SIBU, Dec 12: With the Covid-19 pandemic in our midst, housewife Hajra Hanapi did not sit back on her laurels as she had to fend for the upkeep of her family of five children.
Armed with her flower pot making skill which she acquired when she was in Sabah, she put her creativity to good use and makes flower pots from cement for sale.
Her flower pots are shaped like tree trunks.
A Sabahan, she and her family moved here three years ago when her husband got a job in an oil palm estate here.
“Sometime in 2011, Kemas (Community Development Department) organised a one-day workshop on the flower pot and animal sculptor making from cement. I was one of them and I made full use of the time to learn the skill,” she recalled.
However, after the workshop, she did not put to good use the skill that she had acquired.
“It was in May this year following the enforcement of Movement Control Order (MCO) that I felt I had to do something to supplement my family’s income. So the only skill that I have is flower pot making so I went for it,” she said.
Her husband would help her on weekends when he is not working.
Hajra, 38, started to receive inquiries when she advertised her flower pots on social media. Buyers started coming to her house in Belian Lane to buy them as they are attracted to the uniqueness of her flower pots.
“I also have interested buyers from Kuching but I can’t send them as they are quite fragile. I also have buyers from towns nearby and they come here to buy them,” she said.
Asked how much she could make from her promising venture, Hajrah was quick to say, “As I have just started the business, it is rather difficult to see how things go but I think I can make between RM300 to RM500 a month.”
Depending on the size, her flower pots are sold between RM6 to RM45.
“For bigger sized ones of 40cm in diameter and 30cm high, people have to make an order first and I will make them. As for the other sizes, I will make them, as usual, every day,” she said.
In a day, she could make up to five smaller pots and it takes an hour to make the bigger ones.
“All my customers are from different ethnic groups. They are flower enthusiasts,” she concluded. — Dayakdaily
