31 Mar 2020

For many people in Ngamiland, making crafts is a hobby, while some preserve their rich culture and heritage in craft work.

But 57-year-old Idea Newa of Mababe settlement uses the crafts project as a source of income while preserving culture at the same time.

In an interview recently, Mr Newa explained that he started craft work long time back, after he dropped out of school when he was doing Standard Five, as his family was doing the work.

He noted that his forefathers were the custodians of culture, and he followed on their footsteps.

Mr Newa revealed that he lost both parents and grandparents at a young age and that was when he took craft work to another level to eke a living.

“Since I acquired skills and knowledge from my parents, I started making different crafts and sell to tourists traversing the Okavango Delta,” he revealed.

He prides himself in making first class crafts, ranging from bows and arrows, axes, stools, hoes and chairs, knives, bags and shoes among others.

Some can be used as ornaments, while some can be used for domestic purposes.

Mr Newa, a father to 16, explained that although the business was not thriving as expected, he can put bread on the table for his big family.

He said the market remained a serious challenge, despite his business being placed in a strategic area. Mababe is a settlement situated in a state land and the area also is a tourism destination.

Many tourists visit the area to appreciate the Mababe depression, which lies between Maun and Savuti, before proceeding to other tourism sites in the delta.

He appreciated government efforts to encourage the tourism industry to purchase locally made crafts for decorations in their safari camps, lodges, hotels or to allow small entrepreneurs to  display their products in their curio shops, but stated that some were still not heeding the call.

He said he had approached safari companies in his locality and some promised, but to date, nothing has come to fruition.

Mr Newa pointed out that because of unstable market, he wanted to diversify his income generation by venturing into commercial agriculture, but it was impossible as he resided in a wildlife management area.

He wished the government could finalise the Mababe land issue, so that residents could be allocated plots and benefit from progammes aimed at improving their livelihoods.

He said residents had long requested for formal allocation of plots so that they could be issued with land certificates, but it was difficult as state land was only administered by Department of Lands under ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services. ENDS