The crafts-people of Mpumalanga

In this region, like many of the rural areas of South Africa, there are not many jobs for people.  Many older Black South Africans didn't have the opportunity to have much education to begin with, so the government in Mpumalanga has created a number of craft areas to help create jobs for local people.  So each place we stopped had a number of men and women who make crafts and sell them in little stalls.  The government is in the process of building permanent stalls of concrete, but in one area, the stalls were like little shacks with tin roofs.  The crafts-people will carve and create the crafts, sometimes on the spot, and sometimes with their family members at home.  They use materials that they can, for the most part, find in nature.  This is a great place to get wood carvings and bowls, jewelry made from seeds and twigs and bone, and small statues and figures carved out of soft rock.  I'm including some photos here so you can see what it's like.  These are photos from several different areas.

This woman was in the process of carving a wood plaque with animal heads when I asked if I could take her photo.

This photo was of one of the areas where the government has built permanent stands.  Notice the woman on the right is wearing a skirt made of fabric with Nelson Mandela's face woven into it. The more rural we get, the more traditional clothes people are wearing, especially the women, who wear colorful cloths tied on their heads and around their waists.