Shona Sculpture at Hartsfield Jackson Airport

I love Hartsfield Jackson Airport!! Hard to believe with the long security lines being the busiest airport in the world... So why all the love? Well this is where the biggest display of Shona Sculpture from Zimbabwe is displayed in the Western world.



The sculpture is located on concourse T of the airport. It’s the first terminal after you walk through security. If you take the train to your concourse you will miss it, so make sure you catch the train after walking through concourse T.
I couldn’t resist taking photos, and to my surprise & immense pleasure I wasn’t the only one.


I didn’t take photos of all the sculpture because I want you to go and see it for yourself. Isn’t it amazing??



Word has it the display was put up when Andrew Young was mayor of Atlanta and the pieces at the time were valued at an estimated $1 million dollars!

The Birth of the Afrobag - Part 2

One of my most important goals when I visited Zimbabwe was to find a bag manufacturer to make African handbags called Afrobag. This is something I’ve had on my mind for several years. The reasons behind the Afrobag are simple:
a)create a product with a positive multiplier effect within the grassroots levels of society, & thereby contribute to the elimination of extreme poverty; and
b) take something back with to America to remind me of home on a daily basis.
The first (and currently, the only) line of Afrobags is made using batik fabric which relies on the skills of several types of low income (but not extremely poor) artisans and suppliers. These are batik artists, bag makers, weavers and leather suppliers. These groups are typically still consistently linked to their rural homes where extreme poverty in Zimbabwe is greatest. So for example, during Christmas or planting season, they’ll go to the rural areas to share Christmas festivities or purchase fertilizer for planting season. They can only do this if they are financially able to do so. Mr. Meneyere for example, who is our Afrobag sewer, lives in the city but his wife and family (and extended family) live in the rural areas. He visits them when he can afford to do so, but he is currently the main breadwinner for his entire immediate and extended family. You can imagine what a huge weight this is to carry. So Tashanda’s plan is to find people like Mr Menyere and use them to continue their support of their extended families in the rural areas. If demand for his skills grow, he may even be able to pass on his skills to family members and help them out of poverty in that way.

One might ask why Tashanda does’t go directly to the areas where the extremely poor are located. The answer lies in the fact that they are situated in areas which are so remote that there is unlikely to be any electricity, accessible roads, and/or communication. We have identified some remote locations for other projects which do not need electricity, but that is another long story…
As mentioned above, the other reason for creating the Afrobag was really for personal gratification. I love sadza batik so much that I absolutely had to create something with them. In 2006 my sister came to visit me in the USA & was the first person with whom I shared the idea of making handbags. At the time I was struggling to find a name and in an instant she said “why don’t you call them Afrobags?” Wow, so simple for some…

Mr. Menyere is a really nice, down to earth man. He’s quiet, patient, very respectful and hardworking. He’s also a man with a huge talent that he has managed to maintain in spite of Zimbabwe’s economic decline. He told me that he used to work at a factory in Zimbabwe which made handbags until it was forced to close in the late 1990’s. The owner of the factory liked him very much and left him some of his sewing equipment prior to relocating to South Africa. Today Mr. Menyere is based at the home of his former owner where he sews bags to sell to local shops. I asked him how business was treating him & he shook his head in despair. The price of leather, glue, lining, zippers – everything – has gone up and continues to go up every day. He was referring to Zimbabwe’s escalating inflation rate which is currently the highest in the world. He doesn’t own a car so he uses public transport or a bicycle to carry his products to his customers. He showed me some samples of his work and I was impressed with his workmanship which was very neat. He makes a variety of bag styles using mainly leather and fabric combinations.
I showed him Tashanda’s batiks & asked if he could do something with them & he said he could with no problem. So I left him with as many as he thought he could handle in the week and a half I had remaining. By his estimate he was going to make 30 bags, although in a good week he can churn out up to 100 a week. He told me he works with his brother who also used to work at the factory. His brother Maki is much younger & he too is a great person to know. We showed the two brothers the 2 bag patterns we had designed and wanted him to make. We also agreed that we’d take him to a high density location where he would then purchase the leather he needed for the bags. We also left him a 50% down payment to enable him to purchase other materials / costs for the order.

The next day, we drove to Epworth, which is a low income high density neighborhood in the greater Harare area. The town of Epworth began as a place where displaced people used to live and as a result, does not have much of the town planning you typically see in other Harare locations. Here, it’s not unusual to see a mud hut next to a well constructed, modern brick building coupled with unpaved roads. There was a roadblock along the way and the police stopped me & asked for my license. Due to all the Zimbabwean money I’d been carrying, I’d been having to travel with several handbags at a time and as my luck would have it I simply couldn’t find my driver’s license. As I searched the car I felt a rising sense of panic – not because of anything the policeman had said or done, but more because of the BBC & CNN news articles I’d read about the “escalating violence” in Zimbabwe. When I’d lived in Zimbabwe I never felt this way and fortunately my fears were unfounded because the policeman told me to move along but make sure I had it on me next time. Phew!! Needless to say, when I returned home that evening I saw another handbag under the driver’s seat, and sure enough my driver’s license was in there!

As we proceeded to Epworth, My Menyere explained that the place we were going to was the home of his friend who imports scrap leather from South Africa as the leather costs in Zimbabwe are quite astronomical. While Zimbabwe has about 11 tanneries the shortage of livestock and decline of farming and agriculture has forced prices so high that they are too high. This friend of Mr. Menyere used to sew handbags as well but decided to change professions & become a leather supplier instead. He did have someone sewing wallets on his porch though, which he explained he sells to the local market. The leather was very expensive. The prices were marked on the exterior of each bale and I watched as Mr Menyere sorted the pieces and the colors he wanted for the bags. It was a hot day and the selection process took ages. This man was so meticulous!

As he continued to sort through the leather his friend started telling me how well his leather business was doing and how he had managed to build two houses in the Epworth area as a result. He was also keen to assure me that his leather was imported legally (Zimbabwe has so many punitive laws and regulations which can result in heavy fines if not complied with, especially in the area of import/export) and he showed me his customs documentation. His home looked like it had about 3 bedrooms & it had a large yard which was walled and gated. It was a nice home.
Zimbabweans are into so many forms of employment. When you read statistics telling you the unemployment rate is 80% what that statistic is really saying is that 20% are in formal employment (banks, schools etc..) and most of the rest are working for themselves, and maybe even employing others who are being excluded from the statistics. This leather dealer is a typical example. There were also a multitude of vendors in the area & they were everywhere, selling fruits & vegetables and baskets.
Finally when My Menyere finished making his selections, we drove back home & left him and his brother to start the debut Afrobag range.
At the end of the week I went to examine the samples he had managed to produce and I was pleased with the result. This is the very first bag he made for us:

The biggest challenge faced by Mr Menyere was the power cuts. I would get to their studio in the middle of the day & he & his brother would be asleep because they were up all night working when the electricity was on. Such is the life of Zimbabwe today. These are hurdles we face on a daily basis and I worry sometimes about how Tashanda will overcome this, especially if larger orders start coming in. Right now the only solution is to ensure that orders are placed very early, much earlier than your average factory order. The other option is to consider solar energy, or a generator. I have no clue about the former and the latter is very expensive.

I’m happy to say that the order was completed in time for me to leave for the USA. Not all the bags came out the way we had hoped but we were happy with the initial response from our customers. Mr Menyere is calling me almost daily to find out how his bags are selling. The order for 30 handbags made a tremendous difference in his life and a continued stream would certainly lower the current financial burdens he has on his shoulders. He is keen to get more orders as soon as possible and we are working really hard to find orders for him.

There are hundreds of skilled workers like him in Zimbabwe whether they are shoe makers or natural jewelers or sculptors, who need access to international markets and micro finance, but as far as I can tell there is no financial assistance available for people like him. If it’s there, he doesn’t know about it and even expressed some reservations about approaching a bank for a loan. Why? He’s never approached a bank in his life and feels intimidated and unsure. He didn’t have to say it out loud, I could just tell from the manner of his response. There is so much work to be done. As the old Chinese saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So this is the story of how the Afrobag was born!

Zimbabwe Votes

Zimbabweans headed for the polls in late March, 2008. I was travelling at the time but every second I got, I was watching CNN and BBC news from my hotel room, and scanning all the online newspapers and blogs I could find. I prayed. I prayed really hard. I prayed for peace and I prayed for the country that I love so dearly. I prayed that whatever the result, it would be a true reflection of the will of the people. I also prayed that the winners & losers would realize the enormity of the power in each of their hands, and that they would choose to make the right choices - choices that would keep the peace in a nation on the already on the edge. It’s been 2 weeks since the elections and the results have not yet been announced. Nobody seems to know what's next and most people have already lost hope because of the silence on the election results and are continuing their lives as before. Please keep Zimbabwe in your thoughts and prayers...

The Facts of Poverty

My three new friends smile shyly at the camera

• 1.2 billion people live on less than US$ 1 per day
• 2.8 billion people live on less than US$ 2 per day
• 75 per cent of the poor live in rural areas
• 60 per cent of the world’s poor are women and girls
• The average income in the 20 richest countries is 37 times higher than in the 20
poorest countries
• Higher inequality tends to retard growth in poor countries and encourage growth
in richer places

http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file%5fid=11092

Africa poverty books:

The Birth of the Afrobag - Part 1

The primary goal of www.tashanda.com is to contribute to the elimination of global poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Zimbabwe. I am no expert on poverty and maybe I am somewhat naïve but surely the solution to poverty elimination is to teach people how to help themselves and facilitate the means to do so until they can stand on their own?

Why is poverty still an issue in 2008?

I’ve asked myself over and over again - What can I do? I mean, it’s my country after all and I am a product of Zimbabwe at its best time as bread basket of Africa. Was all that education for nothing? I applaud the countries and organizations that have helped Zimbabwe & Africa, but I also think it’s time that those Africans who are able to do so, do something to lift their own continent out of poverty!! It really isn’t that difficult. Look at nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus and www.kiva.org. It really is that simple. Some African countries are difficult for international organizations to penetrate, but people like you and me who visit home often can enter and make a difference without all the red tape.

I always felt overwhelmed about where to start and how to make a difference. So I spent many years planning, analyzing and researching, then planning, analyzing and researching - just going in circles just like that. Then one day a person told a story on television which finally motivated me into action. I didn't know the story teller but she told the story the way my Grandmother would have told it - in the old African oral story telling tradition known as "ngano" which is typically based on characters in the Animal Kingdom. The title of the story was "The Hummingbird Perseveres" and the storyteller as I later learned was Africa's first female Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Mathaai. I was so inspired that I went on to purchase her book, and today she is one of my greatest inspirations.

The story goes as follows:
"I want to tell you a story because it is a story of "never give up." It is a story of a forest that went on fire, a huge forest that suddenly was on fire. There was a big fire raging. All the animals came out of the forest. As they came to the edge of the forest and they started watching the fire, feeling very discouraged, feeling very disempowered. Every one of them did not think there was anything they could do about the fire except a little hummingbird. The little hummingbird said, "I can do something about this fire. I'm not going on the side to watch the forest burn."

So the little hummingbird ran toward the nearest stream. The little hummingbird took a drop of water, and put it on the raging fire. Then back again and brought another drop and kept running up and down. In the meantime, the other animals are discouraging [the hummingbird]. They are telling it, "Don't bother, it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too little, you can't do much about this fire." Some of these animals that were discouraging it had big beak that could have brought more water than the hummingbird. But they weren't. They were very busy discouraging.

The hummingbird decided not to be discouraged. It kept going up and down to get the water and put it on the burning forest. And as the animals were discouraging it, without wasting its time, the bird looked back to these other animals and saw how desperate, discouraged and persuaded they were to stay on the sidelines and not get involved. One animal said, "What do you think you are doing?" And the hummingbird, without wasting time, looked back and said, "I'm doing the best I can." "

And this is how I see the work of Tashanda - "we're doing the best we can"

Muhammed Yunus and Kiva, like the hummingbird, started by giving micro loans of about $50, $100 or more to individuals who wanted to start a business. And today the impact has been phenomenal. Don;t get me wrong - I know many of us are already sending money home to send family members to school, to pay their household expenses etc… but let’s think for a minute about what we can do to help them help themselves as well. It’s not hard to find micro-entrepreneurs in Africa – they’re everywhere - just search within your own family.


There is an unfortunate misconception that Africans wait for handouts all the time, and I really want to challenge that misconception. I’ve never known people who work harder than Africans. Africans are so resilient and innovative, and many, many Africans are working against seemingly insurmountable odds to survive another day. A modern day welfare system is more of what I would describe as a “handout” to be honest. I’ve visited rural areas where even under the worst drought conditions poor subsistence farmers living on less than a dollar a day will wake up at the crack of dawn to go and plough their dry, soil eroded fields until the sun sets, in an effort to make a living. So to say people like this are waiting for handouts is somewhat unfair. What they really want is a stepping stone to the next level. Their challenges are not only limited to the climate, but also to infrastructure. The poorest people are often isolated from roads and the hub of their communities whether it is the city or a smaller growth point.

Zimbabweans continue to work just as hard and I'm determined to keep up the hope through Tashanda's support of artisans on the ground. Just today, my good friend and sculptor, Wimbai Ngoma, send me about 21 photographs of his latest pieces (which are totally amazing by the way). If this website www.tashanda.com did not exist, how was he going to show the world his talent?

In Zimbabwe we face all the challenges you can imagine, but I am still very optimistic that the economy can turn itself around. I don’t like to talk about politics in Zimbabwe because I feel there are enough people doing so already, and as a result, the attention has shifted from the positive stories of the possibilities & good things happening on the ground, to issues of all the negativity. While I don’t dispute the negative aspects, I’m one of those who still strongly believes in the strength & goodness of Zimbabwe, so I prefer to leave all the ugly political stuff to those that want to talk about it. I believe it’s better to act than debate all night without reaching a solution; and at this point in time those who can drive the economy (like Wimbai Ngoma) are waiting for orders which aren’t coming because of all the bad news which has driven away investors…Luckily this is my blog and I get to decide what I want the news to be! And I'll show you both sides of the story!

To be continued….

Stone Sculpture - Catalog Experiment

Bear with me please - I'm trying to figure out the best way to show you all the stone sculpture photos sent to me by the artists in Zimbabwe? Any ideas? Help!

Batsiranai

I just want to remind everyone that the purpose of the stories I am sharing with you here is to show you the real people behind the products you see on the website http://www.tashanda.com/.
Batsiranai is actually the first producer group I visted on the second day of my arrival in Harare.
For those of you who haven't heard of Batsiranai, let me tell you about it. But before I begin... let me tell you about the stigma associated with having a handicapped child in Zimbabwe. I never really believed it existed because my own cousin was born with downs syndrome. His name was Fadzi and he was the light of our lives. I didn't know he was disabled because nobody treated him as if he were. It was only as I started to get older as he struggled to learn how to walk and talk that I realized something was wrong. Regardless, as a little girl he was my favorite toddler because he was so lovable. I remember sitting on a couch with my sister, Fadzi between us, and he loved to give hugs. That particular day he gave me a hug then my sister pretended to sulk and he turned to her smiling and have her a hug. Then I pretended to sulk and he turned to me and gave me another hug. I don't know how long this went on but he continued to give us one hug after another.. that memory makes me smile. Fadzi passed away a few years ago but he will always have a special place in all our hearts.
So going back to the issue of stigma associated with disability, I do recall attending a mini-olympics for disabled children in Harare and sittling next to some ignorant fools who were laughing at some of the children running on the track... Other than that my personal experience has not been negative. While there are many schools in Zimbabwe for children and adults with disabilities there remains a common fear of the unkown amongst the public about people with disabilities. Fear fuels prejudice and unfortunately this is something from which the whole world suffers... Jairos Jiri, St Giles, and St Catherines are three major institutions for children and adults with disabilities in Zimbabwe. Fadzi attended the latter two schools during his childhood.
If you want to know more about the handicapped in Zimbabwe please refer to the NASCOH (National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped) website at http://www.nascoh.org.zw/
Batsiranai, which means "help each other" in Shona language, started in 1998 as a support group for low income women with handicapped children. I can imagine that it was important for these mothers to share their struggles with one another and develop solutions as a team. Chief volunteer at Batsirania, Lynne Poole, describes it best: "Batsiranai is a member of Zimbabwe Parents of Disabled Children Association (ZPDCA), an advocacy organization registered with the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Social Welfare. Within ZPDCA there are 600 families with severely disabled children living in various townships around Harare. The original Dzivarasekwa group consists of 24 mothers and George (an older brother of a disabled child). The sale of handicrafts has enabled the members to reach out to include additional mothers from various townships around Harare. Today there are 110 mothers working with Batsiranai (November 2007). The dream of this project is to grow and grow quickly, so that all 600 families may participate in the success of Batsiranai."
As always happens when we visit Batsiranai we got a little bit lost. The center is situated in a high density suburb which means there are many narrow roads with street names that are not always visible...We stopped by a group of children aged about 8 or 9 who were playing and asked them if they knew how to get to the center from where we were. One young boy started directing us and a passerby told him to hop in our car and take us there. I tell people that going to Zimbabwe makes me feel grounded again & reminds me of who I am. This encounter with the young boys and the stranger passing by was a reminder. How many parents in a different part of the world would condone a stranger telling their child to get into the car of another stranger? The stranger meant no harm and I have no doubt that the young boy would have gotten into the car, but needless to say, we told them it was ok and that he did not need to get in.
When we first visited the center in December 2006 it was very quiet since it was Christmas and most mothers had gone home for the holidays. This time around it was a completely different scene. As we walked into the yard there were children oustide playing on a swing set, and there were some mothers near the entrance working on their needle work. It was quite a lively and noisy atmosphere. The childrens classroom is the first room you enter into, followed by a play area further ahead with toys and books. On the left side of the room is a napping area as well as a huge mattress where some of the children with hydrocephalus (big heads) lie. Hydrocephalus is caused by not having a shunt put in at birth which is what would happen in the west... the delay in surgically putting in the shunt causes the swollen head which is permanent. It was hard to look at these children because the swelling looked painful to me. They cannot lift their heads up because they are so swollen and heavy so they have to just lie there... all day...It just broke my heart. Just today there was a news report that Britney Spears had been hospitalized. It was headline news on CNN World report! The paparazzi need to leave her alone & stop taking so much malicious enjoyment of her personal problems. Surely these kids in front of me made better cases for headline news...?? Life is so unfair.




Continuing with my description of the center... next to the napping area is a kitchen where all the childrens meals are prepared. To the right is a long hall way with an inventory storage room and another kitchen on the left, and a raw materials storage rooms on the right - includes needles, thread, fabric etc... The hallway leads to a large open space where all the women make their crafts. See the video above.




Most of the mothers have children who are handicapped as well as children who are not handicapped. We met two older (non-handicapped) children as we were touring the premises and one of them asked me to take a photo of them. For some reason they had already decided they wanted a photo at the back of the house, away from the mothers, so we went there. There was one beautiful little girl named Nyengeterai who decided she wanted to be in on the picture as well. She struggles to walk so she was dragging herself on the ground to follow us. She was wearing a pretty blue dress which was getting ruined as she chased after us. The older kids just laughed and told her to hurry as she made sounds that she wanted to come too. They weren't being mean at all, just treating her like she was fully able to follow. And sure enough, within a few minutes she was sitting next to the others with a triumphant smile on her face. Notice in the picture that she is the only one smiling! Zimbabweans don't smile much for the camera, so while here they have a serious look on their faces, literally seconds before they were laughing & joking with me.
I decided Nyengeterai deserved her own photograph for her efforts & here she is!!

About twenty minutes into our visit Lynn Poole arrived. Lynn is an American woman who has dedicated her time, money and efforts to support the women of Batsiranai. She tries to give the women as much independence as possible but I know she works really hard behind the scenes to get the word out about the center. She also spearheads the product design and development amongst other things. She says it took a whole year to get the dolls made right! We sat and talked with her about the center and the challenges they face. The challenges of course are many and she didn't really need to spell them out. I could see for myself that the children needed more equipment to aid them with their disabilities for example wheel chairs and special shoes, and the center needed materials and equipment to make their products.

I could also see that in spite of the positive direction the center was moving, donations were still very welcome. I say this because on behalf of http://www.tashanda.com/, I donated cash equivalent to $2 per doll sold on the website back to them. They ullulated and sang a short song of thanks to Tashanda which was so touching... Their gratitude was so real it made me want to do even more in 2008 to help them. We purchased more dolls which you can see on http://www.tashanda.com/BatsiranaiDolls.html. This time they had a selection of larger dolls known as "mama dolls". Mai Nyegeterai (one of the leaders) told me that when I last came ot the center my friend had suggested that they make dolls with babies on their backs and this is exactly what they did. I was so happy to hear this because it shows how serious they are about growing their business and being more competitive.
I asked for permission to interview some of the women and ended up talking to only two. I spoke with one woman named Rosey for a
few minutes. Rosey is an exception to the average woman at the center because she has no children. She came to the center because she used to take care of her disabled niece who later passed away. She stayed on and has become a permanent fixture at the center. Rosey has had a tough life. She was a "chimbwido" (virgin girl who served the "mujibas" - a messenger and carrier for the guerrillas ) during Zimbabwe's war of independence in the 1970's and also suffers from epilepsy. These issues interrupted her education very early in life. In fact, when I asked her the year she was born, she couldn't tell me and pulled out her ID for me to read for myself. The date was July 17, 1965. This means she was ten years old when she started as a Chimbwido.
I was preparing to find a second woman to interview, when I looked across the room and saw a boy in a short pink chair that looked like a high chair because it had a flat surface to place food. Something about the child, seemed odd so I walked across the room towards him. He was EXTREMELY thin and looked malnourished. He was also crying but no tears were in his eyes. He was clearly in distress so I reached out to hold his hand. His entire hand covered my one finger, he was so small. When he felt my touch he stopped crying for a minute and looked around as if he was more aware that there were people around him. I wondered how old he was because while he looked no more than three or less, his teeth were very mature and well developed. As we waited for his mother to come Rosey told us that they couldn't afford to buy him a special chair so their brother group, known as "Batsiranai - fathers with disabled children" (see http://batsiranai.blogspot.com/2006/04/introduction-to-group.html), made him this chair using papier mache. The chair was strong and I was impressed by the innovation of the fathers who made it.

His mother eventually came and she told us his name was Paul and that he suffered from cerebral palsy and brain damage after a long and difficult childbirth. She said he was ten years old.... The video and pictures below show Paul and his mother as we interviewed her.

This was a hard interview to conduct. You cannot see it clearly but his mother was in despair and tried to put on a brave face. It’s so important for me to show you this interview because I want you see the life behind the Batsiranai product you purchase, whether from www.tashanda.com or from any other website.
Paul’s mum buys medicine and other necessities for her child with the sales proceeds. She's not asking for handouts, as many poor nations are accused of squandering - no, she's walking miles & miles a day to this center, to make a toy, bag or jewellery to sell to you. The product quality is no different from a toy at a mega toystore, she's simply at a disadvantage because she's poor.
Me: “What does he need?”
His Mother: “He needs a pram from me to move him around”
Me: “You’d mentioned earlier that he needs a specific sized pram. What size?”
His Mother: “I am not sure what sized pram he needs”
Me: “How old is he?”
His Mother: “he’s turning ten years old on November 29” (in about 16 days time)
Me: “Ten years. Has he ever walked in his life?”
His Mother: “No”
Me: “So is it just a pram he needs? Is there anything else?” “ Is medicine available?”
His Mother: “Sometimes you can find it and other times you cannot. The name of the medicine is Phenobarbital and Valium ( Diazepam )”
Me: “Is there anything else you want to say”
His Mother: “He also needs special food. These days he prefers milk, popcorn and soft foods.”
After meeting Paul I could not do any more interviews.
Readers, you have to have been there to understand. It took a lot of energy out of me because his situation was upsetting. I don't mean to paint a bleak picture though. The other kids had lesser disabilities, they were vey healthy and could talk, walk and play. Added to this, the atmosphere as I mentioned before was lively and positive. It's just that meeting Paul took away a little something from me that day and I couldn't stop thinking of him for the rest of my vacation. During those remaining 2 weeks I searched all the childrens stores to find a pram and i couldn't find one! Could it be because most mothers carry their children on their backs and the rest can afford to shop for them in South Africa? I don't know but I do know that I've seen many prams in Zimbabwe before & never really wondered where they came from.

Does anyone have a donation they would like to make for Paul and other children like him? Email me PLEASE! Or click on the donation button on our home page http://www.tashanda.com.

To learn more about Batsiranai, or if you want to purchase products wholesale from them, please click their website here: http://www.batsiranai.co.zw/ . You will also find their entire product range here. If you need help contacting Batsiranai, you can also e-mail me & I can put you in touch with the right people.

My final question to Lynn was about the need for volunteers. She said volunteer assistance from anyone with an interest or a background in design would be very welcome. Added to this they would deeply appreciate donations of natural thread such as embroidery cotton, wool or cotton yarn (used to make the dolls hair so should be black, brown, yellow or gray), scissors and sewing equipment. in addition to this any donations of felt, paintbrushes, needles and tape measures would be welcome.

Kudhinda Factory Visit

Visiting Kudhinda was one of the things I was looking forward to most of all. You have to understand that this is a company started by a woman with a dream. I don’t know if it was her dream to start a business, but I do know that her dream was to make a social impact. Social entrepreneurship is something rarely seen today, let alone in the late eighties when she started… Growing up I had many female role models who were self made entrepreneurs. While I have always loved entrepreneurship, I never really considered that my love of crafts, color and fabrics could become a viable social venture, as I had never really seen such a business model before..at least until I remembered Kudhinda in Zimbabwe.

This was going to be my first visit to the factory because Tashanda’s initial stock was selected for us and mailed directly to the USA by our distribution team in Harare. I had visited their retail stores in Zimbabwe though & I was always dazzled by the gorgeous colors. My mother offered to accompany me to the factory since she already knew some of the staff there.

Upon arrival we were ushered into a gorgeous sales room exquisitely decorated with African themed wall hangings, cushions, pottery and posters. It was so tempting to just pull out my camera and start taking pictures but of course that would have been foolish (not to mention over zealous)… so I waited for Mr Jonas (sales manager) to come and greet us. It was nice to finally meet him after e-mailing one another back and forth over the past year. After chatting with Mr Jonas for some minutes Ros herself (founder of Kudhinda) passed by and we were introduced to her. We did not talk for long though as she seemed to be tied up. It was nice to meet her though.

Mr Jonas was a great host. He introduced us to the staff and talked about the business process from end to end. He has worked for the company for over 10 years and worked his way up to his current position. All the staff seemed to genuinely like him. I could tell right away that this was a well run operation with good internal controls and people management. The premises were very clean, the employees had on protective clothing, environmentally friendly dyes are used and many of the workers had been there for most of their working careers. Mr Jonas allowed us to take photographs of the staff at work. I decided it would still be polite to get their permission & they jokingly answered that as long as I sent them copies it was ok by them - I still need to send those pics!!

As we toured the premises Mr Jonas explained that due to the current agricultural decline the company was no longer using potatoes to stamp their fabrics. Instead they now use rubber stamps. He showed us the dye mixing area, the large stove with a conveyor belt for color fastening and the fabric stamping area. The stamping process was the most interesting. The women doing the work were so skilled - there were no smudges or errors even though at least three of them were working on one piece. They explained that it takes three or more hours to complete one wall hanging. That's a lot of labor, time and patience. At 10 am every day the factory speakers are turned on and the staff can listen to music as they work. I can't think of a better combination - making crafts & listening to music at the same time.

The cutting and sewing area had a huge cutting table and lethal cutting machine, sewing area, finishing area, and finally a distribution area. Kudhinda makes pottery, household ornaments and much more...The company ships its products to retailers and wholesalers all over the world, and I have no doubt that they will be continuing their amazing work for a long time to come.

Thanks Mr Jonas (or "JJ" as his staff call him) for the tour!

Tichakunda School

On Thursday, November 22, 2007, prior to my departure from Zimbabwe, my friends and I had planned to take a roadtrip to the Eastern Highlands. Our plans had to be postponed when my friend called to say her home had been burgled and she had cut her foot in the process. When I got there her family, friends and neighbours were there to check on her & see if she was ok. We decided to drive to Hatcliffe clinic where her mother is a nurse in order to get her a tetnus shot for her foot (the private clinic she'd gone to earlier had failed to giver her one). I had never been to this clinic before & thought it would be a great opportunity to find out what their needs were. I am a member of a new Facebook group called Yamura Zimbabwe (Help Zimbabwe) - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5353429931, and we are currently in the process of identifying organizations in need of assistance, especially schools or organizations supporting children in Zimbabwe.




Hatcliffe is a low income high density area in Northern Harare & it is located about 2 - 5km from the wealthier northern suburbs. The clinic was was quite impressive. It was spotless, patients were few and were being attended to in rapid succession. I was relieved to note that our standards had not changed in spite of the harsh economic climate the country is currently facing.

The majority were young mothers who had brought their children for the basic injections required for babies when they reach certain ages. I watched as these cute little things smiled & gurgled at the nurses, not knowing what they were in for! One baby was injected on one thigh first then on the other. Poor thing just cried & cried! I watched with interest as the nurses joked with the patients and questioned the mothers about why their baby had a rash and what they had done about it etc...

Nurse Muchemwa also told us about the outreach work performed by the clinic. For example it was recently annonced that our neighbor, Namibia, had just had an outbreak of polio, a disease long eradicated from Zimbabwe. On December 8th, the nurses at the clinic were going to vaccinate the people in their designated geographical area to reduce the risk of the outbreak in the country. The local newspaper had also written an article about the outbreak and all clinics and hospitals were preparing for the outreach program.

After watching the 10th or so baby being injected my friend announced that the clinic used to have a feeding program where malnourished childred were brought and fed a nutritious meal. Her mother agreed but said the program was cancelled due to the introduction of an alternative supplement known as Plumpy Nut. She took out a sample and showed us. It's basically a small foil packet which contains a high level of engery & nutrition. It is given to mothers whose children are malnourished. She showed us how they determined if a child was undernourished too - see photo & video below.

I asked whether there was a need for any volunteers at the clinic and the nurse suprised me by saying no. She went on to say "not here, but at the creche (nursery school)". I wasn't sure what she meant then she explained that there are about 5 nursery schools in the greater Hatcliffe area which were formed by members of the community & with support from local organizations such as churches, and they have a great need for volunteers, equipment etc.. She offered to take us there and off we went. The homes in Hatcliffe Extension are very poor. Structures are made from plastic donated by the Catholic church. What struck me most was how clean and attractive the plastic homes looked even though the residents were living in poverty. There were flowers outside almost every house and the yards were swept clean. It reminded me of a the tin city in Soweto except there were fewer homes with a smaller population, and it was also fairly quiet compared to Soweto.

When we finally reached the nursery school, nothing had prepared me for what I saw. Coming from my temporary home in the West, the land of excess and credit cards, it was hard to reconcile my life over there with this school over here, in my own country!! It was one of those visits with little meaning unless you visit in person..but I will try my best to paint a clear picture.

As we got out of the car and walked towards the structures it still hadn't really registered that we were at a nursery school. A nursery school has a playground with grass and trees, swings and toys. A nursery school has color and cartoons on the walls. We walked into a plastic structure with the sign "Under 6" outside it & low & behold there were about 30 little faces sitting on the dirt floor, some standing. The teacher was beaming! She just seemed genuinely happy. She made the children stand up and sing a welcome song, and they did. Some sat i.e. the younger ones & just stared at us, and 2 of the older ones lead the others in the welcome song.

The kids sang, oblivious to my distress at the condition of their school... which I internalized. Their welcome song was so cute it made us all smile. They were so proud to sing for us. After listening to them for a few minutes we moved out and on to the next class.Below is the picture of the exterior of the classroom and a video of the youngest class, the first class we visited, singing us a welcome song.

After the warm welcome from the first classs we moved next door to another class with slightly older children (about 5years old). Again, the teacher asked them to sing for us which they did with much enthusiasm. The head of the school is also a volunteer and his name is Mr Hove. He is the one who took us around the school to introduce us to the teachers and children. We stood outside the last classroom and surveyed the school yard. The sun and the heat were BRUTAL. In the distance we saw 2 small wooden structures:

"Those are the restrooms for our 400 children here" Mr Hove said in Shona (one of the main languages spoken in Zimbabwe).

I noticed that the kids had no hats on and some of them were not wearing any shoes either. The school yard had no grass and no trees. Can you imagine the health risks associated with sitting in the boiling sun all day, with no hat and feet burning from the heat of the hot soil? When I attended primary school in Zimbabwe (which is 1 to 7th grade) , hats were mandatory and anyone caught without one had to write an essay on skin cancer. Mr Hove pointed out a section where some of the classrooms were torn down to make way for wooden cabins donated by someone. It felt good to know that we were not the only ones concerned about how to help. The eldest group of children (6 year olds) were sitting in the school yard with their teacher. Mr Hove walked us towards them and asked them to recite poetry for us. One child after another took a step forward and recited a poem or a nursery rhyme for us in English. Some of the poems were about their aspirations (eg I want to be a fireman, so I can save lives, be a teacher, so I can teach..etc...); and others spoke about love, family and triumph over hardship and difficulties. It was all very moving but unfortunately as I started to record the poetry my memory card was full!!! I have added what I managed to record before my camera stopped the recording. ALL the children wanted to recite a poem for us until Mr Hove had to say "Zvakwana" (ie "that's enough now"). It was quite amusing to watch and their enthusiasm was infectious. As we continued to walk Mr Hove explained that the children attend school in shifts and this is how they end up with a head count of 400. I am definitely visiting this school again. In that moment (watching the mini-poets), I decided to make a personal committment to help them out. They had nothing. Small donations would make an unbeliveable difference. Mr Hove was given a cell phone by a Belgian visitor (probably from one of the embassies based in Harare) but he does not have a phone line. My friend decided she was going to get him one.

Next Mr Hove introduced us to the kitchen and the two ladies (volunteers) who cook the food for the children on a daily basis. He announced that they were 2 of the best cooks in the world, which made them smile at the compliment. The children are given a meal of cornmeal porridge twice a day - once at 11am and again at 2pm. The food comes with no sugar, milk or anything else. Mr Hove pointed to a pile of sticks outside the kitchen and said that each child is required to bring a piece of firewood to light the fire for the days meals.... Does anyone reading this blog have experience with solar energy or alternative energy? If you look at the pictures you can see that there are no trees to be seen for miles. This means the environment is also being affected. but what can they do? No fuel means no food, and so many trees are being cut down without being replaced. A donation of an alternative energy source would make a tremendous difference.

The final stop was Mr Hove's office. He showed us some of the things that had been donated to the school. Such donations included:

- books (some were too advanced though),

- toys (cloth dolls were covered in red soil due to the lack of surface and grass in the school yard. if you want to donate, plastic toys are much better)

- there were 2 or 3 blackboards leaning against the wall (no chalk, plus their classroom structures are too weak to hold the boards)

- Used A4 paper for the children to draw pictures

If you have children, think of their nursery school/kindergarten and visualize what it looks like. Then compare to this one. If you can't think of something to donate the comparison should help.

Our tour ended in Mr Hove's office. We went back to the classrooms to wave good bye to the kids and they all waved back at us. Some of the youngest kids danced for us & it was hilarious because one of the little boys was quite comical. As I was preparing to reverse our car away from the school I could see little heads poked behind their classrooms watching after us. Eventually they moved from behind the wall and came out into the open to say goodbye.

As we were driving away we heard one little voice shout "please bring us bannana's and oranges" and we all laughed.

We laughed, but really an orange and a bannana to these children, is a real treat. So again, if you're reading this blog, we're not asking for IPODS and Nintendo DX's or barbie dolls. Just an orange and a bannana. This was such a simple request but i knew it would be SUCH a delight to all these children. My time in Zimbabwe was running out so I was barely able to make inquires of fruit suppliers. What I do know though is that fruits and vegetables in Zimbabwe are plentiful and cheap. Every other person is selling seasonal fruits or vegetables. It would just be a matter of finding someone to supply and deliver them, which would be no problem either.

http://www.tashanda.com/ has committed to donate 5% of all Afrobag gross sales to this nursery school. I hope to bring you more pictures and stories of positive changes being made at this school.

So at the end of the day, even though our journey to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe was postponed, we had a good day. I think this day happened for a reason. My friend may disagree as she is the one who was burgled!!! But yes, I think it happened for a reason because we would never have stumbled upon this school otherwise...

Answer: A Zimbabwean living in New Zealand has formed a non-profit organization to support this school. Shaye Boddington is a talented artist as well and she has donated one of her paintings towards the raffle. Please see more on http://www.artsquad.co.nz/artraffle/raffle.html