I realized my next
blog was wayyy too long so I decided to split it up a bit. Here’s some background
information on Neema Crafts – the place I fell in love with here in Iringa. 🙂
(Note: The majority of the following information was taken
from the Neema Crafts website: www.neemacrafts.com
Check it out for more information, personal
stories from the workers, and a chance to browse their online store!)
Neema Crafts was started in October 2003 by the Diocese of Ruaha.
Its purpose is to provide handicrafts training and employment for deaf and
physically disabled people in Iringa region, Tanzania, and also to change
negative attitudes towards people with disabilities in the local community.
Local employers are invited to see how skilled the workers at Neema Crafts
quickly become when given the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
It was started by Susie Hart, a British woman and herself
disabled, who works for the Diocese of Ruaha. She began the Hand Made
Paper Workshop with three young deaf people who were faced with
an uncertain future, without hope of further education or employment, due to
the stigma attached to their disability. To date there are now over 20 deaf and
hard of hearing people working at Neema Crafts. They are taught how to make
paper from recycled and natural materials, such as maize husks, pineapple
leaves and even elephant dung! They also learn many other skills, including
screen-printing techniques and how to construct their hand-made paper into
albums, picture frames and cards etc.
The Beading
Project was started soon afterwards for people with physical
disabilities. The Iringa region has one of the highest proportions of
physically disabled people in Tanzania, yet nothing was being done locally to
provide them with practical help in the form of vocational training and employment.
The participants are trained for one week in beading techniques, after which
time they bring what they have made to the workshop and receive further
training support, wages and new beads. Many become so proficient that they
quickly earn more than their able-bodied friends and families! This has a
tremendously important effect on their sense of dignity and self-esteem, as
well as changing attitudes towards disability in the community, as people who
were once seen as a burden are now able to support themselves and their
families.
As interest from locals and tourists
grew it was decided that a Shop would be an essential addition to the center,
and this was opened in the spring of 2004, adjoining the paper making workshop.
Up to this point goods produced had been sold to hotel boutiques in the
National Parks of Tanzania, and overseas. The shop proved to be a great success
and provides the opportunity to offer visitors tours of the workshop which
continue to be a hit.
In May 2005 the Weaving Workshop was opened, making rugs, cushion
covers, fine scarves, hammocks and other fabulous woven textiles, to offer
further opportunities for vocational training and employment to some of the
huge numbers of people with disabilities still unable to support themselves.
Ten people with physically disabilities have become highly skilled weavers and
have all been lifted from situations of extreme poverty to self-reliance and a
greater sense of self-respect. They are also provided with specially adapted
wheelchairs and other disability aids. Demand for the woven products is
soaring, so new looms are being made to accommodate more weavers, although the
current space will limit the number possible to take on until more space is
acquired. The weaving workshop also has a sewing and Patchwork
Quilting area, where bags, cushion covers and other products
are made, also by people with disabilities.
Neema Crafts Gallery Café was opened in August 2005 and was an
instant hit with its tasty selection of home-made cakes, ice creams and light
lunches, all made and served on the premises by deaf workers. The purposes of
the café are to increase the number of deaf people receiving training and
employment, draw more visitors through the shop, and most importantly educate
local people about the abilities of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Menu’s
have sign language on the back so that visitors can learn to communicate with
the café staff, and this breaks down barriers between hearing and non-hearing
people, especially with the Tanzanian customers.
In Tanzania there is no benefit
system for those with a disability. If a disabled person is not given work they
will have no money and in those circumstances family support or begging in the
street is the only way they can survive. Having enough to eat is a daily issue
in Tanzania so if an adult family member cannot support him or herself then
often they are rejected by their families, not because they do not care but
simple economics means they cannot support them.
Here are a few of the stories of
the Neema Crafts workers.
Josphat’s story:
Josphat has been profoundly deaf
from birth, and was among the first 3 young deaf lads with whom the workshop
was started. When he first joined he was a very downcast and short-tempered
individual, having suffered years of neglect at the hands of the extended
family with whom he lived, his parents having died many years previously. After
a few short months training at the Neema Crafts Center, Josphat had become a
highly skilled paper-maker, his self-esteem rocketed and the way he expressed
himself and interacted with others was utterly transformed. No longer
considered a burden by his extended family, he was now able to support himself
and contribute to the household income, thus earning their respect at last.
Deaf people give each other
short-hand sign names. Due a curvature in his spine Josphat had always been
known as ‘hunchback’. After a few months working at Neema Crafts the other deaf
people at the center spontaneously changed his sign to ‘he is able’, as they’d
seen that he’d become the most gifted paper-maker in the whole workshop. Thus
after years of being made to feel conscious of his shortcomings, his whole
identity had literally changed from his disability, to his ability.
This is a lovely illustration of
what Neema Crafts Centre is all about; changing negative attitudes towards
people with disabilities in the eyes of those around them and also in their own
eyes as well.
Neema’s Story:
The name Neema means ‘Grace of
God’ and the project was named after her. Neema was in her early twenties,
married with a young child, when she developed an infection in her legs. Her
family feared they would not be able to afford medicines for her at the local
hospital, so by the time she was finally taken for treatment it was too late to
cure her and both legs were amputated at the knee. Neema’s husband left her
soon afterwards because the shame of being married to a disabled person was too
much for him. She was left alone to support herself and her child but had no
way of earning an income as no one would employ her.
That was until she heard about the
Neema Crafts Center; there she has been taught how to make beautiful beaded jewelry
and is now able to support herself and her little son. Since Neema Crafts
fundraised and organized for her to get new legs, her husband has returned and
they have been reunited as a family once more.
(Check out more information and products
online that you can buy to help support the project… they have some good stuff!
When you buy from Neema Crafts you can be sure you are buying fairly traded,
ethically made and environmentally conscious products, which also give a
livelihood to the poorest of the poor – i.e. people with disabilities in
Tanzania.) Thanks everyone!
So yea, that’s a bit about Neema Crafts. 🙂 Read my next blog for
more good stuff on our visits there!
