Shangaan women – Meet Mama Moira and Emina

The rural poor in Zimbabwe live very much like the olden days. It’s still the traditional ways of  food production, cooking, building, preserving food, small scale farming, the crops and so on. That’s also the life for modern day Shangaan people in the poor rural areas of south eastern Zimbabwe.

The local Shangaan community are directly descended from the Zulu tribes that split away from Shaka Zulu at the beginning of the 19th Century and came to settle in this area of what is now Zimbabwe.

The Shangaan people were hunter gatherers and cow herders which in historic time created friction with the other tribes that were early arable farmers.

The Shangaan were a relatively small group and their language was neglected and not taught in schools like so many minorities around the world. People were asked to speak Shona, like the ruling tripe. Since 1982 there has been attempts to re instore the language and the traditions before it was lost. – The culture and the traditional weaving techniques for basketry are kept sacred.

Meet Mama Moira 54 years and Emina 33 years old both living near Birgenough Bridge, South East Zimbabwe.

Tell us about your craft:

I have been weaving baskets as long as I can remember. We learn the special way of weaving from our mothers.

What kinds of items do you usually make?

I make baskets in different sizes. Traditionally we used them for water or beer or grain.

Why is this work important to you?

I feel happy each time I finish a piece and it is very important as it is my livelihood.

Where do you get the raw materials from?

The raw material is African Cane and a wild wine, a creeper in the bush.  We collect them start cooking them to peal them and make them soft.

Do you use cow dung or mud to seal the baskets?

Mama Moira: Both.

Is there a message you would like to send to the people who purchase the items you are making? 

Mama Moira: I wish people around the world who buy the products made by us know how much value they carry for us.

Emina: That the baskets you bought, we made them with lots of effort and warm regards.

What benefits can you see among your fellow artisans and their families when you have orders? How would more regular orders help?

Mama Moira: With more regular orders, we could share the orders among the weavers. Regular dependable income would take away some of the challenges of life.

Emina: Everyone is happy to help to their families. No one likes to sit and do nothing. Being busy is good, and of course money helps.

What is your dream?

Mama Moira: I want to work a lot, develop my business and raise my children well.

Emina: Same, I am dreaming of good health and sending all my children to school.