Miss-Delectable
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200605260107.html
THERE is dead silence among the five people sitting in a circle around a clay oven.
The group are all part of a bead-making project and they are waiting for the glass to melt so that they can work with it.
Jafet Erastus (20) takes the moulds out of the fire and shows them to Olivia Kanime (25).
She shakes her head and he puts them back.
Eventually she nods and suddenly the five people jump into action as the moulds are taken out of the fire and placed before them.
They have to start working on the red-hot glass immediately.
The four women and one man belong to the CLaSH-Penduka glass-bead project for the hearing impaired.
They have all finished school and were sitting at home, as there are very few job opportunities for deaf people.
Heide Beinhauer from the non-governmental organisation CLaSH heard about Kudjo Owusu, a master bead maker from Ghana, and realised that there are many deaf people in Namibia who would greatly benefit from learning this craft.
Workshops were held last year and again this year at the Penduka craft project with financial support from the French embassy and a Dutch initiative to support small-business growth in developing countries.
Glass is collected from all over Windhoek and brought to Penduka.
The group clean the glass and smash it into tiny pieces.
Some of the glass is ground with a stone to turn it into a fine glass powder.
The pieces and powder are then sorted according to their colours.
The splinters and powder are then put into moulds and baked in the clay oven until the glass is a red-hot liquid.
Once the glass has been liquefied, the moulds are taken out of the oven and the holes for stringing the beads are made.
The beads are then turned in the mould and are given their round shape with the most basic tools.
A piece of a broomstick with long nails at the end is used to make holes in the glass beads and to turn and shape them.
The moulds are then left to cool before the beads are taken out and polished on a rock with some sand to make them smooth.
Depending on the bead maker, the glass is then painted and reheated or just washed and polished again.
The beads are finally polished with Vaseline and put on a string to make colourful necklaces that can be bought at the Penduka centre at the Goreangab Dam.
"I was unemployed and I am very glad about the bead-making opportunity.
It is getting easier with practice and I now have a purpose," said Olivia Kanime in sign language.
Before becoming part of the bead-making project, Maria Kooper (31) did not know sign language and was too old to attend school.
She came to Penduka hoping to learn a trade or do something positive with her time.
She attended the bead-making workshops and by watching her fellow students, she taught herself sign language.
Today the shy woman is a confident participant at the project who is at work every day, not only improving her bead-making skills but also her sign-language skills.
People can assist the project by donating any kind of glass or firewood.
THERE is dead silence among the five people sitting in a circle around a clay oven.
The group are all part of a bead-making project and they are waiting for the glass to melt so that they can work with it.
Jafet Erastus (20) takes the moulds out of the fire and shows them to Olivia Kanime (25).
She shakes her head and he puts them back.
Eventually she nods and suddenly the five people jump into action as the moulds are taken out of the fire and placed before them.
They have to start working on the red-hot glass immediately.
The four women and one man belong to the CLaSH-Penduka glass-bead project for the hearing impaired.
They have all finished school and were sitting at home, as there are very few job opportunities for deaf people.
Heide Beinhauer from the non-governmental organisation CLaSH heard about Kudjo Owusu, a master bead maker from Ghana, and realised that there are many deaf people in Namibia who would greatly benefit from learning this craft.
Workshops were held last year and again this year at the Penduka craft project with financial support from the French embassy and a Dutch initiative to support small-business growth in developing countries.
Glass is collected from all over Windhoek and brought to Penduka.
The group clean the glass and smash it into tiny pieces.
Some of the glass is ground with a stone to turn it into a fine glass powder.
The pieces and powder are then sorted according to their colours.
The splinters and powder are then put into moulds and baked in the clay oven until the glass is a red-hot liquid.
Once the glass has been liquefied, the moulds are taken out of the oven and the holes for stringing the beads are made.
The beads are then turned in the mould and are given their round shape with the most basic tools.
A piece of a broomstick with long nails at the end is used to make holes in the glass beads and to turn and shape them.
The moulds are then left to cool before the beads are taken out and polished on a rock with some sand to make them smooth.
Depending on the bead maker, the glass is then painted and reheated or just washed and polished again.
The beads are finally polished with Vaseline and put on a string to make colourful necklaces that can be bought at the Penduka centre at the Goreangab Dam.
"I was unemployed and I am very glad about the bead-making opportunity.
It is getting easier with practice and I now have a purpose," said Olivia Kanime in sign language.
Before becoming part of the bead-making project, Maria Kooper (31) did not know sign language and was too old to attend school.
She came to Penduka hoping to learn a trade or do something positive with her time.
She attended the bead-making workshops and by watching her fellow students, she taught herself sign language.
Today the shy woman is a confident participant at the project who is at work every day, not only improving her bead-making skills but also her sign-language skills.
People can assist the project by donating any kind of glass or firewood.