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Mthatha crafters represent province in Germany
Posted on: Friday, 01 September 2006. Article source: Daily Dispatch
Three Mthatha crafters are travelling to Germany’s Lower Saxony district with the support of the Eastern Cape’s twinning partnership with the province.
The crafters, Zoliswa Msomi, Jabu Madolo and Allan Pierce arrived in Germany this morning.
They are joined by Nokwanda Qwezu from Mthatha’s Nelson Mandela Museum and Buli Bam, assistant manager at the Eastern Cape Arts and Crafts Hub.
Lower Saxony’s Eastern Cape-based projects co-ordinator, Yorck Wurms, said it was the first time that the twinning agreement had reached out to rural areas.
“Although the support of high level politicians is crucial, real people must benefit from the agreement,” he said.
Yesterday, the travellers were really excited.
“I’m looking forward to making friends there, and learning from them but I also want to teach Europeans about South Africa and what we do,” said Madolo, a 35-year-old crafter who produces traditional leather-ware and beaded products.
The group will attend an international crafters’ forum in Hamlen, near Hanover.
The group will hold a workshop on beadwork.
Negotiations to merge the government backed Eastern Cape Arts and Culture Hub, with Lower Saxony’s iThemba craft project have begun.
Bam said she was looking forward to learning more about the practical issues involved in successful export contracts.
“Where groups have secured export orders they have often encountered practical difficulties around payments, I hope to learn more about how to avoid these,” she said.
The group will rub shoulders with craft producers from across Europe as well as German politicians who support the twinning agreement.
Wurms said that visiting Lower Saxony presented more opportunities than an entirely foreign place, where business leaders and politicians would not be familiar with the Eastern Cape.
“They are not flying to a foreign place, they are joining a network,” said Wurms.
The invitation came after a visit by Lower Saxony’s minister president, Christian Wulff to the Eastern Cape that included stops at Port Elizabeth, East London and Mthatha.
He visited the Nelson Mandela Museum where crafters like Madolo exhibit their products.
One beader was charmed when Wulff sent one of his bodyguards back to the curio shop to buy a necklace for his daughter.
The crafters, Zoliswa Msomi, Jabu Madolo and Allan Pierce arrived in Germany this morning.
They are joined by Nokwanda Qwezu from Mthatha’s Nelson Mandela Museum and Buli Bam, assistant manager at the Eastern Cape Arts and Crafts Hub.
Lower Saxony’s Eastern Cape-based projects co-ordinator, Yorck Wurms, said it was the first time that the twinning agreement had reached out to rural areas.
“Although the support of high level politicians is crucial, real people must benefit from the agreement,” he said.
Yesterday, the travellers were really excited.
“I’m looking forward to making friends there, and learning from them but I also want to teach Europeans about South Africa and what we do,” said Madolo, a 35-year-old crafter who produces traditional leather-ware and beaded products.
The group will attend an international crafters’ forum in Hamlen, near Hanover.
The group will hold a workshop on beadwork.
Negotiations to merge the government backed Eastern Cape Arts and Culture Hub, with Lower Saxony’s iThemba craft project have begun.
Bam said she was looking forward to learning more about the practical issues involved in successful export contracts.
“Where groups have secured export orders they have often encountered practical difficulties around payments, I hope to learn more about how to avoid these,” she said.
The group will rub shoulders with craft producers from across Europe as well as German politicians who support the twinning agreement.
Wurms said that visiting Lower Saxony presented more opportunities than an entirely foreign place, where business leaders and politicians would not be familiar with the Eastern Cape.
“They are not flying to a foreign place, they are joining a network,” said Wurms.
The invitation came after a visit by Lower Saxony’s minister president, Christian Wulff to the Eastern Cape that included stops at Port Elizabeth, East London and Mthatha.
He visited the Nelson Mandela Museum where crafters like Madolo exhibit their products.
One beader was charmed when Wulff sent one of his bodyguards back to the curio shop to buy a necklace for his daughter.
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