Basket Weaving and Making Friends

This is the baby that peed on Lucas

Learning the trade

Traditional Botswana home 'Roundival'

The garden

In a previous blog, Lucas posted a picture of some vegetables in a red, woven basket. My friend and co-worker Mma Boshini gave that to me. I asked her where she got it from and she told me about Mma Sarako.
My other friend and co-worker Mma Segopotso took me to go meet the basket weaving lady. Mma Sarako speaks no English; so with Mma Segoposto interpreting, we agreed she would come and see me at the clinic the next day to begin showing me how to weave baskets.
The next day she arrived with a basket in the beginning stages. Again with Mma Segopotso interpreting, Mma Sarako taught me how to weave baskets. I asked if her daughters or sisters know how to weave baskets. Turns out very few women in Salajwe know how. Her mother-in-law was the one who taught her. I asked Mma Segopotso why no one knew how to weave baskets and she told me “Batswana women, we are lazy.” Mma Sarako seemed very pleased that I was so interested to learn. We convinced Mma Segopotso to try it. She was hilarious. She almost stabbed herself in the finger with the needle several times. Mma Segopotso says Americans learn very quickly. Mma Sarako agreed; she said I was a fast learner.
The needle is made from wire that is shaped to make a sort of handle for the weaver to hold. And the needle is made sharp by rubbing it against cement. There are very few grasses to make traditional baskets. So she takes apart big produce bags (that grocery stores receive cabbage in) and twists up the threads real tight to make a string that she weaves baskets with. I kinda like the plastic baskets better because they are more colorful.
The next week I took Lucas to go visit Mma Sarako and gave her some onion bread as a thank you for teaching me. She showed Lucas and I her garden and gave us some tips for our own garden. It is customary for the host to offer gifts of food when they have visitors. Mma Serako gave us a bag full of (huge) carrots and spinach leaves from her garden. We sat down in the front yard on a sheet of plastic and she taught me how to make the thread. The strips of plastic from the cabbage bag are twisted very tightly against her leg until it becomes like a coarse thread. She had been doing this so long her legs don’t have any hair on them. They are shiny like a mirror. She says it is very painful. I tried making them to relieve her but I am terrible at it.
A young woman was with us to help translate. She had a 5 month old baby with her. Diapers are too expensive so babies typically go around without pants on. Unfortunately Lucas learned a lesson the hard way that babies will pee on you if you are holding them.
I asked the woman if Mma Sarako sells her chickens (there were quite a few strutting around). She said typically she does not but asked if I wanted one. I explained that I could go and buy one at a poultry farm and not to worry. Something was lost in translation because right after, Mma Sarako and her son were cornering chickens in the coup and trying to catch one for us. I protested that we didn’t need one yet but thank you anyway. One day we will slaughter our own chicken but we don’t really have a place to put it until we’re ready. I thought it was a sweet gesture though…
I am hoping to continue to do lessons with Mma Sarako on how to weave baskets. Baskets are extremely time-consuming so I wouldn’t anticipate receiving one any time soon. Unfortunately there is not enough of a market to sell the baskets in Salajwe. I offered to take some baskets with me to In-Service Training in Gaborone to sell to other PCVs. The baskets are amazing, I wish there was a way to make her skill income-generating. For now I am working on building a relationship with community members and maybe give something back to this woman who has been so kind to me.