Aiding Africa through art

Residents of Prague and surrounding communities will soon have a chance to learn about Tengenenge, a unique artistic community in Zimbabwe, and will be able to help the struggling community at the same time.

The event, located at the dendrological garden in Průhonice, a historic village just southeast of Prague, centers on an installation of 20 sculptures from Tengenenge in the park, and will feature activities for children like face-painting and drumming, as well as a fair-trade market. The former chargé d'affairs for the Czech Republic in Zimbabwe and president of Friends of Tengenenge, Marie Imbrová, will also be there to present information about her organization's projects in Tengenenge, a village of about 800 people, many of whom earn their livelihoods by sculpting the serpentine rock found in the surrounding countryside into figures in a modern take on traditional African designs and themes. Imbrová's organization provides education for children, as well as some history about the community that since its creation in the mid-'60s has yielded internationally recognized artists like Henry Munyaradzi and Bernard Matemera.

The event isn't just an information session, though. Drumben, a company that makes paper drums that can be personally decorated, will be at the event, and approximately six drumming courses will be offered throughout the day.

"There will be people showing adults and children how to use the drums and how to play different melodies, and because the drums are made from paper and wood and aren't that expensive, they can be painted. They will be providing different colors so children can color it as they wish and have their own unique drum," said Ondřej Homolka, who imports Tengenenge statues to the Czech Republic and organized the event.  

Children will also be able to have their faces painted with African designs, and participants can peruse a fair-trade market where all the products are bought directly from producers in developing countries around the world.

The inspiration behind the gathering, the Tengenenge Art Community, is located around 150 kilometers from Harare in Zimbabwe, and was founded in 1966 by a farmer from Johannesburg, South Africa, named Tom Blomfield. At the time, United Nations sanctions on the country had hurt tobacco farming, and, to give his farmers more profitable and meaningful work, Blomfield encouraged them to start sculpting. The community, made up of more than a dozen ethnic groups, has since come to rely solely on the income from sculpting.

"We import and sell sculptures from Tengenenge, and the return of the money there has helped the community," Homolka said. "We believe that one day the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe will stabilize and start to develop again, and people will come to Tengenenge to see how the statues are created and buy statues there."

As lively and unique as the community is, educating the children has been a major challenge, according to Imbrová, who will present the projects and plans of her organization, Friends of Tengenenge, for developing education in the village.

Many Tengenenge artists originate from immigrant families, and often children, and even their parents, don't have birth certificates, Imbrová said. Birth certificates are expensive at around $40 each, and taking the trips to the necessary officials' offices is too expensive and difficult. Because so few children are officially accounted for, the government has not built a school in the Tengenenge community, so children were forced to go to the next town, almost 9 kilometers away.

"They were missing so much school that, after five or six years, they were finishing the school but without very good results," Imbrová said.

Her organization raised money, and in the past two years has obtained 32 birth certificates for children born between 2005 and 2008 in Tengenenge. Afterward, they built a preschool to provide a better environment for an English teacher that had been in the community for 10 years and pay to provide her a salary. They are now working to raise money to hire a second teacher to allow two different programs for older and younger children.

"I don't need government funding. If these kids go to an official school after, they have the chance to skip a year if their English is good enough," Imbrová said. "I spent a lot of time in the community, and the younger generation is different. They are really involved."

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com