If you’ve been on a safari to one of our Wilderness camps in Hwange National Park, chances are you currently have at least one beautiful hand-woven basket on display in your home.
The baskets – available for purchase in Ngamo village just outside the park on a day visit from Wilderness Linkwasha – are crafted by a talented group of widows, under the auspices of the Ngwenyama Orphans Trust, brainchild of Ngamo resident Noma Moyo, an adult-education specialist, and actual force of nature.
The conditions for these crafters in rural Zimbabwe are harsh: no shade in the typically blazing heat in summer, icy cold in winter, nothing but the hard ground to sit on, dust, rain, and every other challenge exposure to the elements brings.
But so impressive is Noma’s energy and can-do attitude, Dutch journalists Angelique van Os and Henk Bothof were inspired to create a fundraiser to build a studio for the basket-weavers after their 2023 visit to Hwange, and Ngamo.
Since then, the campaign you see on Angelique and Henk’s own website story has raised a whopping EUR5,500, which has now been channelled via our non-profit funds-disbursement organisation, Wilderness Trust. This means the Trust will administer the funds and oversee the building of the studio with approved suppliers.
Watch this short video of Angelique handing over the donation.
Says Angelique on her website, “Ngwenyama means lion. And lions are strong, they go straight for their goal. That certainly applies to Noma Moyo, whose girl totem is a lion. That can’t be a coincidence and sooner or later, we hope to be able to visit her in her new studio, where the most beautiful baskets are made”.
Noma elaborates on her plans for the studio: “This is the land where we are going to construct the craft workshop. We have already managed to build a toilet, and secure the place with a fence. What we are aiming at is to have shade, a structure that we can sit under while we are working. Also, we need to build a showroom where we are going to display our very beautiful products. We are going to have a small kitchen where we are going to cook our meals to eat whenever we are here. Also, a security room is needed, and personnel, in this area, so that our baskets will be safe. We also have it in our plans to have other activities, like rabbit-keeping. People will come to buy them for meat, and some for pets. Also, we want to keep chickens for income, and food to make meals, so that when we are working, we will have energy!”
This is the place where we want our dreams to come true!
Noma Moyo
Wrapping up this dream outcome, Wilderness Zambezi Impact Manager and Children in the Wilderness (CITW) Communities Co-ordinator, Sue Goatley noted, “I have worked with Noma, the wife of the Ngamo Primary School Head, for many years. She does part-time work for CITW, overseeing all the basketry groups in and around Ngamo, which includes approximately 350 women. Noma is an incredible individual who founded the Ngwenyama Orphan’s Trust. We also rely on her and her volunteers for catering at our events in the Ngamo area, with all profits from these functions going directly to the Ngwenyama Trust. Her dedication and leadership have made a significant impact on the community”.
