26 May 2014

Set against a backdrop of picturesque rocky cliffs, the village of Gabane offers an intriguing glimpse into the virtues of initiative in a rural setting.

It is one of the villages in which the people can stand proud about their achievements and count a number of projects that they were the first to initiate in the country. The Pelegano Village Industries, for example, is a source of pride for the people of Gabane.

Mr Frank Taylor is one of the founding members. He came to Gabane in 1975 and established Pelegano without any financial help from donors. Pelegano is a non-profit organisation that aims to improve the livelihoods of rural dwellers.

Spurred on by a desire to create employment for the people, Mr Taylor formed Pelegano Village Industries in 1975 with a colleague called Mr Dick Hapkins. “We wanted to set up a self-sustaining rural development organisation that injects money back into the community.

The then area Member of Parliament, the late Mr Peter Mmusi, was appointed chairperson of the organisation,” he said. Over the years, Pelegano has ventured into various businesses, among them a glass factory, metal works, pottery, crafts, and a sorghum milling plant.

Nowadays it is involved in other ventures such as a tea garden, textiles and embroidery, carpentry, manufacturing and residential or accommodation.

When it was introduced, Pelegano kicked off operations with a chicken range that slaughtered broiler chickens and sold them off to supermarkets and members of the community. Other ventures included a metal workshop that built donkey carts, wheelchairs, three legged pots and coffins.

“With assistance from the Rural Industry Innovation Company (RIIC), we managed to set up one of the first commercial sorghum milling plants in the country. We empowered locals by buying sorghum from them,” said Mr Taylor.

Pelegano also used agricultural waste products and wild plant materials to make handicrafts. Maize husks were used to make dolls while artificial flowers, dried branches and seed pods were used in floral displays.

With regards to pottery, Mr Taylor said they used indigenous clay to make pottery items like clay pots, mugs, plates and jugs. The pottery products were decorated with traditional designs. Mr Taylor said products from Pelegano, including the Gabane soghurm meal, are very popular in the local market.

In 1980, Mr Taylor and other leaders from Pelegano met with then MP, Mr Mmusi, to discuss avenues of generating income from natural resources. A survey of surrounding villages and settlements was then carried out to determine what natural resources they possessed.

In 1983, Mr Taylor retired from Pelegano, but remained its director. He then started an organisation called Veld Products Research and Development based on the study conducted before. “25 years later we decided to hand ownership of Pelegano to the community,” he said.

To date, Pelegano has participated in various community projects among them Gabane home based care, refurbishing and electrifying the village community centre, donating chairs to Gabane kgotla. The organisation also donates to the Gabane community every year. “Pelegano is very important to the history of this village.

It is up to the community to decide how that history will turn out, but they must never forget the foundations of self-reliance, self-sustenance and giving back to the community, on which Pelegano was founded,” said Mr Taylor. ENDS