By Aurore de Tapol
Last night I was at the Ubuhle Beads Exhibition in Highgate, sponsored by SAAM Mountain.
Ubuhle means “beautiful” in Zulu and this charity was established in 2000 with the objective to create an African Design Village at Little Farm in Kwazulu-Natal.
It all started when Ntombephi Ntombela was doing beadwork which was being sold on the Durban beach front. Soon, Ntombephi and her friend Bev Gibson realized the potential of creating beaded artwork and founded Ubuhle, designing beaded jewelry which was sold to friends, with profit helping women and children sick with Aids. The adventure grew through word of mouth with more women being trained and uplifted by the project.
Ubuhle’s objective is to create a family environment for the beaders and their children. This extends to the family’s children who have been orphaned. To reach this very goal, Bev Gibson gave up her 13 ha farm for the community, and her generosity has been able to provide a roof over the heads of many women and children involved in this project.
Each beader is paid for the item she produces. In addition a percentage of the profit of the sales is used for social upliftment – housing, education, subsistence farming and a support program for HIV and other diseases. It also gives African woman independence and financial security, and helps with school fees for the children.
At SAAM, helping the community has always been one of our standards. Our Farmers are heavily involved in their community, by sponsoring school fees, creating community halls and reopening a local school to make sure that children are provided with good education. We believe that children are our legacy and need to look after them. Last year SAAM has produced the exclusive Red Nose Wines, raising over £750,000 for Comic Relief. £1 of each bottle sold helped extremely vulnerable poor and disadvantage people in Africa and the UK.
Ubuhle Beads and SAAM have the same vision, and however small our involvement was with their exhibition last night, we were happy to provide the wine for their private viewing.
Upper Gallery
Lauderdale House
Highgate Hill
London N6 5GH
Find out more on www.ubuhlebeads.co.za
Tags: art, Saam, south africa, vivid