Emmah Simuluka

Zambia

Year(s) attended: 2008

Kasonde Women’s club, Makambo Women’s Club & Kasholwasholwa Women’s Club

Tonga Baskets

Emmah creates traditional Tonga baskets of the Gwembe Valley in Zambia. These remarkable baskets do not require any tools other than the blade used to split the Malala palm leaves Nsamu Twigs and Ntende vines.  Emmah learned to make these baskets at a workshop organized by Catholic nuns in 1985. Last year the Kasonde Women’s Club took out a loan to supplement the funds provided by the Market and were able to raise enough money to repay the loan, hold a Basketry Skills Exchange Workshop, pay school fees for the 24 members’ children and dependants, purchase goals for the Club’s Goat Rearing Project, and purchase a plough that will reduce the burden of tilling the land by club members, enabling them to spend more time on basket-weaving.
Also represented are Tonga Plateau baskets and Loze Makenge Root baskets.