Nampost -

Morris Baba found hope in handicraft. It started as a hobby first and grew into something more. When he came to Namibia, he started on the street and made wire and beaded animals and art pieces. After really battling, he was offered a spot at the Craft Centre. Now he has improved the quality of this products and is able to support his family in Namibian and Zimbabwe from sales at the Craft Centre. His skill is self-taught. ‘When I was young, I was inspired by a man who used to do carvings. I started to make some bicycles and then I went on to make elephants and geckos.’ Morris produces a variety of recycled animals, toys, decorations, large welded metal animals and many more. One of the most popular animals, the warthog, has been bought by many visitors and shipped to Europe and Americas. Morris makes sure that he has a great variety of products, and guarantees that there is something for everyone.

For the past twenty years, the Omba Trust has worked closely with the Ju/Hoansi community in Namibia to foster a sustainable development model to integrate the rare skills of the Ju/Hoansi into the mainstream economy. The Ju/Hoansi is a San tribal community in rural Namibia, confined in large part to but a small section of their previous hunter-food-gathering landscape. With the guidance and support of Omba Arts Trust, community members fashion beautifully intricate jewellery from ostrich egg shells and create very rare pieces of art, often used as inspiration for a unique range of fabric prints also available from the Trust. In addition, Omba has for the longest time engaged skilled and talented basket weavers from various parts of Namibia to produce a range of decorative and highly sought-after baskets; a standard feature in most Namibian homes representing an abstraction of symbols relating to wealth and fertility, in particular.

The name ‘Limbandungila’ means ‘walk slowly’ in Oshiwambo, an indigenous language of northern Namibia and owner, Ottilie Nghiitwikwa, is a connoisseur of hand-carved wooden crafts from north and north-eastern Namibia. Limbandungila was established in 1997 and stocks beautifully hand-carved wooden masks, paintings in relief, ceremonial masks and wildlife figurines, including traditional Namibian items such as bowls, cups and woven harvest baskets, predominantly from cultural groups in northern Namibia, selected with great care for her customers by Nghiitwikwa. Her enterprise and initiative supports several rural producers and craftsmen, necessitating Ottilie Nghiitwikwa travel regularly to northern Namibia, scouting for new hand-carved wooden items. Her winning selections and choices of wooden craft has made Limbandungila an enduring supplier of quality products, known for its traditional, authentic wooden artefacts of Namibian origin.