“Sishemo is a women-led social enterprise based in Nakatindi, a community on the outskirts of Livingstone, Southern Zambia. Nakatindi borders the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, home to the world-famous Mosi-oa-Tunya ('The Smoke that Thunders', known as the Victoria Falls).
With extremely limited employment opportunities within Nakatindi, particularly for women, Sishemo provides economic empowerment opportunities to our 7 female artisans who collectively support over 40 family members and dependents. All our artisans are now the breadwinners of their families and are using their income to support the education, health and well-being of their families and community.
“We take discarded glass bottles from lodges, hotels and households across Livingstone, crush and fire the glass into handcrafted, unique beads using traditional techniques. These beads are then used to make one-of-a-kind necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other beaded products. As a social enterprise we are committed to supporting the lives and livelihoods of our artisans - they are each co-owners of the enterprise, giving them a secure, sustainable and long-term source of income. In addition, we donate a portion of profit from selected products to local community and conservation projects, amplifying our impact as a social enterprise. Sishemo was made possible through generous start-up funding provided by Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy and guests from Sanctuary Retreats Sussi & Chuma.”
My journey with Sishemo
In 2019 I was invited by Sishemo Beads, which had just opened the year before, to conduct training sessions with the eight women artisans based on and around sustainable jewellery design. When the project began, the women were trained by a glass bead maker from Ghana. During the sessions the facilitator adapted indigenous Ghanaian bead-making techniques to suit the Sishemo Studio. The women learnt not only the process of upcycled bead-making but were also taught skills within the sculptural or clay based disciplines, in that they make their own moulds and build and rebuild their kiln.
After a few email exchanges with the project coordinator, Vicky, I arrived in Nakatindi with a tool box full of copper wire, three rusty old pliers, a metal file and some other bobs. The Zambezi Valley sun never faltering to remind me that it was October, the driest and hottest month in the country’s seasonal calendar. I remember feeling a wave of heat that made me swirl and slightly buckle at the knees. When I arrived at the studio the women were sitting around their workspace on their verandah, with an array of green, blue, brown and white beads sprawled across a brightly coloured chitenge. As I approached the veranda, Audrey popped her head around the corner which leads to the kiln without even a bead of sweat on her forehead. After standing in front of a raging fire, in the middle of October in the Zambezi Valley.
Since then, the Sishemo studio have been an integral part in my jewellery design process. Not only in the sense that it was the first place which allowed me to formulate the reindigenisation project through practice but also in that it still continues to be a home for shared creative practice and reflection. A home in all senses. The initial sessions which were centred around sustainable jewellery design grew into sessions which addressed topics such as positive psychology and gratitude and manifestation.
One of the main outputs of the training was the studios continued use of an indigenous design which inspired the name of my jewellery brand Inkaya. Inkaya, are bangles of brass and copper made and worn by baTonga. Inkaya were miniturized and morphed into various clasps and beads. In addition to this, whilst sitting on the very same veranda, a few days later with Astridah, an experiment rooted in zero-waste resulted in a brown pigment synthesised using rust which was forming on the metal beams inside the kiln. In 2020, a jewellery collection which was a result of the training sessions was released and sold in The Lusaka Collective, an artisanal collective and shop which was then based in Lusaka. Since then Sishemo Beads have been selling their products in the various branches of The Collective which have opened across Zambia in the last four years.
Four years later, the women of the Sishemo Studio continue to be valued partners in creation and sustainable production.
Friends of Inkaya is a photographic series documenting the women of the Reindigenisation Project. Below are film photos of the women of Sishemo.
