Cue Online (Grahamstown)
Tessa Trafford
14 July 2009
Adopt a doll, deck yourself in jewellery or take the family to a show. These are some of the ways in which you can support self-help groups at the Festival.
Dressed in colourful yet simple traditional Xhosa outfits, dolls the size of newborn babies, wearing gleeful smiles and wide eyes, capture your attention as you browse the stalls at the Village Green.
The dolls aren’t just child’s play. They are working hard to chang the lives of several women from Kwapontak in the Kwandwe Private Game Reserve and Hanover in the Northern Cape, who have formed the Siyakhula Doll Co-operative under the umbrella of the Kwandwe-Gillis Foundation.
Large multi-coloured glass beads catch the light at the Creations of Hope Stall. Four women from Thembalitsha Foundation in Cape Town have brought their wares to sell at the Festival. “Yesterday was perfect,” says Siyasanga Ruben, referring to their sales. Group members say they enjoy making the jewellery and the sense of community they experience at their weekly meetings. Moderately successful in Cape Town, the women are hoping to sell out at Festival and can be found at the Village Green and the top of High Street.
The Eastern Cape Arts and Culture Department are also doing their bit to help out poorer communities. Situated in Village Green there is an entire tent dedicated to local arts and craft. Traditional clothing and Tommy takkies sprinkled with beads are the order of the day in this tent. According to Laura Zumani, manager of the one of the stalls, most of the products for sale are made by people involved in self-help schemes all over the Eastern Cape.
Self-help is not only restricted to craft. Sakhuluntu Cultural Group is made up of 22 young people between the ages of 6 and 19. All the performers are from Joza in Grahamstown and are given the opportunity to develop skills such as dancing, singing, acting and drumming. The aim of this project is to keep the township youth away from crime, drugs and alcohol.
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