The DESIGNER Glass Tiles Of The Incede Women's Group - Made In Mdantsane

We hope that you all had a great time over the Easter week-end. The Mdantsane Way team has taken a little time off during the holidays but now we back in full force. 

We have a long list of stories to write, so let's not waste any time. 

A promise we have made to the Incede Women's group in Mdantsane is, that we would present their entirely recycled handmade glass tiles to our readers. 

We have already written a story about this NGO, but the members have asked us specifically to write about their colorful glass tiles because they need help with the marketing process of this product.

Here we go. These tiles are not only stunning, beautiful, recycled, organic and sustainable but we think they are real designer tiles.

But how do we get them out of the township to prospective costumers?

Recycled Handmade glass tiles of the Incede Women's Group in Mdantsane

Glass is one of the most versatile materials we have on this earth. The women of this self help initiative have started a product line a while ago, that focuses on the production of recycled glass tiles, after they have received the equipment to melt and re-process old glass bottles and other glass products. They soon mastered the technique and the women are now producing these amazing glass tiles with an arty, bohemian touch. But costumers are scarce.

Designer glass tiles by handmade by the Incede Women's Group in Mdantsane

Glass is all the rage at the moment. Going to places like Plumblink, CTM, Tiles Africa etc, you can find mosaic glass tiles, Italian glass tiles and bathroom glass tiles at steep prices staring down at you from the shelves. One tile can range between 50 to 180 Rand. And they are not handmade like the Incede glass tiles.

Simple transparent and color glass bottles are used to make the very cool designer tiles of Incede 

You would be surprised how many recycling initiatives you can find in Mdantsane if you would take one day and visit the township. 

Most of them have been created through grants and donations issued to the NGO's or self help groups in form of financing or material by the different government departments. 

They start well, but they all lack the support of the public at a later stage. Funding and training are only two of the ingredients needed in the process of creating jobs and generating income. Once the beautiful products are available they have to be sold!

The difficult task of linking buyers with producers is often completely forgotten. To set up a supply chain for a product and to involve the right people who can deliver supply chain services is crucial but hardly ever happens.

A Sort Of Retro Feeling - But Help is needed with the marketing of the tiles

Having met so many initiatives and still not seeing an end to, it has brought us to the point, where we have been playing with the thought for quite a while now to set up a free site called "Made In Mdantsane". This site should have the sole purpose of displaying locally made products and linking them with buyers in and outside of Mdantsane. 

We bought the domain and we imagine this as a site, that is not run by us, but that will be just started by us and assisted for a while and then be taken over by you - interested local individuals of Mdantsane. 

Patience with a recycled "shooters or liquor glass"

The products shown in this article are only examples. The women are capable of doing costume designs for clients and all the products can be created without their label.

There are many ways of recycling and using glass in Mdantsane. Some are private and also useful, like the glass spiked wall of the Endaweni Lounge. 

The Glass Fence of the Endaweni Lounge in Mdantsane

Everybody understands this threat!

Security " Made In Mdantsane" at the Endaweni Lounge

Mutton, Beef Or A Community Chat? More Wall Art In Mdantsane

Mutton or beef - wall Mural in Mdantsane

Want Mutton or Beef? These wall murals in NU 2 apparently give you two options. 

A while ago we have posted an article about the "Art of African Sign Board Painting", that many of our readers have enjoyed. We call it an art. And it is a dying art everywhere else in the world, that is however pretty much alive on the African Continent.

Signboards or advertising boards are nowadays usually printed, laminated, made from resin, metal and created through an industrial process.

In some places in the world, it is a fact, that it is cheaper for a small business owner to paint his own signboard than to have it done through a printing and punlishing company. Art loves traveling through these countries can only sigh at the sight of some pretty amazing art pieces on walls and boards. Probably later they will land in a museum. Hopefully an African one.

Pretty cool - wall art in Mdantsane

So do you want mutton or beef or just a community chat?

"Community Chat Container Of Mobile Cell Company Cell C In Mdantsane NU 2

The mobile cell company has given other companies and competitors in the same sector a hard run for their money lately by offering the by far cheapest rates in South Africa. Most townships have community chat containers where calls can be made from.

Shoprite down the road in Mdantsane

Naive art or just an advertisement?

Ethel - Life As A Female Car Guard

It was last year around Christmas, that I saw Ethel for the first time. She is the only female car guard I know.

May be, in the bigger South African cities there are more women who earn a living like this, but not in East London.

Two days ago I saw her again, sitting on the small wall at the Esplanade in Quigney. I stopped to have a chat with her.

Ethel works in the area around the Wimpy. Although the sky was of the brightest beautiful South African blue and the ocean was calm and looked like in the Mediterranean, this day the Esplanade had a lonely and deserted feel. Municipal workers were setting up the yearly Christmas decorations on the street lights.

She is close to seventy years old, but does not know her real age. Everyday she travels from Mdantsane, NU2, where she lives, to the Esplanade. 

Last year she got hit by a car on the road and severly injured. She spent several weeks in hospital. She has what she calls, a big plate in her right chest, which is very painful often. Since then she walks with her upper body bent to one side.

" The doctors told me that I will have to go to the hospital again to have the plate removed because something is not right, " Ethel says.

My question as to why she still wanted to work as a car guard after having such a serious accident and considering the fact that guarding cars is obviously a male dominated and sometimes also violent field of work, where competiton is not taken lightly, she said :
" It is still easier than at home ". 

" Some of the men are not happy to have me here, but I just stay out of their way .May be they don't chase me because I am short and old. Others think I am crazy ".
Ethel is not more than 1,40 m tall.

Mdantsane Is A Lovely Place - Isn't It ?

Tembisa Dema

" Mdantsane is a lovely place - isn't it ? ", Tembisa Dema said to me.

Tembisa is a friend of my friend Pelisa and we met on Nelson Mandela Day.

Mdantsane Is A Lovely Place Isn't It?

Tembisa took me on a ride through the neighborhood in her car. I had not asked. She just offered and I was more than happy to go with her. Sometimes I speak to a person for three hours and fill a small note book with useful and interesting information. I can truly say that there has never been a conversation that has not been interesting and stimulating for me. But sometimes it is just a single sentence that makes my day.

Mdantsane is a lovely place isn't it ?

Yes it is !

Mdantsane can be called idyllic.

It has a warm and positive spirit.

There is a lot going on.

It's friendly.

We started writing this blog to introduce our book and to allow the people whom we have met and who have given us so much of their time to see their pictures and to read their stories. 

But we are also writing it for the ones who have never been here. And very often they are close and could in fact visit the township. 

I met a very nice lady a couple of weeks ago who has been living in East London for 30 years but has never been to Mdantsane. She said, she always wanted to visit Mdantsane and was curious but the reason she had not was that she was scared.  What she told me can be probably called collateral damage inflicted through the Apartheid regime. Not only was the politic of suppression successful for a long time but the system did also estrange people. Today there is a different spirit.

I can only say Mdantsane is a lovely place and there is no need to be scared. Just come closer.

The people are as lovely as the whole township.

It is green. House owners have started everywhere planting little gardens or growing their own vegetables.

People like to be outside and a lot of socializing happens on the streets directly in front of your door and not inside your house which I think is so nice. 

Tembisa lives in NU 2 and is the proud mother of a daughter who has just been admitted to Hudson High School a well reputed school in East London. She has been working many years in the sector of HIV/Aids prevention but since June she is looking for a new job. 

" It is extremely difficult to find work ", she says. A statement that few people would want to object today. But still her spirit is strong.

Experienced By Me - Isiziba Siviwa Ngodondolo

The " hood " is a buzz with artists. It is amazing how many creative spirits live in Mdantsane.

Zanele Gamnca- Mweli is one of them. She is a drama writer and has written three books in the Isixhosa language. Her books deal with the society at large and with the role of women in the South -African society in particular. None of her books have been published yet but she has submitted all three manuscripts to the Department of Arts and Culture in Buffalo City. She has been promised that her books would be published. 

She becomes passionate and intense when she talks about her writing. She is determined to publish her book even if the publishing process will not be funded by the Department of Arts and Culture.

Her first book carries the title Masakhane Bafazi - which means Women Let's Build Each Other.

We, as women must not laugh at another woman who has a problem or whose child has done a bad thing, Zanele explains. We must not condemn. The condition of our society is the responsibility of all of us. If you are stronger than somebody else you must give part of your strength to that person.

Zanele is married and has two children. I can feel the love for her children coming through in every sentence when she speaks about her family. No wonder that her second book talks about her own home and carries the title " Experienced by me " Isiziba siviwa ngodondolo. She feels that writers must practice to write in their own native languages.

Her daughter is 18 years old and wants to write drama like her mother. But Zanele shakes her head. I don't want her to do that now. I want her to finish school. 

Her son, eight years of age, loves music and has composed an album for his mother for the world cup 2010. Zanele has recorded this album already. 

Her husband is encouraging her but he shares the fate of many partners, who are not artists and who have to deal with an artist in their family. It is not always easy for him to understand why she writes, Zanele says, but he is very supportive and we are a happy family.