Resident pools creative talents to huge success
WHEN Lynn Price first met women living in villages in Chintsa, their dire living conditions inspired her to bring renewed hope to their lives through arts and craft-making.
Price, who has lived in Chintsa for 25 years, said knowing she could make a difference in the villagers’ lives motivated her to become a gateway to business opportunities for the women.
The 46-year-old started I left my Heart in Africa, an organisation that brings gifted craftmakers from surrounding villages together to create fashionable artefacts for sale.
She believes in using local products and material to promote arts in the province.
Price used her skills in graphic design and experience in the arts and culture industry to help the women create beadwork, handbags and other unique artefacts which are sold in restaurants, craft shops and other small businesses around Eastern Cape. They are also sold online. “I realised that these women wanted to work, but there was a need for getting work to the ground. I took on the role of looking for markets for their craft,” she said.
Price owns Buccaneer Lodge and Backpackers with her husband, Sean.
She revamped one of the rooms there into a studio where the women were to work from.
When she started the organisation seven years ago, the women beaded necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other small-scale items for sale. Over time the business grew. “During my visits into the village, I discovered that women there had sewing machines. They knew how to sew but there was no work.”
She took the women in, supplied them with fabric, taught them how to cut patterns and the sewing business began.
The women made bags of different styles using different patterns.
Their work drew favourable attention and Takalani Sesame, the organisation that created the popular children’s TV show of the same name, approached Price with a request for 1 000 bags.
Soon after that, the LEGO foundation placed an order for 1 000 play mats, and the organisation has grown incredibly since then.
“I have people who rely on me. They need me to make this work and I will carry on as long as there is a need. I don’t see an end to the game.”
Price said the organisation has transformed the women’s lives in a way she did not imagine when she first began.
“I have seen the women change and gain self-confidence and a sense of security. Lasting friendships have developed. These partnerships have come with amazing stories.
“I am privileged to have time, skills, history and resources. I know that I am making a small difference and it’s a privilege for me,” she said.
Price said although she didnot aspire to grow the organisation, she would like to see it become a viable source of income for the women.
“My background in arts and culture exposed me to how craft-makers were also expected to market [and] sell their own work. Through my work I provide opportunities for the women to do what they do best.”— nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za