Mdukatshani - Fifty Years of Beading

Left; Qhubekile Dladla with her small sons, Mkhulunyelwa, Skhundla and Mphikeleli.

Below: Qabukani Dladla grew up watching her mother doing beads, before becoming a fine beader herself. A serious little girl, and now a serious young woman, she lost her husband and two babies to AIDS before ARV treatment returned her to health.

THE CHILDREN The project was designed to help women with children work from home, something that would never be easy, as the needs of the home came first. There were no schools when we arrived – we started the first – so the children drew their lessons from the world around them, creating playgrounds under the trees while sharpening their skills of observation. They would grow up poor, but responsible, with an early knowledge of death. “Even when I was small I know people was die,” said one. They learnt to craft their happiness the way their mothers crafted beads, picking up moments spilt in the dust and sorting them into colour. Beads were a kind of magic. The children sat alongside their mothers as they stitched, helping, hindering, full of curiosity. It was slow work, adding one bead to another. They watched intrigued. Here and now cease to matter when you’re waiting for a pattern to emerge.

A roadside gathering of mothers and children waiting to hand over finished work, the children modelling some of the beads for fun.

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Mdukatshani – Fifty Years of Beading