izandla zethu means ' our hands' in the isiXhosa language.
Our hands are made to move and create things...
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WITH OWN RESPONSIBILITY
. Since October 2022, our project izandla zethu has been part of Masisebenze - 'let us work'. A newly established association of outstanding social enterprises in Gqeberha, with the aim of generating income for social projects in disadvantaged communities and providing training and employment opportunities for South African youth. All profits generated from the social enterprises are donated to masifunde for the holistic education programs.
2023 SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WITH OWN RESPONSIBILITY
Visit us in Walmer Township
or simply come to our izandla zethu workshop as part of your masifunde visit during your South Africa trip in Walmer Township, Gqeberha.
There you can also buy jewels in the MyMito Café with the best coffee and healthy snacks.
Become part of our community
With your financial support we can enable more young people to receive a training.
The “Spende” button takes you to the masifunde donation page. There you can enter or select any amount and type of donation. Please enter "izandla zethu" in the title and your support will be provided directly to our project.
Current impressions of our work
2022 NEW EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING
...and even more motivation with professional tools and skills
. During the three weeks of my visit in April 2022, we completely renovated our workshop day and night so that our trainees and our trainer Phelelani have professionally equipped workstations and tools. Five new goldsmith tables were specially made from old wooden pallets by a carpenter's shop in Walmer Township. There were also new, high-quality chairs on which you can sit ergonomically and work without getting tired. And finally a new, stable workbench on which forging and welding work can be carried out in the future. In this short time, we have also designed another small jewelry collection made of brass from the scrap yard and old bottle caps, with which we want to expand our portfolio in terms of design and technology ... and hopefully reach even more interested customers in this way ... Because our vision remains to be able to fully finance the training of our trainees with the proceeds from the jewelry sold at some point.
2020 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OBJECT IN SA
... an unexpected honor and appreciation
. In February 2020 - at the beginning of the Corona pandemic - izandla zethu was announced as the winner of "The Most Beautiful Object in South Africa" award at the Design Indaba Conference with the simple, handmade DELICATE bangle from our collection. What a special moment, what a surprising appreciation... This gave us a lot of new motivation to hold on to our dream - to help young people recognize the emotional value their hands can create... Since October 2020, Phelelani has been our new, dedicated trainer and good soul at izandla zethu.
2019 OUR NEW WORKSHOP
... with new ideas for marketing and sales
. In 2019 we were able to restore and set up a larger, more solid workshop and design the outdoor area. But it was also time for a change, a farewell... We said goodbye to our first team, which really did pioneering work for izandla zethu. Among the three new trainees was Phelelani, who has been our new dedicated trainer at izandla zethu since 2020. During this phase we further improved the quality of our products, looked forward together and placed an emphasis on marketing our handmade jewelry. A special highlight and a key step towards achieving our goals was that some of our first trainees were given the chance to start goldsmith training at Port Elizabeth College in Gqeberha. ... and since the end of 2019 izandla zethu has also been a registered trademark.
... and a truly exceptional team
2018 OUR FIRST WORKSHOP
. Two months after our first workshop, I developed a unique jewelry collection made of corrugated iron and provided a comprehensive training program. Together with my husband Karsten and a small team of experts from masifunde, we set up the space provided by masifunde as a fully equipped, minimalist and safe goldsmith workshop. With the first, very committed four-person trainee team, we then began to apply our training concept and were able to very quickly determine what worked and what didn't... what tools and materials we still needed... and what was still missing. In the team, one of the participants, Luvuyo Pongolo, quickly developed into a real talent. He literally soaked up information about craftsmanship, methods and sales - what a blessing. His enthusiasm for the project quickly led to the joint decision that he would take over the training of the future trainees. Unfortunately, Luvuyo passed away far too early in April 2020 at just 35 years of age. Luvuyo will forever remain an inspiration to us and we hope that his enthusiasm will inspire equally ambitious souls in another world.
2018 izandla zethu is born
... a vision, a workshop, a project, a name
. My second visit to masifunde, where my daughter Noemi Zoé supported me, was organized in a jewelry course for interested young, unemployed people at masifunde and we were impressed by the talent and commitment of the participants. In the final discussion after this first workshop, we decided together: WE'LL CONTINUE In a brainstorming session, we quickly found a suitable project name... It's about working creatively with our hands and 'our hands' is called IZANDLA ZETHU in the isiXhosa language. We spontaneously found a suitable logo through the handprint of Thabo, Jonas' son... and on closer inspection, we came up with the idea of depicting the African continent in the palm of the hand.
2017 HOW IT ALL BEGAN
... a visit to masifunde and my desire to start a heart project
. After visiting my cousin Jonas Schumacher, the founder and managing director of masifunde, in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth in December 2017, I was so impressed by their work with children and young people that I wanted to realize a dream of mine - right here and with these people: To pass on parts of the knowledge I have acquired over decades to young, interested people. To give them the self-confidence and courage to exploit their potential, for example to create something lasting and valuable with their hands.
