Dikole's rag dolls make safe kids'play
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday October 30, 2020 14:52
There are different types of dolls for different roles the most common ones being teddy bears, ball joined doll, puppet doll, rag dolls to mention a few. They make playtime fun for girls.
Goabaone Dikole, a 23-year-old young woman has established Child’s Play Rag Dolls, a company that makes rag dolls. This comes after this mother of two girls walked down the memory lane of her early childhood when she adored dolls so much. Dikole decided to combine her love for art and rag dolls to make beautiful dolls for her girls and others countrywide and beyond.
A rag doll is a children’s toy. It is a cloth figure, a doll traditionally homemade from (and stuffed with) spare scraps of material. They are one of the oldest children’s toys in existence. Today, many rag dolls are commercially produced to simulate the features of the original homemade dolls, such as simple features, soft cloth bodies, and patchwork clothing. They are perfect for children to cuddle and take everywhere.
“I liked dolls when I was growing up. I also did art at both junior and secondary schools where I always drew cartoons and was good at it. My girls love dolls so much but every time when I bought them plastic ones they never lasted a day. They always broke them and demand new ones again. This got tiresome and costly. I decided to make rag dolls because they last. My dolls are made with love. They don’t wear off easily and every little girl would love them because they come with cute little outfits,” she said confidently.
She added that the dolls were easy to wash, not hazardous for toddlers, as she does not use any material that could cause harm to babies and her products are very soft and durable. She said she uses baby soft fleece and cotton related materials to make her dolls. She pointed out that the material she use depends on the type of doll she makes. Dikole said when making the dolls, she targets toddlers and babies who were old enough to play with dolls. She added that adults more especially ladies could buy themselves those dolls as they are also suitable for decoration. Even though she started sewing her dolls three weeks ago, she said she was impressed with the feedback she was getting from the public.
However, she pointed out that selling her products was still a challenge, as people believe that for something to be of top quality, it should be bought straight from the shop. She added that she was thankful for the response she got from Batswana more especially her parents who always push her to never give up.
She advised her peers that in these times of crisis that the world at large faces, they should not give up. She said their talent speaks louder and therefore they should use their God given talent to make a living. Furthermore, she said she did not own sewing machine. She said if she could own one, she would sew her dolls and also make baby clothes more especially pajamas for both children and adults.