Spinning Wild Silk – From Adversity to Opportunity

Steve Felton

19 July 2011

opinion

One of a series of short articles about the Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (RPRP), which was funded by the European Union’s ninth Development Fund and coordinated by the National Planning Commission.

The bakkies come early in the morning to pick up casual farm labourers. The men who are lucky enough to get a day’s work are paid just N$30.

If you want to combat rural poverty, Leonardville is a good place to start.

The village is set amongst the Kalahari sand dunes, not far from the Botswana border. The only shade is from camelthorn trees, home to the moth, Gonometa postiga. And that’s where a remarkable story of turning adversity into opportunity begins, providing work for 52 women who weave cloth from the cocoons.

The moth spins a cocoon that hardens in the sun and looks rather like peanut shell. When the cocoons fall to the ground they are eaten by cattle, which can’t digest them. The result is rumen impaction, which may lead to death.

The farmers used to collect and burn them. Until somebody discovered that if you boil them in water, the hard fibre in the cocoon softens and expands into threads, which can be spun and woven into a natural wild silk.

Amalia Inanos sits at a wooden bench with a large pile of dry cocoons.

They are gathered by people on the surrounding farms and sold to the factory. Using large scissors, Amailia snips open each cocoon and winkles out the dead larvae with a piece of metal, and drops the cocoon shells into a bucket, ready for boiling.

It isn’t much of a job, but Amalia joyfully remembers the day when she found employment: February 19 2007, as easily as she might remember the birthday of one of her four children.

“I was very happy that day,” she recalls, because I could pay the water and electricity bills, and for the school. The primary school asks for N$60 a quarter, and the secondary school N$250.

In 2006, the Omaheke Regional Council saw the possibility for RPRP funding to get the fledgling cooperative properly established, and a Section 21 Company (an association not for gain) was formed. A manager and accountant were hired, and the RPRP funding was used to buy more spinning wheels and other equipment, and to subsidise salaries until the venture could be self- sustaining.

Running the accounts through the bureaucracy of a regional council has proved to be a problem, according to the enterprise manager, Veronica Nunuhes. She would travel 134 km to Gobabis to get a cheque signed, and the person might not be there.

Vital repairs to the boiler were not made, holding up production. But despite the delays, the RPRP funding did what it was intended to do: lift people out of rural poverty.

The two year subsidy has come to an end, and the factory is not yet fully sustainable, but Veronica says that as an independent company they are in with a chance.

There are 13 sales outlets in Namibia alone for the colourful collection of scarves, shawls and throws. Bed covers and curtains can be made to order. The company has had stands at international expos and is starting to sell online. Leonardville might be the back of beyond, but it has a unique craft product to offer worldwide.

Veronica Nunuhes exudes confidence. Although the factory is only working at 50 per cent capacity, they can immediately expand production if there is a big order.

The alternatives don’t bear thinking about.

A private company might simply shed workers to become more efficient, but the whole point about Kalahari Wild Silk is poverty reduction: giving work to 52 people making fashion garments that the ladies on the looms can only dream about owning.

AllAfrica – All the Time