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Welcome to Promote Africa
A Few of the People Behind the Oshiwa Brand
Mutunda Paulus
Mutunda Paulus, Preacher and Master Carver, hails from the Ngangela tribe of Kavango, Namibia. Paulus and his wife, Helena, have six children: Likwa, Ngosarve, Emilia, Johana, Berta and Rizanga. Paulus is a part-time woodcarver for Oshiwa and a lay preacher for Kavango residents in Namibia's capital city, Windhoek.



 
Like many other Kavangos, Paulus migrated with his family from Angola more than twenty-five years ago. Through the trials and tribulations of migration, first from his original homeland to Kavango, then through the independence struggle and now to Windhoek, Paulus finds himself a spiritual guide to many of his kinfolk who are suffering the same privations of poverty, displacement, unemployment and illiteracy.

Throughout it all, Paulus has maintained his work as a carver. As a young boy, Paulus learned to carve from his father, who came from a long line of craftsmen specializing in furniture, musical instruments, and curios for the tourist trade. Paulus and his family are also skilled at building huts and canoes.  Before joining Oshiwa in Windhoek, Paulus worked in Okahandja, a carving community between Windhoek and his hometown in Rundu, Kavango. After years of travel between Rundu and Windhoek, Paulus has now settled in the capital with his family.  His younger children now attend school in Windhoek while his wife remains at home to look after the family.
 
For generations, Paulus and his family have been able to sustain themselves via their carving skills.  Like so many craftsmen today, his livelihood is threatened by globalization, rising costs and a diminished appreciation for handmade goods.  It is his hope that the unique character and high standard of his work will help him sustain his income.  Support from the Oshiwa project with the supply of wood, and Promote Africa's efforts to assist in locating socially responsible consumers, are crucial elements in building the future for Paulus' family.
  


Josef Kanwa

Josef Kanwa, a skilled craftsman and woodcarver for Oshiwa, was born in 1954 into the Lushiazi tribe of Kavango, Namibia. Easily recognizable by his humble grin, Josef speaks Ngangela, English and Afrikaans. He and his wife, Krestina Mpingana, have seven children: Enoke, Panduleni, Levi, Likumsi, Selemon, Numinga and Ngongo.
  

 
Although Josef works in Windhoek, his family remains in the Kavango region in northeastern Namibia, which borders Angola along the Okavango River. For Oshiwa, Josef develops new frame designs derived from traditional Kavango patterns. He enjoys creating images based on the ancient myths of his tribe, specifically representations of the "Kavango River People."

These people, said to inhabit the Okavango River, are half animal/half human and have the capacity to influence the lives of the people of the tribe. Although the traditional myths no longer hold the same power over the Kavango people, the ancient myths that have been carried down from generation to generation are still alive in the work of artists like Josef. Josef, like Paulus and Dhumba, comes from a family of carvers.  As a small boy, he began by carving animal figures to play with.  His father was a well-known craftsman who carved tables, chairs, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, cups and bowls.  Josef hopes that his sons will continue the tradition of carving, but worries that the expense of wood, competition from lower quality vendors in China and India, and the influences of city life are making the tradition less appealing to the younger generation.		  


Dhumba Joseph

Dhumba, born in 1973, has worked as a woodcarver for Oshiwa since 2000. He and his wife, Johannes Maria, have four children: Paulus, Eli, Lukano and Frans. Altogether, ten people are dependent on Dhumba's income, as the other adults in his family have been unable to find employment. Dhumba speaks English, Afrikaans and Ngangela, his home language.



Like Joseph, Dhumba migrates between Rundu and Windhoek for work. Dhumba's responsibilities at the Oshiwa workshop in Windhoek include the measuring, cutting, joining, finishing, and assembling of the Oshiwa frames. When time permits, he also carves the geometric patterns for which Oshiwa has become renowned. In addition to adorning picture frames, these patterns are also used as printing blocks for textile designs.

Along with his fellow carvers, Dhumba is facing more competition from competitors who have moved into Namibia from adjoining countries, as well as rising costs of local woods, the  basic resource of the Kavango carver.  He hopes that access to broader markets, and the recognition of his work as a craftsmen who produces work in small quantities but to a unique and high standard, will enable him to maintain his livelihood.		  

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