Kagisano Women's shelter project / jewelry workshop

Kagisano Women's shelter project

Gabarone, Botswana. February 21th, 2010

Kagisano provides shelter for abused women and supports them with vocational training. One of their projects is a paper maché jewelry workshop in Gaborone.

We visit the workshop and make a donation to provide some supplies for the handicraftproject.

Name	Kagisano Women's shelter project / jewelry workshop, Gaborone, Botswana
Aim	Kagisano "To empower those affected by HIV/AIDS and violence by providing temporary shelter, counseling, referrals and survival skills."
Since	The shelter operates since June 1998. The workshop started in 2009.
Staff	1 teacher
People reached	Currently up to 4 students
Contact	Joyce Ramphaleng jbramph@yahoo.com
Donation	650 Pula + 100 USD (200 USD)

Our first cause in Botswana is supporting abused women to find their way back into society. They have often gone through terrible experiences, beaten and raped by their former partners from whom they have to be protected.

For this reason, the actual shelter we visit is on a secret location.

We decide to support a sustainable income-generating activity that involves the women: a jewelry workshop. We drop by in the early afternoon and meet Joyce and two of the women learning from her. The workshop is located in a small barack on the premises of the Kagisano drop-in centre. One of the women comes from Maun, Botswana's third city near the Okavango delta.

We see newspaper sheets, beads, cotton, paint and other materials. It is amazing how much can be done with natural objects you just find on the ground. Joyce presents us the resulting products. The paper mash jewelry looks very nice indeed. Yeon and I decide to buy some pretty bracelets. The bowls and earrings also look great.

Joyce also paints. The paintings have a great design, some of them depict Botswana traditional life, and can help making this project sustainable.

However, some indispensable materials for making jewelry cannot be found on the street. Our donation goes to those materials, mainly paint.

Below is a list to give you an idea of the price of the jewelry.

big bowl	55 Pula (about 9 USD)
medium bowl	45P
pot	45-55P
bracelet	45P
necklace	75P
earrings	20P