A Zimbabwean blogging about Zimbabwe, about Africa, crafts, social entrepreneurship, income generating projects, and generally anything affecting the continent. This blog supports the website www.tashanda.com
"From Zimbabwe to Santa Fe" is an in-progress 60 minute documentary about crafters in rural Zimbabwe competing for once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase their crafts at the Sante Fe International Folk Art Market in the USA. The film focuses on the three finalists who narrate their daily lives, their thoughts, their hopes and their dreams. While you may root for all of the contestants, the spaces are limited to only one individual per participating village.
I am intrigued by this film and can't wait to watch it. The filmmakers are currently trying to raise $25,000 to fund the remaining part of the journey in Santa Fe. If you can support, please do. Check out their website here, and make your donations here.
When I was living in Zimbabwe in the 1990's I began to come across a new type of artwork in the form of textile art and paintings. I liked the colors and the textures which were colorful and eye catching, but beyond that I had no further knowledge or understanding of the source. Around 2003 I came to know this art as "folkart", and the name of the community which originally created it is Weya, a rural Zimbabwean family of villages in the Eastern Highlands of the country.
Dick Adams, a retired sociology teacher from Oregon is credited with enhancing the recognition of Weya art in America. He founded the Zimbabwe Arts Project in the late 1990's and since then he has literally transformed the lives of hundreds of people in the country. I read the newsletters posted to his website and was struck by his dedication to the artists and his committment to true transformation of their lives one individual at a time. He is an incredible human being indeed. Please read and support the Zimbabwe Artists Project website on http://zimbabweartistsproject.org/
Below is a video filmed and edited by Sarah Breidenbach showing the lives of rural women artists in Zimbabwe.
As you may already know, Tashanda also sells Weya art under the brand name Makuti Training Center (location where the women meet to train, create and gather to sell their products). We visited them only once when we were in a big hurry to get to Harare from Mutare and unfortunately we did not get the chance to learn their stories, take some photographs or let alone develop any form of a relationship. They are difficult to access as they are in a very remote (but very beautiful) location off Mutare road near Headlands. However we are very keen to meet them and hopefully one day, we will be able to support them with new business and new opportunities for transformation.
Below is a sample applique from the Tashanda wesbite. Each applique tells a story, a true story. The artist attaches a handwritten note explaining the meaning of each piece. For example below, the story reads as follows (unfortunately the artist did not show her name):
"Two friends are visiting an old woman who stays alone. They have bought some food and clothing in their bags"
In Zimbabwe the primary reason an elderly person is living alone is because their children have either left the country to seek greener economic pastures, or they have died of AIDS. The elderly are revered in our culture and so naturally neighbors and well wishers will stop by to check up on such a person, as is the case in the story. The "food and clothes" indicate they are supporting her financially as well.
African pottery varies across the continent but in our opinion some of the best pottery is made in Zimbabwe, Africa.
This African pottery range includes vases, casseroles, tea and coffee sets to dinner sets, cruets, bowls etc and custom orders are also accepted. KwaMsasa pottery is a wholly owned and proudly Zimbabwean entity which makes the most beautifully crafted pottery.
The business prides itself in its ability to use locally and environmentally friendly materials to make its pottery. It employs ten people mainly from the high density area of Mabvuku. This is one of the poor surburbs of Harare, but the staff are full of enthusiasm and love for their work. As you can see the talent is clearly outstanding.
Kwamsasa Pottery products are inspired by and display Zimbabwean culture, heritage, people, wildlife, landscapes and the various tribes in & around our country e.g. the Tonga weave which represents Northern Zimbabwe's heritage from the Tonga tribe located in Kariba or Mixed Hide which is a mixture of hides from different animals namely the zebra stripes, lion footprint and cheetah spots.
Team At Work!
Contact us if you are interested in learning more about Kwamsasa's African pottery.
Empretec Zimbabwe was set up in 1992 as a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Zimbabwe as a Non-Profit making organisation. It is part of a worldwide Empretec family of organizations whose mandate is to develop entrepreneurship.
The Empretec concept started in the 1980's in South America where currently there are more than five countries with active programmes. In Africa the programme was first introduced in Nigeria and it has since been established in Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
For a decade Empretec Zimbabwe has spearheaded the growth of a strong entrepreneurial culture in Zimbabwe through training, information dissemination, business advisory services and acting as an agent of change for SME's.
Below is a video illustrating growth and the success of local business Vivi Fashions, a woman owned enterprise supported by Empretec and the local Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe.
PART 1
My ipod stopped working about a month ago, so rather than replace it I've taken to watching music videos on Youtube. As I was browsing, I came across a Tracy Chapman music video and suddenly all my childhood memories from Zimbabwe came flooding back. It was a great period of my life and even my country's economy was great. Looking back Tracy Chapman's music had a huge influence on me because her songs raised questions about things I had never considered important at my young age. She came to Zimbabwe in 1988 with Bruce Springsteen. Everyone was excited about Bruce Springsteen but no one knew who Tracy was. In fact my parents are the ones who purchased her album which I didn't take to right away. Little did I know I would play it more than anyone else in the family. Without Tracy's music, I may never have deveoped an interest in social causes.
As I listened to all my favorite songs - Sorry, Material World, Fast Car, Freedom Now, SubCity, Behind the Wall and Why, I thought how amazing and underappreciated she is - she's a True Genius.... Material World, SubCity and Behind the Wall mean so much more now that I live in New York City where life is fast and you feel the need to get away, people are lonely yet surrounded by millions of people, people are starving yet fresh food is being thrown away daily, and yes, there is a city underground (SubCity) - it really exisits right here in the most famous and one of the richest cities in the world. Her lyrics are simple but they make you think. Take "Why" for example:
Why do the babies starve when there's enough food to feed the world ? Why when there're so many of us are there people still alone ? Why are the missiles called peace keepers when they're aimed to kill ? Why is a woman still not safe when she's in her home?
Love is hate - War is peace - No is yes - And we're all free (we really are confused aren't we?)
All logical questions with no valid answers........
The August issue of Barons online magazine discusses how Africa is the final investment target for the global marketplace:
Sizing Up the Real Risks of Investing in Africa
WHAT IMAGES DOES AFRICA conjure in the mind of the average Westerner? Probably skinny children in dire poverty, corrupt dictators and, thanks to Hollywood, blood diamonds. Africa doesn't get much attention in the West beyond that. During South Africa's successful World Cup this summer, for example, many news reports focused on vuvuzelas and few on the capable management of the event itself.
China Raising the Stakes in Africa: China's trade with sub-Saharan Africa has expanded by a factor of about 10 in the past decade. China is importing mostly commodities and exporting infrastructure and machinery, among other things
.Likewise, the noisy financial crises in the developed financial markets appear to have drowned out a decade of impressive and sustained economic and institutional progress in sub-Saharan Africa. (See table: A Decade of Improvement.) To many Western investors who don't look past the stereotypes, Africa is terra incognita. Their ignorance could cost them plenty in lost opportunity.
Take the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which in a survey last summer revealed that "over all, U.S. businesses do not view Africa as an attractive place to invest. The image of lawlessness, corruption, unstable governments, an inadequate infrastructure, uneducated or untrained people and an unwelcoming government attitude toward business serve as major deterrents."
That depiction is increasingly mistaken.
"Africa suffers from misconceptions more than any other area in the world," argues Miles Morland, whom many consider the father of fund investment in Africa. He founded Blakeney Management in the early 1990s, and now is chairman of Development Partners International, a London-based private-equity firm that invests in Africa.
Perceptions based on the way Africa once was linger in the minds of many investors, he says. The U.S. and U.K. effectively have nationalized more companies during the financial crisis (think GM, Chrysler, AIG, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock) than African nations have in the past nine years, he quips, and national debts are far less worrisome there than in America or Europe.
"Funnily enough," Morland continues, "people wearied by bankruptcies, meltdowns, restructuring and bank bailouts are amazed to learn about a continent that has transformed itself into one of the fastest- growing regions in the world, where banks haven't needed bailing out, no large companies have folded, with no accounting scandals and where the biggest problem businessmen have is getting capital to finance growth."
He is seconded by another investor with decades of experience, Donald Elefson, portfolio manager of the Harding Loevner Frontier Emerging Markets Fund (ticker: HLFMX). Among frontier regions, Africa is the most interesting, he asserts, because it offers strong markets with huge potential, liberalizing policies, good capital flows and undiscovered high-quality companies. And Nigeria is one of his favorite frontier countries. He contends that the giant nation of about 150 million people eventually can fill the same leading role for Africa that Brazil has played for emerging markets.
Like Brazil, Nigeria hasn't liberalized its petroleum and telecom industries yet, and its stocks in those sectors will benefit whenever that happens. Again like Brazil, Nigeria has grown strongly, even though its banks curbed lending last year. Whenever the banks ratchet up lending, that will further fuel growth. (Nigerian regulators recently forced some banks to take bigger-than-expected write-downs on loan losses. That hurt reported earnings, but has removed a nagging issue and will help future profits.)
Indeed, after a big drop from boom highs in early 2008, African stock markets—despite their problems—now offer the long-term investor a number of fast-growing companies with stocks that sell for about 11 to 12 times trailing 12-month earnings per share as of June 30, according to S&P Indices. They look inexpensive compared with price/earnings ratios in most developed markets or even in the broad world of emerging markets, where the average stock fetches 15 times trailing profits.
With many economies on the continent growing 5% to 8% annually, according to the International Monetary Fund, investors can find banks, brewers, supermarket outfits and mobile-phone companies with good prospects, decent balance sheets and relatively low P/Es (especially compared with their growth potential). Some have few rivals, provide important consumer services and boast profits that are growing faster than their homelands' economy.
IF THE WEST HASN'T NOTICED this big change, China has. With relatively little fanfare, it has made a huge foray into Africa. China's rapidly rising middle class isn't just pulling itself up by the bootstraps, but also is creating demand for resources from Africa. That's helping to raise income levels on the vast continent, as well.
Africa's bounty of natural resources, such as oil, iron ore, gold, copper and numerous others, have brought in strong trade flows from the Asian giant, with $88 billion in 2008 in exports and imports between the two, up 10 times from 2000 (see table, China Raising the Stakes in Africa). In return for those commodities, China is building seaports, power plants, roads and other infrastructure projects, which should help sustain the growth in gross domestic product expected in many parts of the sub-Sahara. Africa's economy is growing at a tiger-like 5% to 8% pace, versus 4% for countries like Russia and Brazil. And the IMF has been nudging up its forecasts for Africa.
There are compelling long-term trends on the continent, says Razia Khan, the London-based head of research on Africa at Standard Chartered, a U.K. bank with businesses in many emerging and frontier markets. Political stability and economic policy has improved. Consumption is rising, with the working-age population expected to hit 65% of the total population in 2050, versus about 50% now. And new capital, some from investment funds, is coming in. Africa's debt and foreign-exchange markets are opening up, too, Khan adds, another encouraging sign. Over all, "Africa is becoming more accessible" to Western investment.
You may be struggling with how to incorporate your western wedding with traditional African fabrics like those sold on Tashanda (Sadza Batik / Kudhinda) .
One Tashanda customer has kindly shared some photos of how her family used our sadza batik fabrics for her daughter's wedding, which was absolutely beautiful.
Please note that this was a special order, so you may not see these exact fabrics on our website. However you are free to contact us for custom orders.
Other customers have used our fabrics for Kwanzaa and their Kwanzaa decorations.
When you educate a girl in Africa, everything changes...
She’ll be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS, earn 25 percent more income and have a smaller, healthier family.
Dear Blog Reader,
This September, like pupils in the UK, secondary school girls in Africa are looking forward to going back to school. But unable to afford even $10 of school materials, many will have no choice but to drop out of school. At Camfed, we work to solve this problem by providing girls from poor families with secondary school bursaries, which include books, stationary, uniforms and more.
Cynthia, from the Chikomba district in Zimbabwe, is one such pupil we are working with. Her mother couldn’t afford to pay her school-going costs. Instead of starting secondary school with her peers, Cynthia stayed home. “I was devastated,” she says. “I feared my education was finished, and my dreams were dead.”
But with the generosity of Camfed’s donors, Cynthia’s future changed. “One day, the headmaster told me that Camfed offered bursaries for girls who were struggling financially, and that he had recommended me. He said all of my school costs would be covered until I finished secondary school — fees, uniforms, books, all of it. You can’t imagine the joy and relief I felt! It was incredible.”
Cynthia completed secondary school and is now enrolled in Camfed’s leadership and enterprise programme. “I’m proud of myself,” she says. “My goal of being a successful businesswoman is within my reach!”
In Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ghana, Camfed is supporting thousands of girls like Cynthia. Will you help one or more girls go to school? Visit www.camfed.org/backtoschool to help. Your action will change her life.
Having been born and raised in Africa there is so much injustice I have witnessed in the lives of girls and women around me. Culturally, women play a secondary role to men. As a young girl I quickly became weary and intolerant of the chauvinism around me.
In the late '90's my cousin's husband passed away leaving behind four small children. While I was too young to understand, I do recall discussions around my cousin's in-laws kicking her out of her matrimonial home and taking everything they claimed to belong to their late son. She ended up living with her sister for three years before her case was finally resolved in court. Her in-laws were awarded one third and she, the remaining two thirds. My cousin's son, who went to court with his mother for the verdict, told my mother that his grandmother had cried openly in court because she was disappointment by the verdict; and I remember thinking at the time what kind of monster grandparents would put their grandchildren out on the streets just because they despised their mother??
Tashanda likes... I Have a Story to Tell: Celebrating Ten Years of CAMFED International This powerful book centers on the theme of the education of girls in Africa, tackling the poverty that excludes them from it, and the opportunities and improvements in health and employment that can be its consequence.
Tashanda LOVES this documentary... A MUST WATCH...
There are many more injustices I could share. In fact, what I have presented you is just a tip of the iceberg. I think sometimes it happens so much that it becomes the norm and one fails to see the situation for what it is. A good friend of mine argues that one of the reasons for the spread of HIV and "small households" (mistresses & their children) is that there are no consequences for the male in the relationship. In Africa, when a man cheats, their women tend to stay because they are not sufficiently empowered to make it on their own, they don't know their rights, and they fear the stigma of being a divorcee. In America when a man cheats there are consequences. You can get a lawyer and sue him, you can leave him, and you can take his money. This is why it is important to educate an African girl. If you educate a girl, you feed a nation, but if you educate a man (as is the case generally in Africa and other developing countries) you feed his stomach.
Meet an informal vendor who makes nativity sets from the branches of an indigenous tree called Jacaranda. Sorry the videos are so short, I was running out of space on my camera.
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