Love Zimbabwe
| Projects empowering people |
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Martha Musonza Holman and her husband David Holman are responsible for setting up and supporting a number of projects in communities around Zimbabwe. They are an incredible, dynamic and inspiring team!
They have set up facilities for the local people to produce arts and crafts for sale, earning themselves a living and expressing amazing creativity and talent.
The bore hole project is based in Dombashawa, north east of Harare. This area is very dry (Zimbabwe has had drought for 4 years), and badly needs water to help establish new projects. The ground is very rocky and is close to the ancient caves where paintings of early bushmen still exist.
Once the bore hole is drilled we can bring in chickens which can be fed and then sold. There is also the advantage of fresh eggs. Also when water is freely available crops can be planted and irrigation introduced. Tomatoes, chillis and maize, which is the staple diet can all be grown. We raised £300 recently, in October 2007, for this cause when we organized a world trade fair in Abergavenny.
A history of inspiration The first project was batik printing, set up in Marondera in 2001. This is still running and examples of this work can be seen on the Love Zimbabwe stall.
The next idea came from matikuche matikuche from Kotwa, the village where Martha was teaching. Matikuche made animals from beads and wire which were multi coloured and looked amazing. This was also in 2001 and as before is still thriving.
Martha was then introduced to a small community group who hand painted ceramics with animal and village scenes. The finish of these products was superb, and aimed at the tourist market. The range extended to cups, saucers, salt & pepper shakers, mugs, plates, bowls, vases, milk jugs and sugar bowls. This project started in msasa and is now the most popular of all the love Zimbabwe products.
In 2005 the main market place in Harare was destroyed and not allowed to continue. This gave Chikonamombe and his brother nowhere to sell their metal animal and bird sculptures. Based in Mbare, the ‘east end’ of Harare, the sculptures are created from scrap metal then welded together. They also had two workshops knocked down at this time. Martha was introduced to Chikonamombe and was very impressed with their work. Many people in the UK now own one of these amazing sculptures thanks to love Zimbabwe and Chikonamombe.
In 2005 Martha travelled to Chivhu in southern Zimbabwe, on the road to South Africa, with her partner, David. She knew of some local wood carvers whom she had purchased some products from in the past. On arrival in Chivhu she was shocked to learn that the wood carvers had been removed from the roadside by the police and had fled to their village in the bush. With the help of local people and after a hair raising drive through the scrub land they tracked them down. Hidden away in every conceivable place were beautifully carved elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, eagles, buffalos, and tortoises. A community group already existed and now they had someone to sell to again.
Basket weaving Apart from the main projects already mentioned, Love Zimbabwe has also been involved in many other areas. Our basket work is done by Thabeth Kunze based near Mashvingo. This has been running for 3 years now. She lives in a very remote village which takes 2 hours to get to from the main road. This work keeps Thabeth and her family going, as well as a small maize crop that she plants every year. She is a single mother with 3 small children. Her husband died from an Aids related disease in 2005.
At present, the Zimbabwean dollar is practically worthless. Inflation is running at over 10,000%. This has seen a vast increase in the barter system. Love Zimbabwe has introduced a project called ‘Phone Zimbabwe’. Anyone with an old, working mobile phone can send it direct to an address in Zimbabwe. It can then be used to trade for food, fuel, clothing and medicines. Clothing is another necessity which can be easily contributed. We send parcels of clothing on a regular basis and are always interested in receiving good quality used clothes and blankets. Despite what you might think, Zimbabwe gets very cold in winter!
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