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These works of art were handmade by women in an income generation project in rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Proceeds support orphans and other vulnerable children at the Thanda After-School Project.
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Tanda Zulu was started in 2005 as a way to support South African beaders and fund the work of Thanda, a non-profit organization of Orphans Against AIDS that addresses education, high HIV infection rates, and high unemployment in the area of Umtwalume, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. All Tanda Zulu jewelry is handcrafted in KwaZulu-Natal by the women of the Zulu Beadwork Project, an income generation project that empowers previously unemployed women and offers them a chance to uplift themselves and their families through traditional beadwork. Proceeds support the Thanda After-School Project in the same province, which empowers and equips students to improve academically, protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, create employment in their community, and lead their families out of poverty.
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Tanda Zulu beaded jewelry is handmade by previously unemployed women in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa as part of the Zulu Beadwork Project. The project was started by Janet Shaw as a way to combat the economic legacies of apartheid and empower impoverished women through traditional craftsmanship. The women are given ownership of the beadworking process, designing pieces and buying the beads themselves.
Tanda Zulu pays its beaders 10-15 times the market rates for each piece of jewelry, ensuring a good wage. This jewelry is a critical form of income for these women, giving them a way to empower and support themselves, and their children. In a province where over a third of the population is unemployed, rural women struggle to find ways to feed and clothe their families. The Zulu Beadwork Project offers them an oppurtunity to uplift their families and communities. When large orders are received, entire villages will often help to make the pieces. The women are able to make the jewelry in their rural homes, which allows them to care for children and save money on transportation. They come into the city just once a week to drop off the jewelry and get new orders. When they return to their village, they not only carry with them a good wage, but pride in their work and hope for their community.
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Thanda After-School addresses education quality, high HIV infection rates, and high unemployment in the area of Umtwalume, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In an effort to create sustainable change, Thanda After-School empowers and equips 240 students grades R-12 to improve academically, protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, create employment in their community, and lead their families out of poverty.
Thanda After-School offers lessons, activities, and skills development programs after school as students learn to think critically, independently, and creatively about their futures and their community. Academic tutoring sessions are offered in the government school classrooms to complement engaging Thanda After-School activities such as Computers, Art, Basketball, Netball, Focus on Matric, Youth Education, and Soccer. Entrepreneurship training and skills development are offered for graduated students, with an emphasis on the advantages of starting enterprises in the rural areas. Debilitating poverty in this area means that Thanda After-School staff fully commit to helping students with issues in their homes and with employment, scholarships, or starting a business after high school. Thanda After-School is a new low-resource approach to orphan care, education quality, and poverty alleviation that supports the next generation as they determine how their community develops.
Visit the Thanda After-School Project website
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