Of eggshells, bracelets and breezy business

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday August 20, 2010 00:00

Asa Segootsane is a San woman, born and bred in Kaudwane. In this rural village in Kweneng West, there is not much to do for a living. You can either be a nurse, a teacher at the local primary school or a police officer at the Kgotla. 

However, most people presently holding these positions are not from Kaudwane because the natives do not command much by way of formal education and qualifications. They are made up mainly of people who have been relocated from settlements in the CKGR - Galalabadimo, Mothomelo, Kikao, Metsiamanong, Gugamma and Gope - which were/are themselves much benighted. Forty-year old Asa is no exception, but she has to provide for her own child and two of her late sister's. In 2006, Asa was one of eight people who attended a workshop on employment creation run by a Molepolole-based social welfare group. They were trained in baking, sewing, bricklaying and jewellery making. All the participants did well in the various courses, and there was considerable hope for the future of Kaudwane. However, Asa says a few weeks after the workshop, the projects began to collapse because people - one after another - left and returned to their ordinary routine of collecting mahupu, the wild berries, and their other methods of sourcing food.

But Asa and another woman, Kaorontshwa Thuntshwane, persevered in their projects of making jewellery out of ostrich eggshells, though working separately. To-date, Asa runs Khutse Crafts while her friend runs Kaudwane Arts and Craft. 

'We are the only two remaining from the original group of eight,' says Asa. 'But I must say we are making something of our lives.'She says comparatively, life is a struggle for those who returned to the CKGR, though she adds that making bracelets and earrings out of ostrich eggshells requires considerable patience and drive. The process begins with collecting the eggshells, which often means buying them from people who pick them up while collecting wild berries, hunting or herding livestock. 'We are licensed to trade in ostrich eggshells,' Asa says. 'So I buy them if I cannot collect them myself.'

The next activity is to break the eggshells into smaller pieces that are then scrubbed with a stone to make them smooth.Asa then uses a generator-powered drilling machine to make small holes in the pieces through which she will run a thread.

But before threading them the eggshells are 'baked' in a canned beef tin on order to turn them into whatever colour may be desired. 'You cannot use any other vessel for this because the eggshells could be scorched beyond the desired colour,' Asa notes.   The desired colour is achieved by controlling the amount of heat and length of time. For the colour brown, moderate heat and time are required.

A higher temperature and longer time turns out black eggshells. A nail clipper is then used to cut the pieces into desired shapes for bracelets and necklaces. But because some are not baked at all, Asa works with white, brown and black.'Cutting is the most delicate part of the process because you have to achieve a specific pattern,' she says.

A stone is used again to smooth the edges. Asa then attaches hooks, which she buys from shops in Molepolole, and the bracelets and earrings are ready for customers. It takes approximately two days to make a bracelet. 'People like my products very much,' says Asa. 'My customers include traditional dance troupes of different schools and folk music artists.'

Asa sustains herself and the children this way. She also saves some of the money with Botswana Savings Bank and elsewhere through Emang Basadi. 'I don't use all of it, she says. 'The business is not that big, but I am happy with what I make.'