Solie Msomi

 

Solie Msomi is an accomplished designer and crafter of indigenous baskets. She is also a woman with deep strength and conviction. Last year Solie was badly injured and burned in a car accident, but through sheer determination and hard work she was able to make a full recovery.

 

Solie is unemployed, but unlike many of her neighbors Solie's husband, Phelimali, has been able to secure regular work with the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs. Even so, with a family of 6 under one roof finances are extremely tight with less than R850/month available per person and any added income that Solie generates from the sale of baskets makes a serious contribution towards her family's well being.

 

Until recently this contribution was next to nothing as she lives far away from places where tourists and business people shop. Taxi fare alone costs more than the cost of one of her baskets.

 

The Kuhle project has given Solie a way forward. She now has access to both markets and materials that were previously unknown to her and the quality and beauty of her new creations reflect this new found freedom.

Solie cutting Ukhasi grass from a river bank in Umqatsheni

 

In recognition of her talent for design and her ability to teach and foster new ideas she was one of 2 Kuhle members recently chosen by fellow crafters to attend the annual Design Indaba Expo in Cape Town.

 

Solie and Nomasonto experienced a number of firsts during their excursion to Cape Town, their first flight, their first visit to the mother city and their first taste of Cape Town cuisine.

 

For Solie the Indaba made her realize that the crafts she and her fellow crafters were making match up well in terms of quality against the best available at the Indaba.

 

"The crafts were different, the colors and the way they were matched was different, but the ideas were very much like ours. Seeing these new ways of using our materials have given me many new ideas for my work", Solie.

 

 

Nomasonto Zuma and Solie Msomi

examining craft work at the Design Indaba in

Cape Town, February 2008

 

 

 

Albertina and Thandazile Mncwabe

 

 

Albertina Mncwabe is the matriarch of a large, boisterous family. Widowed over ten years ago, she has had to be mother, father, caretaker and provider for her extended family. At any one time there are as many as 20 children and grand children at the family homestead. She and her daughter, Thandazile are directly responsible for the full time care of 7 related children and two orphans from the local community. They accomplish this using social grants that total R3000 per month this translates to just under R300 ($45.00) per month per person. From this total school fees and uniform costs have to be deducted leaving next to nothing to supplement their subsistence life style.

 

Even living under these harsh conditions Albertina and her daughter have worked within their community to help those less fortunate than themselves. She and her daughter, Thandazile have formed a local crafts group in Stepmore called Isibani Solwazi for people living with disabilities. Some of their group members are blind, deaf and mentally disabled. Until recently most of their sales were to other members of the community and items were sold for a pittance, hardly justifying the time and effort spent producing them. Kuhle will give Albertina and her group expanded access to the growing tourism market making use of the Sani Pass tour route.

 

 

                    

 

Thandazile wearing some of her groups bead creations at a recent photo shoot near her home

 

 

Thandazile, Albertina's daughter, was chosen as the new "face" of Kuhle Crafts and it is her image wearing Kuhle designed bead work that now adorns the most recent Kuhle promotional tools.

 

Through her brief work as an actress in a stage production called 'Ngangcatshwa Ngiphila' (I was buried alive), where she had her first experience with working amongst people with disabilities, Thandazile became very passionate about assisting those living with disabilities.

 

When she came back home to Stepmore, she personally went knocking from door - to - door asking disabled people and their families to come out and play their part in the community. This was the beginning of the crafts group for the disabled called, "Isibani Solwazi" The light of Wisdom.

 

 

Thandazile has been able to achieve a small amount of what she wanted to do with her group. Through funding and sponsorship that she has sought for the group, they are now a registered group of crafters and they have wheelchairs and walking sticks for those who need them, some of the members who were not receiving a disability grant are now receiving it through the help of Thandazile and her mother Albertina. "There is still so much that needs to be done, there are members of the group who are blind and deaf who we hope to help if there is a way for us to help them." Thandazile.

 

The group has also had health workers coming in to speak to them about a variety of health related issues including how to take care of their bodies. Thandazile has also tried to educate other members of the community on how to live with disabled people and treat them with respect.

 

Isibani Solwazi crafts group

 

Given the opportunity, Thandazile says she would like to be a qualified Social Worker because she sees helping others as a big part of who she is but the one thing that she sees as a hinderance to that dream is the lack of funds to pursue it.