Phillimon (on the right) with his brother, Albert.
Phillimon is Thanda Zulu’s primary wire artisan. He and a small group of his friends and relatives design and hand-make Thanda Zulu’s colorful and creative beaded wire animals.
A sampling of some past work.
Phillimon is from Zimbabwe, where the political situation is precarious and the economy is, to put it lightly, a mess. As people around here often say, Zimbabwe went from being Africa’s bread basket to being Africa’s basket case. Unemployment estimates hover around 80 – 90%, and inflation is so bad (at over 200,000,000%!!) that, as one op-ed put it, a person would have to withdraw the maximum amount of Zimbabwean currency allowed per day for four to five days in order to have enough cash to purchase just one loaf of bread.
So you can imagine that making a living in Zimbabwe is about as challenging as it gets. But Phillimon, a dedicated entrepreneur and an artist with boundless creative vision, is a bona fide Zimbabwean success. He supports himself, his family, and who knows how many other friends and neighbors — an incredible feat for someone whose home country is submerged in seemingly endless poverty.
The first time I met Phillimon, he and his brother, Albert, had just taken a trip to the Thanda After-School site to meet the teachers and see the kids their crafts help support. The two of them were all smiles, excited to have finally met the South African youngsters who also reap the benefits of their hard work.
I asked Phillimon and Albert about their lives and their work, and here is what they said.
–
Q: How long have you been doing this?
Phillimon: Since 2004.
Q: How did you get into doing beaded crafts?
Albert: Our brothers were into it, so we took it from them.
Q: What do you like the most about your craft?
Phillimon: It’s all about passion. If you’re passionate about it, it’s good. It creates jobs for other people. We make a living. We feed our families.
Q: Do you support any family members from this? Who and how many?
Phillimon: Our brother was doing it, but he passed away. I’m the breadwinner now. My father is old, so he can’t do crafts anymore. We support our extended family — about 13 to 15 people. Our aunt and her husband died, so we’re supporting their family now, too. The situation for our families is what binds us together. We’re teaching some family members how to make the crafts now, too. Some of them are passionate about it. That’s good.
Q: How has running this business helped or changed your life?
Phillimon: It’s changed me. We’re not used to interacting with people. It’s changed the way we interact with people and see people. It’s changed our futures. It puts food on the table. It pays for our brothers’ and sisters’ school. This can change your behavior, too. [Zimbabweans] think every black South African is xenophobic. But you see the other part of people, the other behavior of people. When you interact with people, you see that these people, they’re kind, they’re good. And [the craft] keeps people off the streets.
Albert: It’s something to keep you busy. It will keep you out of crime. It will keep you off the streets.
Q: What are some of the challenges you face in your business?
Phillimon: It’s not that easy. We face challenges. The weather affects us. During rain, the wire rusts, and we have to throw it away.
Albert: We sell on weekends. If it rains, we can’t sell.
Phillimon: Most of the challenges arise out of nowhere. Sometimes, we have to buy materials even if we don’t have enough money to buy them. So if it rains and we can’t sell over the weekend, we can’t get the money.
–
We thank Phillimon and his crew of dedicated artisans for all their hard work!
