The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura
Rusape Correspondent
RURAL women deep down in Chiendambuya Village of Makoni have defied all odds and stood the test of time by holding on to a unique source of income that is rarely associated with people from a backwater village.
While agriculture is the main source of living in most rural areas, for the past 33 years, the women of Weya have used art to alleviate poverty.
Weya Art Gallery, whose members are women, has since 1988 been providing a lifeline to a group of artistic villagers.
The art group which was established with the assistance of a German artist, Ms Elsey Noy, has a fully-fledged art gallery that was constructed with funding from the Germany Embassy and commissioned in 1994 by former President Robert Mugabe.
Although the gallery faces numerous challenges, including fluctuating tourist arrivals and buyers, as well as a poor road network to access the gallery, among others, the women have managed to hold on to their special source of income.
Unlike in most cases where projects usually collapse after development partners hand them over to the community due to bickering and failure to work as a group, it has been a different story for the Weya women.
Their talent, efforts and resilience have not gone unnoticed as the country’s export promotion body, ZimTrade, has identified them for expert assistance to push their products into the lucrative regional and international markets.
Weya Art Gallery chairperson, Ms Tima Molly Shonge said they have traversed a long journey since being introduced to art by Ms Noy.
They have never looked back.
She said the gallery has 68 female members and four men who assist their wives.
“The arts centre started in 1988 when an expatriate teacher at the now defunct Weya Community Training Centre introduced art to women. She taught us applique, embroidery, sadza painting and body painting.
“The aim was to empower rural women with survival skills as we are always at home with the children. We produce art that is displayed and sold at the National Art Gallery in Harare, Halfway House in Headlands and various other exhibitions. We also have buyers who flock here to buy directly from our gallery.
“When we get orders, we share the proceeds according to how one would have contributed. We also have quality control systems in place.
“We do not allow a member to produce poor quality art, otherwise the whole group will be affected. Strict quality control has contributed to our growth as a group. We have remained in the game for a very long time.
“ZimTrade has seconded two German artists who are training us on products that are appreciated in Europe. They are teaching us on how to market our work. We are in the process of linking up with other galleries outside Zimbabwe,” said Ms Shonge.
“Art is a profitable venture and we are earning a living from our talents. We built homes and send our children to school from proceeds of arts.
“What we desperately need are reliable markets to sell our products.
“During droughts, we face challenges on sadza painting as the art uses a lot of maize meal, but we use soap as a substitute.
“Our major challenge is lack of publicity as very few people, even here in Makoni District, are aware of our existence. The Mufusire-Weya Road is in bad shape and buyers struggle to get here.
“Our main materials include PVA paints, water paints, brushes, vanish, glue and nails, among others and these are expensive, especially for those starting,” explained Ms Shonge.
“We were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as tourists were not coming to Zimbabwe.
“However, we did not give up as we continued producing our art at home. We soldiered on until we were identified by ZimTrade as a group with potential to do well in the export of artefacts,” said Ms Shonge.
ZimTrade has availed two German artists to train the women to come up with eye catching products that will fetch more in Europe.
The two German artists, Mr Fritz Kramer-Jensen and his wife, Mrs Ute Kramer-Jensen last week started mentoring the women.
The couple said they are impressed by the work being done by Weya women.
“We are experts in design for handcrafts and the economic side of artefacts. We are training this women’s group how to produce top quality artworks. We are also learning their skills on sadza and bond paintings. We are finding out why they are not selling many products and working towards rectifying that.
“They should be more creative and avoid making products being done by many other people. Their products are of good quality and they make the grade for the export market,” said Mrs Kramer-Jensen.
ZimTrade Eastern Region manager, Mr Admire Jongwe said they are capacitating Weya Art Gallery to produce quality products in good quantities that meet the needs of the international market.
He commended the group for remaining in the game for years.
Mr Jongwe said time is now ripe for Weya Art Gallery members to conquer the world with their exceptional products.
“Our mandate is to capacitate communities, producers, small and medium enterprises so that they can be export ready. Through our capacity development arm, we are hand-holding the Weya community so that they are export ready.
“We are mostly targeting the regional market. However, the various artefacts being produced here can be exported to the European market.
“Last year, some members of this community — through ZimTrade’s assistance — managed to travel to Zambia and recorded brisk business. Two of their members are participating in our female entrepreneurship flagship programme which trains females to be business conscious and to have the acumen to penetrate the export market.
“As ZimTrade, we are following the mantra of leaving no one and no place behind, hence the upliftment of the Weya women. Every village is unique and the Japanese say: ‘One Village, One Product’, this means any village can export its various products. All they need is the right placement, the right product and the right quality,” he said.
