At this moment Katrien and Rika are sleeping on the floor in Qatar airport.
For the last few years she has specialized herself in upcycling glass. The "glass container" of Zanzibar is located in a corner of her garden. With the sale of these original glass artworks. She can finance a kindergarten, a language and computer school and she can pay her staff . Also workshops are given. https://youtu.be/zgHBdW7b1ss Hadji (with the big eyes ) gives the workshop "glass cutting" and Zawadi teaches the workshop “clay” and makes very tiny ceramic beads. To get an idea how "crazy - creative" this lady is , you should go and visit her domain. We try to give an idea with some pictures. If you walk into the 'mister boom boom room' , it is like entering a fairy tale. 'Mister boom boom’ himself is made of clay , but filled with waste that cannot be recycled anymore. A Dutch lady sponsored the 'House of Marly ', which consists of 5 large bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Here Aida welcomes groups of young people from privileged regions of the world. The main topic is always 'what to do to make a better world’. Making people aware of the fact that water is very precious and scarce is very close to her heart. We fully understand that Aida can inspire young people. She speaks with passion and from her heart , always with touch of humor, her burst of laughter is contagious. It was extremely funny when she told why she does not follow yoga in group: just look for the word “flatulence". We followed the workshop ‘glass cutting', working with empty wine bottles (we did not have to empty them first). It was tougher than we thought, only Katrien quickly succeeded, she was the ‘queen of the bottle cutting’. Afterwards the glass pieces were melted in the wood-fired oven. Again very typical for 'recycling Aida': the wood for the oven comes from trees within the walls of the compound. Everything there is growing very fast. The molds are made from local clay . The results of our workshop are ready next Friday. Just to be sure Aida has enough bottles, we start to drink this evening.
Quiet a nervous activity this morning ... but the main goal of our trip has been reached. We brought together people from four different groups, each with their own creative skills. In our "base camp" , the restaurant of our own Panga Chumvi , we organized a workshop carousel. An, Joke and Mieke gave explanations to a total of seventeen students. First there is Hamad of the Cultural Arts Center (CAC). We have often mentioned him, but not yet blogged about his project. He is a painter who brought together SEA (Sustainable East Africa) and local artists from Zanzibar. He gives workshops in his CAC, especially about recycled materials, and teaches several techniques to young people. He also teaches them commercial thinking in order to be able to sell their creations. Currently there are two young women in training, Fatma and Ahlam, but sometimes he has up to nine students. The students are always young women, Hamad’s opinion on this: "It is difficult to work with boys as they are fickle, always thinking that they are the man and they think of themselves that they are artists straight away. We think that boys want/must earn money quickly with their art; girls and women can complete their work at home and anyway in Africa women have more creative skills. Today we have also noticed that Fatma and Ahlam learn quickly. Hamad’s students usually come from the Mkototoni government college, this is a vocational college to which already progressive parents send their children to. Sixty percent of what is sold in the Cultural Arts Centre goes to the students involved in making them.
Also Mary of the Barefoot College was there with two of her students. We already blogged about them on August 6th. Furthermore, there was " the group of Rebecca , seven (also seven?) wives of Zanzibarian men who meet every month for a creative activity. One of them is Aida, founder of Creative Solutions, which we visited yesterday and where we will follow a workshop tomorrow. A more detailed report on her organization will follow. Enough text for today . Enough talking for today . We let the pictures speak . Zanzibar is the spice island par excellence. So a spice tour was an absolute must during this holiday. We visited the Maganga Spice Farm , just north of Stone Town. Because the soil is very fertile, there are about thirty spice farms in that region. Elsewhere on the island, you have mostly less fertile coral soil. All spices are imported from India , Madagascar , Réunion, Sri Lanka ... but since the early nineteenth century, it is the largest export product of the island. This was under the Omani rule. On our tour we learned to know about 35 different plants and spices. We taught Hamiz , our smart handsome guide, some West-Flemish words: ‘mô vint toch’. His pronunciation was perfect, better than Dirk’s , An’s husband, who arrived yesterday from Belgium. But Dirk appeared to be the most HANDy of the two. Ali- Baba, a trainee-guide made crown and accessories from palm leaves for us. We say hello to our sympathetic friends - spice - king and his princess from Frankfurt . The second visit of the day ( Manga Pwani , Creative Solutions ) was mind blowing (not the first time this week).
We will certainly return later this week to follow a workshop with Aida and to enjoy again of all the crazy stuff on her property . Messages, which fitted us like a glove, were written on the wall of the compound . On the big pictures a sneak preview of the surrealistic world we entered. Damn, I’m screwed. I promised that I would treat everybody to a drink if it would rain in Zanzibar, where it is currently dry season. This morning we were in the Cultural Arts Centre in Stone Town for a workshop on paper beads. Everything OK, until Hamad realized that he still had to buy tools and materials. Yeah, we went by bike .... With a minimum of material, one can make very beautiful beads. Rebecca also came by, lovely ! On the picture she is very focused with rrrrrolling. 7/7, 24/24, even at noon, even Catherina ..... Stone Town: shopping and sightseeing ... guided by local Hamad We are done and are closing the doors for today!
Today we planned a day off. But Hilde and Katrien still wanted to explore the north of the island. The traditional dhows (=typical fishing boats of Zanzibar) are built there. Also the turtle project was worth a visit. Swedish Anita , not to be confused with the Swedish Agneta , who we met on the plane, has a B&B in Nungwi and welcomed H & K with a cup of coffee . Enjoy their pictures. Joke, … went for a short walk on the beach … She left early in the morning and only returned just before sunset … and she came back as a real African woman. The 6 other mommies were worried ... But she had the day of her life ... well , mommies have to learn to let go . The mommies at home were not lying on the beach, but worked a lot. Especially mom Rika does not know when to stop. Day or night, ... knitting, beading , crochet, teaching to knit to the Benjamin of the group , during half an hour trying to stab the ‘needle in the thread’ ... conclusion, from now Rika = Duracell battery. Please click on the fruit juice (water lemon , lime , banana , every day different, mmmm ). Sleep well!
We were all very excited today. At the Barefoot College, finally we had our first workshop together with the local women. The participants were we (Z7), Mary (in charge of the Barefoot College sewing classes), Rachel (a volunteer from Barcelona), girls and women who are the students of the College. Also Hamad of the Cultural Arts Center in Stone Town joined us to learn the technique of “cabochon – beading”. We will come back on his fantastic project in a later blog article. We had fun all day long. First we made a cabochon (which is the medallion in the center of the brooch or pendant) out of fabric . You can use a photo and transfer it onto a piece of fabric, but especially the African fabric scraps with their beautiful colors had a lot of success. Now it was up to An. She taught us how to embellish the cabochon with small beads, a technique that requires a lot of concentration. She managed to keep us all quiet, which is quite an accomplishment at a table with fifteen women and one man. The pictures speak for themselves: We worked all day and had a lot of fun. The results were fantastic. Meanwhile you can also enjoy some details of the fabulous work of our An (Justens ). The way back was an adventure on its own. Keywords are dala dala, waiting , market, waiting, haggle, discuss, police, guards, Katrien , home sweet home , Indian Ocean . Yay for the first time we're done with blogging before dinner!
Today we snorkeled around Mnemba island, the best diving place in Zanzibar and visible from our hotel. Today it was “the place to be” to swim with the dolphins ;-) Evening crochet
Katrien tought us to crochet “Amigurimi animals”. A relaxing and nice end-of-the-day! A contact which is great opportunity for our project.
First we had a meeting at the Barefoot College, a center that is part of a global organization that educates women to make solar panels and has been running in India for 40 years. The college is located in Kinyasini , a fifteen minute drive from Matemwe . Sponsors are the Indian and Tanzanian government and the UN Women. The branch in Zanzibar is the only one in East-Africa and exists for 1 year now. The system works great : in Zanzibar for example, a village chooses two women who are well embedded in the community, older women, even grandmothers, to follow a 6 month training “making solar panels” in India. These " mamas " are chosen because they do not have the tendency to go away and hence take this knowledge out of the local community. After their return they are able to make small solar panels themselves or to train other people in the college. They are already able to extend the project by giving the basic “solar panel” education in Zanzibar instead of in India. The produced solar panels have a sufficient capacity for lighting and for charging mobile phones. The families in the village can rent a solar panel for three euros per month. The earnings will be saved in a village fund and can be used for the further development of various handicrafts or common needs , such as a new water tap. Apart from the solar panel project, sewing classes are given to the young women (18 years and over) of the community. Later we will tell you more about it. They also started a beekeeping project that produces already a considerable amount of honey, ready for sale. On Saturday we will give a workshop at the Barefoot College. Apart from Z7 (=we), also the local women are invited. Visit to the Jozani national park . The pictures don’t need words. Today we started the workshops. After a relaxing meditation on the beach, Catherine initiated us in the “intuitive painting”. And we did this with eyes closed. Even a passing Masai was interested in the workshop , but he came especially for Katrien. After a refreshing lunch break and alongside the beautiful blue water, An started the workshop of “the beaded beads”. A lot of patience and concentration was needed, but we could enjoy the nice results and ... ... A beautiful sunset.
|
Z7Seven Belgian women found each other through the love for Africa and textile art. |