Bears

In Wawa, Northern Zimbabwe, fifty years ago,  a group of women were taught to embroider by Norwegian Missionaries. These women began to teach their unique embroidery technique to other women and their signature embroidery style is now found widely throughout Zimbabwe.

Some years ago a group of these women escaped the terrible conditions of rural Zimbabwe and settled as refugees in Cape Town. They live in tin shacks with no electricity or running water. Their ability to embroider was noticed by a woman setting up a hand-craft project in Cape Town and she designed the bear for them to embroider.  8 women work on each bear, they are free to embroider their own stories and it takes approx. a week for each bear. The bears are made in a sanitary environment that meets International Health Standards.