Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
DRIVEN by the passion to empower other women, Ms Dorcas Mbedzi is working with about 40 local women crafters in Dete, Hwange District, Matabeleland North Province so that they can have their own source of income.
Born in Beitbridge, Ms Mbedzi relocated to Dete where she worked as a community development person for Painted Dog Conservation, an organisation entirely dedicated to conserving the endangered African wild dog. She resigned from her job in 2010 intending to assist other women to be able to generate their own source of income.
“Over the years I had realised the pain women go through to either help their spouses to put food on the table or go at it alone as widows and single mothers. I then developed a project that brought women together so that l can help them appreciate the benefits of working as a group as compared to individual venture. This saw the birth of the project termed; Our Hands Our Hope, driven by the motto: Led by dreams done by hand, our goal was to impart crafting skills to other women so that they can be able to make various products that can be sold,” said Ms Mbedzi.
She said they started by operating from home and looking for buyers, which had its complications as some failed to attract customers leading to demotivation and drop outs.
“I applied for a piece of land from the Rural District Council (RDC) and I eventually got it but struggled to put up a shed for the project to operate from. In 2019 we were better organised and just as we were preparing to receive our first group of interested visitors to come and appreciate our work, Covid-19 hit us and all our hopes were dashed,” said Ms Mbedzi.
She said they mainly produce crafts based on local resource such as palm which is found in abundance in the area, while it is also slightly thinner and more pliable than some other natural alternatives.
“We also do recycling of refuse from local lodges who throw away trash at a designated area in Dete. This area is benefitting women who go there to sift through all the rubble to pick plastic for production of table mats and basketry items.”
Ms Mbedzi said their training is mainly done internally with women capacitating each other and her role is to facilitate the trainings. She despite the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted some of their operations, they continue to receive small orders and that motivates the women to develop even more unique products.
“As the Covid-19 restrictions continued to be eased I decided to look for markets outside Hwange and moved to Harare. It is there that I managed to attend the weekend craft market that takes place every Saturday. This has seen more people interested in the products being made by Dete women.”
Commenting on her recent trip to a trade fair in Zambia, she said some regional and international markets have shown keen interest in their products. Ms Mbedzi said their hope was to get more funding and demand for their products so that the women continue getting empowered and transform their lives.
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