Recycled Paper Products

Literacy classes continue in a fully fitted container donated by the Freddy Hirsch Group. Iziko lo Lwazi is gradually becoming self-sustaining. Crafters are growing in confidence as they gain expertise, and some have embarked on their own enterprises

Today, up to 20 Xhosa women from the informal settlement of Imizamo Yethu work at Iziko lo Lwazi. In addition to hand-made recycled paper, which comes in several colours, paper is produced from reeds, rooibos tea, maize, horse dung and camel dung. Seaweed washed up on the Atlantic beaches produces a particularly beautiful paper which looks like nougat. The paper is transformed into greetings cards, stationery sets and a range of gift items. Iziko lo Lwazi specialises in corporate gifts, personalized wedding and other stationary.

In 2003, thanks to a generous self-help grant from the U S Government, Iziko lo Lwazi moved to properly equipped premises in the grounds of the Hout Bay Community Cultural Centre, where, as well as a wide range of hand-made papers, they produce cards, beadwork and gifts.

Iziko lo Lwazi Craftworkers began as an adult literacy programme, offering free English lessons in the library at the informal settlement of Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay. Learning is a luxury when families need food, however, so facilitators decided to try to find a project which would enable students to earn while learning.
They chose papermaking. The raw materials - waste paper from the Kronendal recycling centre and Spanish reeds (alien vegetation growing in Hout Bay) were freely available and easy to come by, and the equipment needed, at least in the early stages, was minimal. A large tin bath was purchased, frames were donated, a pounding stick was unearthed in the wood pile, and the project got under way.