SIARC 2010 : Remarkable Presence of Foreign Craftsmen

African, Asian and European arts works are also being exhibited at the Yaounde event. The ongoing second edition of Cameroon International Handicrafts Exhibition (SIARC 2010) is truly an event of international magnitude looking at the number of non-nationals participating, what they have brought and their expectations from the 11-day show which kicked off last Friday. From neighbouring Gabon to Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Congo Democratic, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Syria, Indonesia and France, their crafts works are stealing the show. According to Zamel Haifaa of Mimo International, Syria, SIARC, like

other exhibitions in Cameroon, offers them the opportunity to showcase their crafts work in household decoration, same like her countryman, Anas Kerdary. While Syria is gifted in household decoration, Congo Brazzaville has weaving and dying, Gabon has carvings and sculptures, Indonesia has dress embroidery while Burkina Faso has a combination of weaving, dying and sculptures. In a chart with CT in the exhibition village at the weekend, Ouedraogo Brahima de S of Burkina Faso described the Yaounde event as promising and beneficial to craftsmen irrespective of their country of origin. ??I wish to use SIARC 2010 to have new contacts and to distribute Burkina Faso goods to the rest of the world??, he said, adding that, ??this will serve as an opportunity for us to negotiate partnership with other institutions as well as create contacts with finest crafts men and other talented ones??. Mr Ouedraogo Brahima de S said a good craftsman is he who learns everyday and seeks to improve on his creativity. The Yaounde event, he said, is one of the rare opportunities for craftsmen from several countries to meet and so it must be used to advance crafts work in the world. Like Cameroon??s Minister of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa and his counterpart of Congo Brazzaville, Yvonne Adelaïde Mougang, the Burkina Faso craftsman said it is high time crafts is upheld, developed and integrated into the development policies of the economies. He invited Cameroon??s craftsmen like others elsewhere to attend the 12th International Arts and Handicrafts Trade Show of Ouagadougou (SIAO) Burkina Faso billed from October 29 to November 7, 2010.
Godlove BAINKONG, CT

Ne manquez aucune actualite !