WINDHOEK – The one is 28 years old and the other one is 56 years old, but they both set perfect examples as role models for the youth and aspiring entrepreneurs with their dedication, passion and self-discipline.
Meet Dadisai Kaftena and Phillip Kauta Tjaronda who are showcasing their labour-intensive arts and craft pieces at the Windhoek Show underway in the capital. While Dadisai is working around the clock to supply showgoers with her unique African dresses, skirts and beautiful, utilitarian art pieces, Phillip is just as hard at work only a few paces away from her stall creating unique furniture using old tyres and scrap metal. Dadisai has four mouths to feed at her home in Katutura, while Phillip has travelled all the way from Epukiro to sell his furniture. Both are first-time exhibitors at the Windhoek Show, but definitely not the last time judging by the way their labour-intensive finished products have quickly become hits at the show. Dadisai impresses those who throng her stall with her delicate and intriguing ornaments, created painstakingly from beads and wire, as well as her speed and skill in making stunningly beautiful dresses and skirts in earthy and pastel colours with an African motif providing the backdrop. Phillip manufactures complete outdoor dining sets with tables and chairs by bolting old tyres together and making the seats by threading nylon rope in a criss-cross pattern to create the most comfortable chairs.
Both agree that their outstanding work requires huge amounts of patience and is very labour-intensive, but they enjoy what the do. “Life is terribly expensive, and we all have to make a living,” says Dadisai as she starts bending a piece of wire to give shape to what will become a fruit basket made with colourful beads. She also fashions other art pieces with the soft wire and beads, such as geckos, butterflies, bicycles, food bowls and lady birds. “I have been actively busy with my hobby for some years now, but decided the time has come to showcase my work and there is no better place than the Windhoek Show,” she says. Phillip has been in the bussiness for the past three years after he stumbled across the idea, thanks to hard times and is no doubt reconfirming the age old adage – ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.
To date, he has literally sneaked his way into the hearts of many Namibians with his products made from old tyres that he picks up from popular tyre outlets. He drills immaculately spaced holes in the tyres to fit the nylon rope for the seats, and also makes the arm rests himself. He is constantly on the lookout for wood or scrap metal pieces to make the armrests. After he welds and bolts the metal pieces together, he polishes the tyres to restore them to mint condition before spray-painting them. Currently he is the only Namibian producing this kind of furniture.
“My dream is for somebody to help me in acquiring a plot in Windhoek from where I will be able to manufacture. Right now I have to work in the middle of the bush with no assistance or proper tools, and my own workshop in Windhoek would solve all my problems. It takes me up to four days to complete one chair, and at times it gets too much for a one-man show. I have exhibited my furniture at the Okakarara Show, the Ongombe Show and in Katutura and now the Windhoek Show. Although I have received plenty of orders and sold a number of sets, I desperately need ways and means to grow my business and to be able to afford an assistant,” he says.
Dadisai agrees, saying she could also benefit from expansion as she has to do the work of a man every day. “Just look at my hands,” she says. “These are the hands of a hard-working man that has to bend iron plates and wire with a pair of pliers every day,” she says. One thing is for sure, both these hard working individuals are excellent role models for aspiring entrepreneurs and young people.
“We do what we do, because we want to do it and to be able to contribute towards the upkeep of our families. Our message to the youth complaining about unemployment is not to sit and wait for breadcrumbs, but to get up and do something with their lives,” Dadisai says.
By Deon Schlechter