Weary of waiting for government's long-promised rural development, women in some of Swaziland's most deprived areas set up a basketry cooperative and are using the proceeds to improve their lives.
"Swaziland is one of the poorest places, even by African standards, but one solution is to do things ourselves to lift ourselves up," said Zihle Vilakati, a basket weaver and member of the Gone Rural BoMake (SiSwati for the mothers) cooperative.
The women harvest the tall tough lutizi grass that grows abundantly in the country's dry mountainous northern regions and dye it with vivid colours. Then they weave it into a variety of items, from baskets to chandeliers, often combining ceramic and metallic pieces made by local artisans, which are exported to Europe and elsewhere.
"We have close to 800 women members in BoMake, from about 40 when we first started, and each woman supports eight dependants," Yael Uzan-Tidhar, the group's programme director, told IRIN. "From the beginning some of the profits were set aside for the care and schooling of AIDS orphans," she said.
According to UNAIDS, Swaziland has about 56,000 AIDS orphans, from infants to young adults aged 17, while recent figures from World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization, indicate that nearly 70 percent of Swaziland's about one million people survive on less than US$0.60 cents a day.
Beyond survival, the women have clear priorities. "We took a survey of all the women ... The top needs were education for their children and water," Mkhuleko Hlatshwako, coordinator of the group's Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme, told IRIN.
"We have a school fee bursary programme, which started in 2007; this year we are paying school fees for more than 400 children. Water is now the priority ... This is one of BoMake's biggest missions," he said.
The burden of scarce water
It is common for women to travel several kilometres to rivers that may be polluted but are the only available source, yet the hours spent fetching water mean there is less time and energy for weaving.
"Some NGOs drilled boreholes for communal taps that are meant to be the water source for up to three communities, but these can be many kilometres away from where the women live," Hlatshwako said.
In January 2009 BoMake proposed piping water from a river to Makhekhe village, about 80km north of the capital, Mbabane, but government vetoed the idea as the water was determined to be unfit for human consumption, and boreholes were said to be the answer.
The BoMake programme has budgeted US$200,000 in 2009 for its social welfare programmes, including a school bursary fund, a women's literacy initiative, workshops to inform women of their legal rights, and a Playmobile outfitted with toys and games that will travel to rural communities where children are deprived of both.
However, handicraft sales would not provide enough money to drill four boreholes at a cost of $6,000 to $10,000 each to reach, to goals of the WASH programme, and donor funding would have to be secured. Each borehole will support about 64 families.
"We [BoMake] met with the community members and said, 'We're not going to do it all for you. We can network for you to secure donors, but you have to manage this project yourself'. Immediately, they set up a community water committee and opened a bank account for donations," Uzan-Tidhar said.
Donor-sponsored boreholes have a poor track-record in Swaziland - many were placed in communities without consultation and have proved unsustainable, and there are no funds available for repairs or spare parts.
Once Makhekhe has an adequate water supply, BoMake plans to target LaVumisa village, in a dusty, drought-prone area about 200km southeast of Mbabane that is even more water-stressed, where the existing borehole fell into disrepair.
"We didn't know where the pump came from or where to get parts; government didn't know because they didn't build it. It just rusted, and we went back to using the same water source as the cattle," Ambrose Nkambule, a LaVumisa resident, told IRIN. Donkeys are used to transport water because the village is so far from the nearest source.
"This is more than selling beautiful baskets at airport gift shops throughout the world," said Uzan-Tidhar. "The women are engaged in life-sustaining work."
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"Swaziland is one of the poorest places, even by African standards, but one solution is to do things ourselves to lift ourselves up," said Zihle Vilakati, a basket weaver and member of the Gone Rural BoMake (SiSwati for the mothers) cooperative.
The women harvest the tall tough lutizi grass that grows abundantly in the country's dry mountainous northern regions and dye it with vivid colours. Then they weave it into a variety of items, from baskets to chandeliers, often combining ceramic and metallic pieces made by local artisans, which are exported to Europe and elsewhere.
"We have close to 800 women members in BoMake, from about 40 when we first started, and each woman supports eight dependants," Yael Uzan-Tidhar, the group's programme director, told IRIN. "From the beginning some of the profits were set aside for the care and schooling of AIDS orphans," she said.
According to UNAIDS, Swaziland has about 56,000 AIDS orphans, from infants to young adults aged 17, while recent figures from World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization, indicate that nearly 70 percent of Swaziland's about one million people survive on less than US$0.60 cents a day.
Beyond survival, the women have clear priorities. "We took a survey of all the women ... The top needs were education for their children and water," Mkhuleko Hlatshwako, coordinator of the group's Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme, told IRIN.
"We have a school fee bursary programme, which started in 2007; this year we are paying school fees for more than 400 children. Water is now the priority ... This is one of BoMake's biggest missions," he said.
The burden of scarce water
It is common for women to travel several kilometres to rivers that may be polluted but are the only available source, yet the hours spent fetching water mean there is less time and energy for weaving.
"Some NGOs drilled boreholes for communal taps that are meant to be the water source for up to three communities, but these can be many kilometres away from where the women live," Hlatshwako said.
In January 2009 BoMake proposed piping water from a river to Makhekhe village, about 80km north of the capital, Mbabane, but government vetoed the idea as the water was determined to be unfit for human consumption, and boreholes were said to be the answer.
The BoMake programme has budgeted US$200,000 in 2009 for its social welfare programmes, including a school bursary fund, a women's literacy initiative, workshops to inform women of their legal rights, and a Playmobile outfitted with toys and games that will travel to rural communities where children are deprived of both.
 This
is more than selling beautiful baskets at airport gift shops throughout
the world. The women are engaged in life-sustaining work |
"We [BoMake] met with the community members and said, 'We're not going to do it all for you. We can network for you to secure donors, but you have to manage this project yourself'. Immediately, they set up a community water committee and opened a bank account for donations," Uzan-Tidhar said.
Donor-sponsored boreholes have a poor track-record in Swaziland - many were placed in communities without consultation and have proved unsustainable, and there are no funds available for repairs or spare parts.
Once Makhekhe has an adequate water supply, BoMake plans to target LaVumisa village, in a dusty, drought-prone area about 200km southeast of Mbabane that is even more water-stressed, where the existing borehole fell into disrepair.
"We didn't know where the pump came from or where to get parts; government didn't know because they didn't build it. It just rusted, and we went back to using the same water source as the cattle," Ambrose Nkambule, a LaVumisa resident, told IRIN. Donkeys are used to transport water because the village is so far from the nearest source.
"This is more than selling beautiful baskets at airport gift shops throughout the world," said Uzan-Tidhar. "The women are engaged in life-sustaining work."
jh/go/he
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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