These wonderful beaded animals and dolls are created by enterprising women living in the townships surrounding Capetown, South Africa. The work has come to us from a project to employ and empower women in the townships of Mandela Park, Khayalitsha and Phillipi. The MonkeyBiz Project provides each woman with the glass beads and pays cash for each doll or bag she produces. The 320 women and men currently participating in the project are producing a variety of one-of-a-kind dolls and bags. In designing and creating these artworks, the women draw on and renew the rich artistic traditions of their several ethnic groups - Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, Sotho and others. In thse works the bead artists of the Cape townships are creating a new, often humorous and sometimes quite startling synthesis of folk traditions.
Warning: USPS is not as economical as it may appear. After improving a bit over the last year or two,USPS service seems to be deteriorating once again. Please be aware that USPS only includes insurance up to $100 for its domestic shipments, and varying amounts for overseas shipments. Please ask for full insurance and we will send you an invoice for any difference in cost. Two of our shipments are missing as of this writing, and those customers did not ask for insurance.
