look we can understand what the other person is.
Activity Book
There are 4 pages in the activity book, all the activities are in relation with the story.
1. Picking up the Garbage.
2. Bye Bye !! Plastic
3. Finding Greg
4. Save Greg
Picking up the Garbage
Bye - Bye Plastic
Finding Greg
Save Greg