admin
Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu Sunday Life Reporter
Ten women from Mazikhelela Centre in Gwanda’s Ward 6 have ventured into basketry and weaving. The women who named themselves Mazikhelela Club, meaning ‘‘doing it for by yourself’’, exhibited at the recently held Zimbabwe Culture Week. In an interview with Sunday Life, Kheziya Ndlovu, a group member said they are handcraft makers of different products.
“We are a group of 10 women; six widows and four married women, using our hands to make a living. We do weaving, basketry, knitting and doilies,” said Ndlovu. Ndlovu said when they started, they went to college so as to sharpen their skills.
“We started doing basketry, knitting and weaving in 1992. At that time we were only five women, others later joined us and had a bit of some skill in doing all this. However, we had to go to school to perfect our skills in this art genre thus we went to Bulawayo and trained at Empretack in Famona to do the weaving, knitting and basketry. From the training, we learnt how to make perfect products for the people whom we were going to sell to,” she added.
Ndlovu however, revealed that the group has been facing some challenges in terms of marketing themselves and getting material to make their products.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo