11 Aug 2015

Women are slowly making inroads in leather work, a male dominated field. One such woman is Ms Oarabile Rantsho of Borolong in the Tutume Sub-district.

Operating from her home with the assistance of Mr Joshua Modiakgotla, Ms Rantsho designs exquisite wallets, belts, shoes, hand bags, traditional mats and leather earrings.

She states in an interview that her love for handicraft goes back to her school days where she studied art.

After a month of leatherwork training in Sese this year as part of the poverty eradication programme under the animal production department, she purchased skins from abattoirs and individuals to put what she learnt into practice.

Ms Rantsho says the demand for her products is high. She is currently the only person who does leatherwork in the village.

Her market includes a number of shops in Francistown, which purchase her products in bulk.

She however says that if it was not for her doing the work manually, her production level would be higher.

With the Social and Community Development office taking long to assist her with chemicals that soften and colour skins, she resorted to labour intensive traditional ways.

She uses water, the morula bark, Motsitsana roots and wood ash to soften and colour her skins.

She says that she is sometimes forced to discard some hides that are not well softened at a significant financial loss.

She however states that she has long applied for funds from the Department of Gender Affairs to purchase the skin processing chemicals.

She urges other women to consider using their talents to earn a living. ENDS