Turning paper into money

Source : Kutlwano

Author : Keonee Kealeboga

Location : Motshegaletau

Event : Poverty eradication programme

 

Not all waste is useless.  Ask any environmentalist.  Even better, you could ask 41 year old Itumeleng Garebabope.  She is among the few who paid attention to calls by environmentalists to recycle trash. 

For Garebabope, unemployment, coupled with her love for a clean environment were the right ingredients for a promising business - a livelihood made from what others trample upon and throw away – paper.

After seeing her cousin make money from selling decorative objects made from waste, she decided it was time she started gathering trash to make money too.

This became her turning point - here she bid goodbye to poverty. Never again would she go to bed on an empty stomach, or depend on someone to help her meet her daily needs for food and basic necessities.

So, Garebabope embarked on her own small clean-up campaign, collecting newspapers and plastic bags that careless people threw just about everywhere. Then using flour, glue and paint she made an array of breathtaking decorative objects. Vases, handbags, pots, buckets, jewelry boxes and bowls she made, using recycled paper. First she soaked the paper in water overnight; then stumped it until it became as malleable as dough. She then shaped the mixture into the various shapes.

They are beautiful pieces of art and look very much like the real thing.

And considering the fact that Garebabope is completely self-taught, you really want to admire her resolve. It is this determination to go beyond mediocrity, and give her customers only the best, that has consistently endeared her to judges in competitions that she entered in the past.

“Even though I have not undergone any training in relation to this business, I am committed to producing high quality items. I will not produce sub-standard work and hide behind the fact that I have no training for this kind of work. I have to respect it and give it my best because it is this business that feeds me,” she says determinedly.

Her only regret is the slow take-off of the business despite all the hard work that she is putting in. She suspects this might have something to do with poor marketing skills on her part, for she has no idea how to go about properly marketing her merchandise.

She strongly believes that if she could overcome this shortcoming the business would do very well. Lately, she has pondered visiting the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) whom she believes will give her some training in marketing.

However, Garebabope’s business has not gone unnoticed by authorities.

Her stall at the recent poverty eradication campaign held in the villages of Sehunou and Motshegaletau, was an eye-catcher - drawing many people, the majority of whom were amazed at the sheer beauty of her items.

In particular, stood out a three-legged ‘pot’, which many initially mistook for the real thing.

Craft Improver at Mahalapye Sub-district Council Social and Community Development Department, Margaret Malebang, speaks highly of the commitment Garebabope and others who eke out a living from recycled material have shown.

“These women are highly committed to what they do. They do not wait for us to come and tell them what to do or how to go about their work; they know we are there only as facilitators. As such they take responsibility for the survival of their businesses and this is quite impressive,” she states.

The council appreciates the value of product marketing and its centrality to the growth of any business. So from time to time it helps Garebabope and her peers market their products.

“We market their products in any way we can but most importantly we empower them by imparting to them marketing skills as we strongly believe this can turn their businesses around,” says Malebang. And looking at the beautiful pieces that Garebabope makes, there is no doubt that with a little marketing help and empowerment, she could soon be making a roaring business out of forsaken paper. ENDS

Teaser:

Since government embarked on a poverty eradication crusade, reporter, Keonee Kealeboga and photojournalist, Thompson Keobaletswe, have been on trail to give the exercise a human face. They make a stopover at Sehunou and Motshegaletau.