Our founder Robbie Stewart had this to say in his recent message regarding the pandemic:

“The uncertainty that we are all experiencing today is something that many people in Africa live with on a daily basis. Many people live day-to-day, meal-to-meal, and are unable to plan for the future... This is especially true in Zimbabwe, which has proven to be one of the most unpredictable economic environments on the planet. Add to that a severe shortage of fuel, and life is most definitely on the acute side of the uncertainty scale.” 

Still, these times are like no other, and hearing what our artisans are experiencing has strengthened our commitment to weather this exponential uncertainty alongside them; to do all we can to see that their artistic creations will make the complicated journey from their hands to your homes.

Chas, Cathy, and the team at Ngwenya Recycled Glass in Eswatini (Swaziland) tell us this:

The roaring hot furnace is the heart and creative soul of Ngwenya Glass... It was thus a very sad day when we had to switch off our furnace for the first time in 33 years.

We are however still being creative and our soul is still fired with ideas and intention to re-open as soon as possible.

Let’s us hold hands and support one another during these trying times by being Loyal to Local

Our soapstone comes from Afrikiko in Kenya, and Dagmar’s message contains many specifics that reveal resiliency and gratitude despite enormous hardship:

It is the first time since years that we have something “like holidays”. I have time for myself, wonderful.

BUT: it is a break because the virus is there. And at the beginning I couldn´t sleep, because I worried about everything! Will Afrikiko survive these difficult times. Are we able to pay all salaries to our employees (and we have 45 employees) and for how long?? And how can we “feed” the around 500 people, who are working for us and get paid by piece...

We bought around 30 water basins, they look like a big bucket with a lid and a water tap, we bought soap, we keep the social distance and at the moment we are buying masks!! So – people from the police and the health minister were in our office, went around and came to the decision, that people are more safe while they are working for us, then staying at home, because we have all the facilities to protect our people...

Another emergency case we had to face was that our manager, Alice, has a serious heart problem and her doctor told her, that the 4 types of lifesaving medicine she needs are no longer available in Kenya. When she told me that she has only had medicine for 11 days, I started crying, she was “cool” and so much tougher than me. We already started thinking about HOW we can organize the medicine here, but we have a very clever employee in Nairobi and he runs from one pharmacy to the other and at the end he got all 4 types for 3 months. I was so relieved and happy. My God. 

We are working slowly, half of our employees are on holidays, when they are back, the other half will have holidays. When we are through with the production, we have to cut the salaries, because you don´t know how long the crisis will go... It will be over in 3 months... I don’t think now in a different way, otherwise I can´t sleep again...

Greetings to all of you!!! 

Stay healthy.

Dagmar Schwarz

Elize from Amatuli in South Africa, our provider for David Ballam canvas prints, gives us this update:

We’ve had to shut down all our businesses. We do however sneak into the office 3 times a week for a few hours to keep our brains from turning to mush.

Our lockdown has been extended to the end of April and I think that even after that we will still have to practice some social distancing etc.

I’ve managed to keep paying my staff 70% of their salaries for April but I’m not sure what May will bring. Unless the borders open and we’re able to trade fully again it’s going to be a tough rest of 2020.

The only thing I’m hoping for is that people have become so bored of their interiors that they’ll want to buy! And support Africa as I think we’ll be the most hard hit by all of this.

I hope you guys are keeping safe and managing to navigate these strange times.

Keep safe

Elize

Jeremiah from Tonga Textiles in Zimbabwe wrote us in mid-April. They are hardly “back to normal,” as borders are still closed to the outside, intercity travel is not allowed, and there’s not much movement in the economy.

It is very kind of you to check on us. We received your email with a big smile as we felt happy someone like you out there is still thinking of us during this difficult time.

We are now entering our third week of total lockdown. Which means the army and police are out there to enforce this compulsory lockup of which we have to adhere to avoid the spreading of this virus. All my workmates are at the moment safe.

The only issue everyone is raising is financial support to buy basic food requirements. Our government is offering nothing to anyone. As workers they can only turn to me for this help.

With no incoming income I'm facing a real problem to answer worker's basic requests... Suddenly facing this virus has really made us helpless financially.

We will need all to survive this pandemic and find our team intact to work again when all is back to normal.

Thank you once again and the whole team at MBARE for checking on us.

TAKE CARE,

Jeremiah Makaza,

A sobering dispatch from Bongiwe Mlangeni at AFRICA!IGNITE in South Africa, producers of happy, colorful beaded animals:

Thank you for thinking of us! It is indeed a very tough time but we are trying our best to keep safe by working from home and limiting movements. We are deemed non-essential services therefore we do not have permits to work from our offices. The same can’t be said for other citizens unfortunately. Business is slow therefore people are quite restless, looking for their next meal. This makes it so much more difficult for us to gage when this lockdown will be lifted, as the number of deaths and those that are infected keep rising each day. I pray for your safety and good health until this wave is over.

Kind Regards,

Bongiwe Mlangeni

Further words from Chas and Cathy at Ngwenya Glass express how we here at Mbare feel: “We know we won’t be the same when we re-open... nothing will... but rise from the ashes like the proverbial Phoenix we certainly will! The entire planet is on a ‘Learning Journey’... let us all use this quiet time for clearing our minds – fresh ideas will always have value in our new world.

While this crisis has exposed the vast inequalities that plague our fragile planet, it has simultaneously revealed a commonality that transcends borders and unites our globe. Like Dagmar in Kenya, we all want the same thing: to protect our people, and sleep peacefully again.