Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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Design, Health and Community: Creative approaches through craft in Uganda Transferring the ‘Siyazama’ model to Uganda

Professor Jackie Guille

In Uganda, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a devastating social and economic impact at individual households and community levels. Since 1982 when the first AIDS cases were identified in southern Uganda, various programmes and activities have been developed and implemented in the areas of mass awareness and education about this epidemic, which continues to present enormous challenges to society. The decline in the numbers of people testing positive from around 18% in 1993 to 5% by 2001 was a huge achievement but in recent years research has revealed that the rate of infection is beginning to take an up-ward trend again. The greatest impact of AIDS has been on women and several factors that fuel HIV spread among women in Uganda have been identified through research including among others: biological vulnerability of women, early sexual activity with inadequate knowledge on protective methods; transactional and cross-generational sex; poverty that usually leads to survival sex; coerced sex including rape and defilement; low cultural, social, and economic status; social expectation, limited life skills to negotiate for sex; and apathy induced by a lack of employment.

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More than ever before, health and wellbeing has gained strategic importance and there is a need to share strategies for staying healthy and engaged, programmes that are responsive to lived needs on the ground. To this end, in 2007 the „Design, Health and Community‟ initiative, a three-way collaboration funded by the UK Government Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) under the England-Africa Partnership (EAP) programme was established between the School of Design, Northumbria University, UK, the Dept. Graphic Design, Durban University of Technology, and the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts (MTSIFA), Makerere University, Uganda to share the experience gained within the Siyazama project situated in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.

Siyazama project: Zulu bead-workers at their homestead Msinga region, KwaZulu-Natal

Photos Kate Wells

Large dolls on exhibition in Sweden, 2010

1 The Uganda Think Tank on AIDS report 2005

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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Siyazama project: Beaded necklaces Photo Kate Wells

The Siyazama project, initiated in 1999, works with a group of Zulu bead-workers, who come from the deep rural area of the Msinga region in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. Beadwork and doll making in Zulu culture is traditionally used to visually record experiences, collective memories and social messages. The ‘Siyazama’ project engaged the women in updating „traditional‟ styles to develop products that communicate their understanding and experiences with regard to HIV/AIDS. The key objective of the „Design, Health and Community‟ project was to investigate if the Siyazama model could be replicated elsewhere in Africa within a different culture and with a different group of craftspeople with different skills. This collaboration developed out of the relationship forged between myself and Dr. Kate Wells, dating back to the inception of the Siyazama project in 1999 and also built on the fieldwork undertaken in partnership with colleagues at Makerere University within the UNESCO „Artists in Development‟ programme and subsequent Higher Education Link and Gender and Development projects. Spanning over a decade, this research provided valuable insights the social conditions and local realities within the craft sector in Uganda. Employing the knowledge assimilated, the Design, Health and Community project set out to test the methodologies adopted by the Siyazama model, to strengthen and enhance creative capacity and knowledge on HIV/AIDS and other health complexities among rural and semi-urban craftswomen from Kalisizo Post Test Club, located in Rakai district in southern Uganda, the National Association of Women Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU) in Kampala district, the Mildmay Centre, and Nalumunye Balikyewunya Women‟s Group from Wakiso district in central Uganda. The variations in the socio-cultural phenomena between Uganda and South Africa meant that the Siyazama model was inevitably customised to take account of both the cultural and commercial context, utilizing the material culture of Uganda - bark-cloth and basketry - in the development of the products. Bark-cloth, made from the inner bark of the ficus species, is a common fabric among several peoples in Africa. The Buganda kingdom in southern Uganda is the largest producer of bark-cloth in East Africa; the Baganda people have had a continuous history of bark-cloth production since the late eighteenth-century although some theories suggest that the antiquity of bark-cloth technology in Buganda stretches back to the origins of the kingdom itself.

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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Barkcloth: beating the bark Barkcloth: finished piece Photos J Guille

Amongst the Baganda people, bark-cloth was not only used to extend and bridge social relations, for example during marriage but as a shroud, it served as a connecting thread between the past and present generations. It also became a major political and economic symbol of the kingdom of Buganda. Today the symbolic role of bark-cloth has evolved, and its functions are no longer confined within the cultural boundaries of Buganda, since it has been incorporated into Ugandan popular culture and commodified for the „tourist‟ market. The conscious approach of the project to utilise bark-cloth as a medium of visual artistic expression, sought to promote the aesthetic of bark-cloth in the development of artefacts that recorded and interrogated the Ugandan women‟s‟ concerns. Prior to their participation in the project the women had not considered how their craft products could not only generate an income but might also provide the vehicle for their own stories and responses to social issues. Through a series of workshops the project both raised awareness of the role and relevance of art in advocacy and imparted a range of creative techniques to enhance and diversify the women‟s craft practice. The women were encouraged to in explore and exploit new approaches to embellishing the surface of their crafts, creating synergies between indigenous knowledge and innovation in craft practice, coupling artistic and health and well being elements that are not conveyed by the common notion of „production‟. In addition to enhancing creative practice, health specialists on behavioural change in relation to HIV/AIDS gave presentations, and food and nutrition were topical issues throughout the duration of the workshop. Two drama performances on the challenges of HIV/AIDS in Uganda were staged at the beginning and the closure of the workshop, both of which sparked much debate. The purpose of these drama pieces was to promote critical reflection and to challenge existing gender norms in order to facilitate attitude and behaviour change among the participants. The participants said that the workshops had taught them the advantages of being „firm‟, to take „a step and to do something‟ and that it was important for everybody to go for an AIDS test. Echoing their sisters in South Africa they claimed that the „men are a problem – they will not willingly go for a test‟. Nonetheless they all claimed that the making of crafts had given them the chance to group together to earn a living and to have „more fun‟. The women especially enjoyed the plays and claimed that the messages had found their way into their baskets and bark-cloth products. One of the basket makers declared that she now knew how to „disguise‟ messages into her crafts. Another said that „her brain has been sharpened‟ and her sense of complacency has been shaken and that she had become enabled to use her baskets to „speak about herself‟.

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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The vision of the Siyazama methodology is a search for fundamental and authentic “emotional truth”, realities connected to the actual issues of the community. Employing a highly personalised vocabulary of image, text and colour the Ugandan women eloquently voiced their cultural traditions, life experience and all too present health concerns. The process of stitching their images was a slow deliberate way of marking events on the cloth, giving voice to their personal stories inch by inch. Each woman‟s work original and distinctively her own, not only transformed into a powerful tool of communication and earning but also an expression of identity and being.

Work-in-progress: stencilling ‘A Village Setting’ Josephine Namakusa - detail Photos J Guille

Through the use of weaving, stencilling and stitch techniques, the craftswomen imbued their baskets and barkcloth with metaphors and parables. For example, Naalongo Nansekka wove the Bagandan proverb, „Ndiwulira vva mu kasooli ndiwulira basusa‟ into her basket, to caution people against the dangers of HIV/AIDS. This proverb is about a stem borer that attacks maize on the cob. At every harvesting season, many people in Uganda enjoy steamed maize, which is normally boiled with sheaths on. Since the stem borer enjoys eating maize, it never gets to know the right time when to quit maize, and it ends up in the saucepan. She compares the Ndiwulira to the people who deliberately refuse to change their behaviour and die.

‘Ndiwulira Vva mu Kasooli’ Naalongo Nansekka Photo J Guille

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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‘Makagusa Mwegate’ Sarah Kizza ‘United for Life’ Teddy Nansekka Photos J Guille

One of the recurring messages conveyed was that of unity in our fight against AIDS. In this piece entitled „Makugusa Mwegate‟ (United We Stand), Sarah Kizza has shown this unity with the inclusion of heavily embroidered flags representing the three partners of the EAP project. She has also included cowrie shells and the AIDS symbol, which together represent all the different activities that take place at Mildmay Centre in Kampala. She insists that there must be no discrimination against anyone with AIDS. She believes it is best to place more emphasis on extra curricula activities for school children with more interest to be shown in agriculture. She also supports the notion of a well balanced diet with a good range of fresh vegetables to be consumed each day to maintain optimum health. In her work, Teddy Nansekka makes a plea to all people to get united against HIV/AIDS. She has used the hand as a symbol of unity. In order to reinforce her message, Teddy has strategically placed the solidarity badge (red-ribbon) in the centre of the artwork. The hands in beige bark-cloth represent those people who are not infected, the dark-coloured hands represent the people who are either infected or affected by the virus. The brown hands on the contrary, represent those people who are infected and fail to seek medical advice, yet they continue to engage in unscrupulous sexual practices without protection. Consequently, they spread the virus. The devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS scourge in Uganda during the 1990s, a period when many families in Masaka and Rakai districts of Southern Uganda lost their loved ones, is reflected in Betty Ssetumba‟s work. Her piece ‘Impact of HIV/AIDS’ references the fate of her close relatives who passed on which she visually portrays through empty houses and overgrown courtyards.

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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‘Impact of HIV/AIDS’ Betty Ssetumba „Flowers of Peace’ Sarah Kigozi Photos J Guille

Other works provide a more optimistic message. Before she joined the Mildmay Centre, Sarah Kigozi had health, social and economic problems. The wavy lines in her artwork signify the rocky journey of her life, and how she has persistently struggled through the difficult times. Since joining the Centre, she has gained access to various workshops on skills development in craft production and she is now settled and able to sustain her family. This life-changing situation is exactly what she has depicted in a symbolic way in her „Flowers of Peace’. Dialogue is one of the essential aspects of the Siyazama approach, building up the unity and commitment of a group. The model challenges methods based on the one-way transfer of knowledge from the expert to the recipient. It was self-evident in the way the women watched and learnt from each other, with just a hint of healthy competition that their‟ whole self was wide open – hungrily seeing, listening, engaging in discussion and absorbing each others experiences. It was a creative and fulfilling experience – one of reciprocity between the partners and all of the women. The project culminated in an exhibition of the artefacts produced the Siyazama women in South Africa and those of the Ugandan craftswomen, which was held at the School of Design at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne and provided the backdrop to a colloquium on „Design, Health & Community‟. The exhibition attracted a considerable interest, not least amongst the staff within the School, many of who had not hitherto seen any particular merit in working with indigenous crafts. The quality of the craftsmanship and the profundity of the accompanying stories prompted a number of staff to purchase pieces. The colloquium provided the opportunity for the project partners to come together with a range of speakers from the British Museum, Centre for Arts, Humanities and Medicine (CAHM) at Durham University, Traidcraft UK and the Museum of African Collections, Michigan State University, USA, sharing diverse experiences and ways in which they each used art and design practice to promote health and wellbeing among individuals and communities. The event provoked lively debate and cemented a network of relationships.

Professor Jackie Guille, 2010

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‘Design, Health & Community’ exhibition School of Design, Northumbria University April 2008

Photo E Bohemia

Public bodies and private individuals bought a significant number of pieces, affirming their creative talents and bringing much needed financial benefits to the women. Five of the bark-cloth pieces were acquired by the British Museum for their permanent collection of health related artefacts housed in the museum‟s Welcome Trust Gallery. They were displayed throughout 2009 on the stairway leading down to the museum‟s African collections, forming a focal point and illuminating to visitors the dynamic way in which contemporary craft responds to and explicitly communicate social issues affecting vulnerable communities. At the conclusion of the project, a seminar accompanied by an exhibition of the Ugandan women‟s‟ work was staged in Makerere University‟s Art Gallery. All the women came together with MTSIFA staff and students and Kenyan artists from Art2be to celebrate and learn from the success of the project. The women spoke proudly of their achievements, their motivation and their spirit of cooperation and unity. Members of Nalumunye Balikyewunya Women‟s Group have undertaken voluntary counselling and testing for HIV at Mildmay Centre and the women have set up vegetable gardens to in order to have a balanced diet. The group leader, Proscovia Nabwami is now much sought after to train other groups, cascading the model deeper into the rural areas. The National Organisation of Women in Uganda (NAWOU) has placed orders for products to be sold into the international market and have offered training to members of Kalisizo Post-test Club to support ongoing product development. Meanwhile, the Nalumunye women have linked up with the services of a MTSIFA graduate and are now enjoying a surfeit of export orders for their baskets. As a result of the Siyazama model crossing borders into Uganda, MTSIFA staff and students gained an understanding of how complex messages on health and other social issues can be conveyed directly and more profoundly using traditional craft. Inspired by the success of the project, they have linked up with Mulago Referral Hospital to offer art-therapy to the HIV/AIDS patients at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) and have engaged in a subsequent knowledge transfer partnership with Northumbria University and Kenyatta University, Nairobi. As the experience gained through their participation in the „Design, Health and Community‟ project continues to cascade across borders it is to be hoped that the approach of the Siyazama method in addressing the „human person‟ will continue to make a difference to the lives and livelihoods of an ever increasing number of Africans.