Meet the Artisan: Victoria Ihula

making beads

making ornaments

In her own words:

(translated from Oshiwambo by Isabella Shilongo)

" When I first started working here atWork Of Our Hands, I started in the middle of the month and therefore I got paid N$400 ( about US $ 40 )  That day I couldn't eat or sleep or do anything because I was overjoyed and couldn't believe that I too could improve my own life and make my own money. I told myself that I too can come out of poverty. This is my first job ever.

Now, I make 3 or 4 times what my first salary was depending on how much I work that month. My husband does not have a stable job and so we couldn’t afford our own zinc house, we use to rent at the place where our landlord acts like he is tired of us although we were paying our rent on time. 

With the money I earn from working at Work of Our Hands, I with a little help from one of my relative, I bought materials to make my own house which tate Lon help me with transportation for free. We are now freely living in that house and I still can’t believe that I myself could afford to build my own place with the money that I myself earned. My life and the life of my children improved. I even have a bank account now which I never thought I will have.

I have 2 children that I support with the money I earn and a number of extended family members that I support and are very grateful that they have the aunt that supports them.

I am very grateful for meme and tate for coming to Namibia just for us. Our project is the only one that I know that creates jobs for people in Okahandja and we work peacefully and we have freedom of when to come to work but still earns more that some people that works at the farms or in some shops.

I thank God for meme and tate and I don’t know what I will do if I lose this job. "

Further translation:

*zinc house: house about 10 ' x 10' made of corrugated metal with a dirt or concrete floor and no      running water

* Meme and Tate : exact translation,  is mom and dad, but the terms are used as a way to respectfully  address someone older than you are

Vicky is on the top row left side. Everyone is trying to stay warm with hot tea. Namibia in the winter is like Florida......it can sometimes dip into  near freezing temperatures and almost no buildings have heat. It's usually cold in the mornings, then warms up with the sun, but buildings stay cool. We joke that it's the only country where you go outside to warm up.

ARTISAN PROFILE: LODIE IITA

Lodie ( pronounced Lloyd-a )is a 40 year old single mother of 4 children. She is the sole bread winner of the family, since all her children are still in school.

Lodie has been with us in the ceramic bead making project since September 2013. When I asked her what she did for income before working with us , she told me she collected Acacia tree pods for selling to farmers , who feed them to their goats. The trees only drop pods during part of the year, so I can not imagine how she actually survived with only collecting pods for income.

typical Acacia tree

some typical pods ( there are many varieties)

Lodie has a seventh grade education. She said that she lived with her grandmother as a child, and when her grandmother died, there was no one to pay her school fees.

Lodie lives in a tin hut,with no running water, and she cooks over an open fire. She  collects fire wood before work, or her children collect it after school.

I asked her what her biggest worries were, and like most mom's it was about her children. While we might worry about our children's friends or bullies at school, or how they are doing in school;

She worries about providing for their food, clothes and school fees. When I asked her what her immediate needs are, she said that she really needs some blankets, because we are headed toward winter, and her oldest, took blankets when she went to live in the school hostel . This made me feel kind of bad that I had not asked her before now......of course I will go buy her a blanket.  

Our winter weather here in Namibia is a lot like winter in Florida. The days are quite warm and sunny, but nights are often in the  40's to 50's and can sometimes get down to  freezing.  When there is no heat in the house, anything below 60 is darn cold. I know, because no houses here  have central heat. At my house however, we have portable heaters, and a heavy down comforter on the bed.

Artisan profile: Lucia #1

Meet Lucia #1 (so called because we also have Lucia #2)

Lucia says: "I am 51 and the single mother of 10 children. Six boys and four girls. I and my family are really dependent of Work of our Hands and the money I make from making jewelry. I am not educated so I can only get domestic work sometimes. I use the money from Work Of Our Hands to buy food and pay for school fees for my children. My dream is to see my children graduate from college. One son is in his second year of college and another has been admitted this year. I also hope to have a small business at the open market one day."

Typical homes in Five rand camp

Lucia lives in " Five Rand" Squatter's camp so named because years ago the farmer charged 5$ South African Rand to stay a month in the camp. ( about 75 cents USA ). Now the camp property is owned by the city of Okahandja.  Residents can buy their plot for about $1,000 US $ but most do not. This means that the city can legally take away their home at any time ( or move them off the plot at least) The city has already sold some land to a developer but has not yet moved any residents. Should be interesting when it happens.

This is how residents of Five Rand camp get their water. They purchase a card from the city (looks like a credit card) and put money on the card. When the card is pushed in a slot on the grey box, water comes out the hose pipe. Then they just have to carry it home.

Artisan series: HELENA

Since hearing from followers that they love hearing about the artisans, I decided to re-publish a few. Here is a post about Helena

IN HER OWN WORDS :

 “Work of Our Hands” is a great help. I can make money with my own handiwork, a nice and honorable way to make ends meet. Maybe one day my children have to go to hospital or pay school fees, so I’m saving a bit of my commission for them. The rest I spend on foods and clothes for them.

Although at first, none of the ladies were very good at painting patterns ( under developed fine motor skills) Helena has learned fast , and is now our best detail painter. She is the only one so far who has mastered the zebra pattern. It's time to challenge her to even harder things, (which she hates and loves at the same time.) 

Helena is a treasure.  She and I have worked together since the beginning of Work Of Our Hands. (about 2004)

 As far as I know Helena has never been to school, yet she is very intelligent and talented. Because of the expense of school fees and uniforms ( about USA $30 per term) many parents of the poor, just don't send their kids to school.

At the beginning, Helena spoke no English and all of our communication was through an interpreter. Today, she understands almost everything said in English, and can make herself understood as well.( Ok we have to use a bit of pointing and hand signs, but we communicate well.)

Helena is skilled in paper mache, ( our first endeavor) seed bead jewelry making, ceramic bead making ( our best pattern painter) and lately she has been learning the potter's wheel. 

Helena is unmarried, but is in a monogamous relationship, and has 1 son about 5 years old. At least  one other boy calls her mom, but it gets confusing as the tribal people take care of children for each other, and it's sometimes impossible to really sort out the relationships. ( Cousins are often called sisters or brothers, plus there is no he or she pronouns in their language, so in English they might say for instance " my  brother, she......") which makes it all the more hard to figure out.

Helena looking a bit tired after our week long wheel workshop.

I am unsure of Helena's age 26 maybe?  She almost always has a smile on her face and is the first to help when something needs doing around the studio. As you can tell, I am very attached to her ! I feel all the ladies in the project are my African daughters, but I must admit Helena is a bit of a favorite!

She once said " Before you came Meme ( Meme means mother, Mrs. etc. it's a tribal title of respect) I was very bored !!

I have mentioned different times to the ladies that there is a proverb  ( Proverbs 22:29) that says something like " if you are skilled in your labor, you will stand before kings. Last month we saw this happen !  Helena was one of two ladies chosen to present gifts to the honorable Mrs. Pohamba, Namibia's first lady, when she visited our center. Helena all I can say is " YOU GO GIRL!" I'm very proud!

Hildegard's house

Hildegard, we are so proud of you for saving your money and using it to build . Some of you remember earlier posts showing her tin shack, and house getting started. Now it's almost finished !http://workofourhands.blogspot.com/2007/09/making-difference.html

Lucia

Meet Lucia , one  of our  ceramic bead artisans.  Lucia is an orphan, yet persisted in completing her grade 12 a few years ago. Quite an accomplishment in Namibia where after grade 10 many students do not pass the exams to continue school.  Because Lucia could not pay her exam fees, she still does not have her grade 12 certificate. This has hindered her from quite a few opportunities so far, but she just learned that orphans can get a waver on the no pay, no certificate, rule.

Lucia is very smart, and I hope to see her running the ceramic bead operation in a few years time.

TYPICAL DAY in our African "HOME"

We sometimes get comments that our home is large for "just two people". HUH? Lon and I live in the main house with our Namibian grown up daughter , then two people live in the flat.  We often have visitors in the guest room, and then there are the daytime people, as seen in the photo. I took the pictures all on one day, around 9 am. Somedays it doesn't seem large enough :)

Meet the artisan : Isabella Shilongo

I'd like you to meet Isabella Shilongo,  the Namibian I am most blessed to know. She is truly beautiful inside and out !

 Isabella grew up in a traditional village in northern Namibia near the Angolan boarder. (Yes my friend, there are still grass huts in the 21st century). In-spite of the rural location, Isabella's mother was a strong believer in education, so Isabella graduated from high school and is extremely fluent in her second language -English.

When we moved to Namibia in 2002, Isabella was one of the first people I met. She quickly became my interpreter  and friend. She interprets  not only words , but also culture.  I often have to say " what just happened there Isabella" ?

As the years went by, I watched Bella struggle with deciding on a career choice, and commiserated with her as doors shut on many of her ideas. In the mean time, she kept helping me, and also helping children get into school, and adults learn English.( English is the official language of Namibia which also has about 28 tribal languages, plus German and Afrikaans.)

Isabella always learned the hand craft skill I was teaching as she interpreted for others, and we all saw she was talented at it too. Well, to make a long story shorter, she is now the production manager of the entire beading division of Work Of Our Hands ! She also has her own business, designing, making, and selling her jewelry ! I'll write more about Bella one day soon, but for now this post is getting rather long.