My name is Antonia Ndlovu. I am blind. I got married to Shadrack Ndlovu in 1999 and we have two children. My husband is also blind. We stay together in Mochudi in Boseja ward. I am unemployed and so I survive by weaving products, selling them and running a small tuckshop. Our children are now grown ups, they had to leave home to find employment and so because of work they are living elsewhere. Just like any other woman, it is my wish to have a beautiful home that will be admired by many and also take care of myself but because of my disability I am unable to do all these things.
Sometimes I think to myself, if it wasn’t for my disability i could also be having a beautiful life of independence. I was trained at Pudulogong rehabilitation and development trust for the blind on how to sew chairs, baskets, how to bake bread and all other basic household chores that people are usually taught from an early age in their homes. Most of the time persons with disabilities are left when others are trained on these house chores just because of their disability. I also did not get any household training from home during my childhood. Training at Pudulogong has taught me alot in terms of home management, how to perform basic household chores which today I am able to apply in my home rather than being dependent on other people to always assist.
When I first started learning how to weave baskets and chairs at school, we were using cane. As time went by, we started using mokolwane because it was difficult to get cane since it was being imported from other countries. I use a frame and mokolwane tree to make chairs. Usually, I engage someone to weld a chair frame for me before I can start working on the chair weaving it with a mokolwane tree. When making baskets all I need and use is the mokolwane tree. The chairs that I make are usually bought by business operators like lodges, guest houses and use them as their furniture, while on the other hand the baskets are bought by them for decorations.
I show and promote the culture of Botswana through my product by using the mokolwane tree. I would have liked to add our national flag colors to the products but unfortunately there is no dye that can be used to color the mokolwane tree.
Mr Ndlovu and I used to run a bakery shop before COVID-19 pandemic emerged and unfortunately it had to close. This has been a major setback for us as it has affected us financially, for now we only survive with the little that we get from weaving and tuckshop. Some of the challenges that I experience include lack of transportation of the products to the mall to sell them, lack of funds to pay for transportation to go and fetch raw materials (Mokolwane) that I use since it’s many many kilometers from Mochudi approximately (160km).
