Elliot Beaders and Crafters

This empowerment project is based in Elliot in the north of the Eastern Cape. Established under the auspices of the Elliot Tourism Association, it is intended to empower and uplift impoverished township women as well as help preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the area.  The Elliot Beaders and Crafters project was started in 1999 with an order of 3 000 pins from Transnet for the Phelopheba Health Care Train.  The pins were to be given to the students on duty as an incentive.  They were also sent to the Friends of the Phelopheba Club in London – of which the late Donald Woods was a member.  In 2000, a Phelopheba VIP fundraising dinner was held in New York, and once again the Beaders and Crafters made beaded pins to be given to the guests.  The pins often depict a mushroom (‘Ekowa’ in Xhosa), which is the emblem of Elliot and usually seen growing in the natural areas in summer.

The ladies of Beaders and Crafters sometimes work from their homes or hawkers stands if the articles are small but large articles are made at a central home, which tourist are welcome to visit.  Baskets, hats, necklaces and bracelets are just some of the colourful crafts made by the group.

If you would like to read the whole story on how this business got started.

The Beaders and Crafters’ Story As Told by Maisie:

“I started this project in 1999 working from an outside office at my home and a double garage. We worked on and off as orders came and we had finance. The ladies were paid R20 per day plus lunch, myself only taking telephone money.”

”I filled in hundreds  of pages applying for funding. Our big break came from Transnet about 2000 -20001, they required a love letter pin with the health train phelopepha emblem on, these they gave as incentives to the train students and friends of Phelopepha Club. The first order was for 2000 pins @ R20 each, the ladies getting R10 and the project R10. This was great but also frightening – how to control the distributing.”

“I eventually counted the different colour beads per pin, measured them per teaspoon, put enough for ten pins, along with pins and cotton into Standard Bank plastic money bags. The ladies were working at home and at their hawking stands, you could not afford loss of beads, doing 2000 pins, this could be a major loss of profit. These pins were returned at a certain day, they had to be checked for quality and correct picture, then the ladies were paid. We ended up making 6000 pins and years off my life, as their were time frames for delivery.”

“Some of these pins ended up at a Gala dinner in New York for each guest. Dinner was hosted by Prof Loiuse Taggert and world chairman of Colgate Palm Olive was present.”

“The honourable Desmond Tutu and wife were presented with these pins when they visited the train at Elgin in January 2006. National Arts and Culture informed that our funding application was approved, on of the ladie had to attend a workshop in Pretoria for the project to qualify.”